Protection plan issued to further conserve wetlands across China

By 2025, 50 new wetlands of national importance will be established, and the national wetland protection rate will reach 55 percent, according to the National Wetland Protection Plan (2022-30), jointly issued by China's Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Ministry of Natural Resources in October.

China now has a total area of 56.35 million hectares of wetlands, including mangrove forests, forested swamps, shrub swamps, marshes, and other types of wetlands, according to the results of the third National Land Resource Survey and the 2020 National Land Change Survey.

The plan clarifies the overall requirements, spatial layout, and key tasks of China's wetland protection put forward by the development goals.

By 2025, the wetland protection rate will reach 55 percent, and degraded wetlands will be preserved using scientific methods. The forest area of mangroves will also be increased and its quality improved. The wetland protection laws and regulation systems will also be enhanced to further improve the quality of the wetland ecological system and stability. Moreover, 20 wetlands of international importance and 50 wetlands of national importance will be established.

By 2030, the wetland ecosystem function and biodiversity will be perfected, its comprehensive service function strengthened and its carbon sequestration capacity increased to make China an essential participant, contributor, and leader in global wetland protection and restoration.

2022 marks the 30th anniversary of China's accession to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Also, China's first Wetland Protection Law took effect on June 1 this year, marking a new stage of legalized development for wetland conservation in China.