Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region plans to set up 13 wetlands nature reserves, covering about 1.46 million hectares, to conserve the decreasing ecological systems.

The program is designed to establish a unique inland ecosystem consisting of wetlands and deserts, a document from the Region's Forestry Bureau said.

Xinjiang's wetlands are mainly located in the lower reaches ofthe Tarim River, inner basins and river valleys of the Tianshan mountains, the Ertix River area of the Altay grasslands, with the highest site at 4,800 meters and the lowest at 154 meters below sea level, said the bureau.

Wetlands in the region have declined to 1.48 million hectares from 2.8 million hectares half a century ago due to population growth and rapid economic development.

China has more than 65.9 million hectares of wetlands, accounting for ten percent of the world's total.

Statistics from the State Forestry Administration show that inthe past 40 years, the country lost two million hectares of wetlands or one half of the acreage of the country's coastal wetlands.

Wetlands, natural ecological systems often described as the earth's "kidneys", play an important role in water conservation and the prevention of erosion and flooding.

(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2002)