China will make a series of efforts to effectively protect 50
percent of its natural wetlands by 2010, said Jia Zhibang, State
Forestry Administration (SFA) director.
By that time, the shrinking trend in the wetland area will be
initially reversed and a wetland protection network basically be
formed, he said at a recent meeting on wetland protection.
The information appeared on Saturday on the SFA's website.
China has so far made significant progress in wetland
protection, with 47 percent, or more than 17 million hectares of
the country's wetlands, effectively protected, Jia said.
However, the overall situation of wetlands is not optimistic, he
said, adding strong measures would be taken in such areas as laws
and regulation, policies, investment and administrative systems, so
as to step up wetland protection.
Statistics show China has established 18 national wetland parks
and more than 470 wetland nature reserves, including 36
internationally recognized important wetlands.
China is rich in various types of wetlands, with a total areas
of 38.48 million hectares, ranking fourth in the world and first in
Asia.
Jia said by 2030, the country's wetland nature reserves will
reach 713, with over 90 percent of the wetlands effectively
protected.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2008)
