Congratulate the "Mangroovers" team from the School of Ecology for advancing to the Global Finals of the 5th Universities for Goal 13 Award (UG13) !
The SYSU team receives the awards at the UG13 Greater China Final.
A student team from the School of Ecology at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) has secured a place in the upcoming global finals of the 5th Universities for Goal 13 (UG13) competition after a standout performance at the regional level.
On December 7, 2025, the team—known as "Mangroovers"—competed in the UG13 Greater China Finals. They distinguished themselves by winning two major honors: the prestigious "Winning Prize" and the exclusive "Pernod Ricard (China) Special Award".
Guided by Associate Professor Qinglong Shao, the team is composed of master's student Meng Wu and undergraduates Jiankun He (Qiangji Plan) and Yue Zhu. Their winning proposal highlights mangroves as critical Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for enhancing coastal climate resilience, and outlines a roadmap integrating scientific monitoring frameworks with a citizen science platform.
By combining academic rigor with public engagement, the proposal offers a practical approach to climate adaptation.
The team's success at the finals underscores SYSU's commitment to cultivating globally minded talent capable of contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 (Climate Action) and China's Dual Carbon Goals.
The 5th UG13 competition, launched by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN) and Siemens Energy, is an annual competition designed to recognize students' talent and their innovative solutions to combat climate change.
Following a rigorous evaluation process, ten teams advanced to the Greater China regional finals. Ultimately, only three teams were awarded the "Winning Prize"—two from Tsinghua University and one from SYSU—qualifying them to represent the Greater China region on the global stage. Notably, the SYSU team was the only finalist to receive the additional Pernod Ricard (China) Special Award.
The Greater China Final was organized by the Institute for Sustainable Development Goals at Tsinghua University (Tsinghua SDG Institute) and supported by Pernod Ricard China.
Source: School of Ecology
