China steps up wetland preservation efforts

China has been stepping up its efforts in maintaining a stable area of wetland with emphasis on protection and systemic governance, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. The latest data showed that China has 56.35 million hectares of wetlands, ranking first in Asia and fourth globally.

China has so far established 903 national wetland parks and 13 cities were credited as international wetland cities. Since 2012, China has implemented over 3,400 wetland protection projects, with more than 800,000 hectares of wetlands being created and restored. It has compensated more than one million hectares of agricultural lands for damage caused by birds in the wetlands.