Transition period

Despite the cost, remediation measures have been started in many wetland areas.

As such, to protect wetland in the Yellow River estuary in Dongying, Shandong province, the local government and Sinopec's Shengli Oilfield have in recent years demolished about 300 oil wells located in and around the core area of the river delta, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, which noted that the annual output value of the wells stood at more than 500 million yuan.

Dongying has launched 16 wetland remediation projects in the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, with a total investment of roughly 1.1 billion yuan, it said. The total area of farmland and fish farms returned to wetland and beaches has reached more than 4,800 hectares.

Environmental improvements have seen the number of bird species in the reserve rise from 187 in 1992, when it was established, to the current 371. Moreover, the populations of the 38 species in the reserve equal 1 percent of the global total.

Chen Hao, Party chief of Huzhou, said it was the first prefecture-level city in Zhejiang to devise a wetland protection plan. So far, the city has treated 16,000 hectares of wetland as it returns farmland to nature and restores aquatic plants, Hao said.

Huzhou has started an ecological compensation mechanism to encourage work to protect and remediate wetland areas in different areas, he said, adding that the city pays more than 20 million yuan in compensation every year.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration said there are 1,600 wetland parks and 600 wetland nature reserves nationwide, while 64 wetland areas have been designated as being of international importance. "China has established a system for wetland protection and management," said Wu, from the administration, adding that the proportion of protected wetland nationwide is 52.7 percent.

Last year, the National People's Congress, the top legislature, passed the Wetland Protection Law — the first dedicated to the issue. It came into effect on June 1, meaning wetland conservation efforts have entered a new era, Wu said.

He said the NFGA will introduce new regulations, mechanisms and policies, and guide regions nationwide to draft or revise rules to raise the protection rate to 55 percent and restore about 66,000 hectares of wetland by 2025.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn