National Geographic Explorer, Conservationist, Ornithologist

Since 2008, Jing Li has worked to protect migratory shorebirds along the coast of the Yellow Sea, a crucial but vulnerable ecosystem within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Jing is also the founder of an organization dedicated to protecting the spoon-billed sandpiper, a critically endangered bird in China that was red-listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2014. That same year, she became a National Geographic Explorer, leading a project to collect previously unknown data about the habitats used by this species on the coasts of China and Korea.

With a group of volunteers, ornithologists and educators from the local community and around the world, Jing made significant findings regarding the spoon-billed sandpiper. Her team also identified the most important staging sites along the Yellow Sea for other endemic species—such as Nordmann’s greenshank, the Asian dowitcher and the oystercatcher—which resulted in several successful scientific papers. After a decade of field survey work, Jing has helped bring about 2 significant conservation triumphs. First, in 2019, the migratory bird sancutaries along the Yellow Sea became China’s first coastal UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Then, in 2021, the spoon-billed sandpiper—as well as many other shorebirds—were declared state-protected animals.