Photo taken on Jan. 30, 2023 shows a wetland park in Huaibei, east China's Anhui province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Wen)
Wetland parks well combine ecological conservation, ecological tourism, and environmental education and thus generate ecological, social, and economic benefits. They are an important part of China's wetland conservation system.
Chinese provinces and municipalities are constantly working to apply for national wetland parks and build regional wetland parks, demonstrating China's innovative approach to protecting, restoring, and utilizing wetland.
Currently, there are 29 national wetland parks and 26 provincial wetland parks in Sichuan province, and east China's Anhui province has preliminarily established a wetland conservation network that puts 51.8 percent of its wetlands under protection.
Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang province, is applying for the wetland city accreditation of the Ramsar Convention, and a provincial-level wetland park is expected to be built near the Qiantang River in the city. It is learned that the coverage of the wetland park will be far beyond that of the Xixi National Wetland Park in the city, which spans 11.5 square kilometers.
Over the past few years, China has witnessed a prominent increase in the population of wild birds in wetlands. Rare and endangered bird species have started to show up in wetlands across the country and inhabit in large groups there. This indicates improved wetland ecology in the country.
The Yellow River Wetland National Nature Reserve in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province, sits in the center of the middle channel of China's three major bird migration routes. After years of treatment, the ecology in the nature reserve has constantly improved. There are currently 283 wild bird species in the reserve, up from 169 in 2006.
Surveys on wintering birds recently released by local authorities suggested important progress in China's ecological restoration.
