A long-term national wetland protection program was released
Sunday in Beijing.
China plans to build 713 wetland reserves and rehabilitate the
ecosystems in 1.4 million hectares of wetlands by the year
2030.
The program was approved to mark the eighth World Wetlands Day
that falls today.
The theme for the special occasion is "From the Mountains to the
Sea, Wetlands at Work for Us."
The program defined guidelines, targets, key projects and major
countermeasures to be carried out in the next 30 years beginning
this year, a spokesman for the State Forestry Administration (SFA)
said Sunday.
"China will be able to bring more than 90 percent of its total
natural wetlands into effective protection, realize sustainable use
of wetlands' resources and bring their ecological functions and
benefits into full play," a spokesman who declined to be named made
predictions about the future results of the program.
Wetlands, the natural ecological system often referred to as the
earth's "kidneys," play an important role in water conservation, as
well as the prevention of soil erosion and flooding. The range of
sizes go from village ponds to lakes, bogs, marshes, rivers, desert
oasis and vast delta areas, SFA's experts say.
China has the largest wetland area in Asia, covering about 65
million hectares, which is 10 percent of the world total.
Chinese wetlands are home to 1,540 varieties of plants and 1,500
species of animals, including 300 species of waterfowl, which
accounts for one-fourth of China's bird families.
To form a perfect integrated system of wetland protection,
administration and construction, China will improve many aspects of
monitoring, policy-making, and scientific research, the SFA's
spokesman added.
"Such a system will help China become one of the world's
advanced countries in the field of wetland protection and
management," he said.
Under the program, a series of major projects of wetland
protection and rehabilitation are scheduled to be carried out from
this year to 2010.
They will include the planning of 90 natural wetland reserves,
new construction of 225 wetland reserves in various types with 40
as the main State ones, 30 of them listed among those of
international importance, four demonstrative ones neighboring oil
fields and three others near polluted lake areas.
(China Daily February 2, 2004)
