China set up a wetland research institute in Beijing Monday.

The organization, Institute of Wetland Research under the China Academy of Forestry, will focus on research about wetland protection, wetland function study and wetland evaluation, according to the State Forestry Administration.

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally.

China reports 38.48 million hectares of wetland, ranking the first in Asia and the fourth in the world. A total of 353 wetland natural reserves have been set up in China, protecting 16 million hectares of wetland and 33 kinds of rare water birds.