Photo shows waterfowls at the Shajiabang national wetland park in Changshu, east China's Jiangsu Province.(PHOTO: XINHUA)

By LU Zijian

The 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP14), was held in China's Wuhan and Switzerland's Geneva from November 5 to 13.

It was the first time for China to host the meeting since the country joined the Convention 30 years ago. The great strides China has made in wetlands protection are phenomenal.

Wetlands well protected

With 56.35 million hectares of wetlands, China ranks first in Asia and fourth in the world in terms of area covered. There are 901 national wetland parks, over 600 wetland nature reserves, and 64 wetland sites, which are listed on Wetlands of International Importance by the Convention.

China also has 13 cities accredited by the Convention as Wetland City, which is the largest number in the world.

For the past decade, more than 3,400 wetlands protection and restoration projects have been conducted, and over 800,000 hectares of wetlands increased and restored.

Nearly 700 more species of animals and plants have been seen in China's first national wetland park, Xixi National Wetland Park in Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang province.

Twenty years ago, the water quality was rather poor in Xixi, but a comprehensive protection project was soon initiated. By dredging, diverting sewage tube and biological treatment, the water environment has been significantly improved. Now, the overall water quality of Xixi is kept at Class III, whereas the quality in the core area remains Class II.

Another example is that the number of several rare and endangered waterfowl exceeds one percent of their global population in Minjiang River estuary wetland in southeast China's Fujian province, which is regarded as one of the areas with the most abundant offshore marine species at the same latitude in the northern hemisphere.

Efforts from both government and people

The achievement mentioned above is part of a much deeper process.

A total of 97 policies and regulations at both national and provincial levels have been released since 2012, establishing a primary policy system for wetlands protection. In particular, China's first law on wetlands protection took effect in June. 

The country also set up a classification management system for wetlands conservation. Apart from the afore mentioned Wetlands of International Importance, there are also 29 pieces of wetlands of national importance, and 1,021 of provincial importance.

China is also the first country to have conducted national wetlands survey on three occasions. Field stations were built all over the country to carry out wetlands surveys and monitoring. Together with real-time monitoring and information management platforms, they will be gradually integrated into the national forest and grass ecological sensing system.

About a month ago, the National Wetland Protection Plan (2022-2030) was issued, proposing that the national wetlands protection rate will reach 55 percent by 2025, and 50 new wetlands of national importance are to be established.

The people also contribute to wetlands conservation in their own way. Praised as the "most beautiful auntie" along the urban wetland of Guiyang, southwest China's Guizhou province, Zhou Yuqing has volunteered to protect the local wetland and disseminate environmental protection ideas since 2008. She later also founded a team of senior citizen volunteers for wetlands protection. For the past 14 years, the team has done voluntary work for a cumulative time of 13,000 hours.

Striving for a world with healthy wetlands

With only four percent of the planet's wetlands, China managed to satisfy the need for wetlands of its people, which makes up 20 percent of global population. China has hosted wetlands protection foreign aid training for developing countries, sharing its advanced technologies and successful methods with 150 wetlands administrators from more than 20 countries.

Under the Belt and Road Initiative, the wetlands project was successfully implemented within the framework of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, extensively conducting bilateral and multilateral cooperation in wetlands protection.

In May 2021, the largest standalone GEF-7 biodiversity project in China, Strengthening the Protected Area Network for Migratory Bird Conservation Along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) in China, was officially launched in China, covering around 300,000 hectares of Wetlands of International Importance.

The country has also been working on the conservation of mangrove forests, which is of great importance for protecting coastal areas. With 27,100 hectares of mangrove forests, China is one the few countries that has seen a net increase of mangrove coverage areas.

At COP14 this year, the Wuhan Declaration was adopted to reaffirm the principles of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands to conserve, restore and ensure wise use of wetlands.

China, as a contracting party, will abide by the declaration and continue to work on wetlands protection.