By Jin Lu

A rare salamander has become an unlikely teacher to thousands of children in Ningbo and has now carried the city's conservation effort onto an international stage.

The "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" Environmental Protection Foundation, based in the city's Beilun district, told that story at the 2026 United Nations China Youth Environment Forum on October 28 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was the only civil-society group from Zhejiang on the program.

The foundation's education work centers on the Chinhai spiny newt, a species under national protection whose wild population once dropped below 300. Despite its home in Beilun, an industrial port area, the animal has held on—and become a gateway for local children into biodiversity and environmental protection.

"We asked whether we could build a lesson around the Chinhai spiny newt," said Liu Junqiao, head of the foundation. "Children may learn the theory of climate change and biodiversity from textbooks, but they know little about the wildlife around them."

The foundation has designed a course "Protect the Chinhai spiny newt", and runs field trips led by researchers along with study programs that pair local schools with schools in Qinghai and Jiangsu.

So far the course has reached more than 4,700 young people directly.