A long-term national wetland protection program was released Sunday in Beijing.

China plans to build 713 wetland reserves and rehabilitate the ecosystems in 1.4 million hectares of wetlands by the year 2030.

The program was approved to mark the eighth World Wetlands Day that falls today.

The theme for the special occasion is "From the Mountains to the Sea, Wetlands at Work for Us."

The program defined guidelines, targets, key projects and major countermeasures to be carried out in the next 30 years beginning this year, a spokesman for the State Forestry Administration (SFA) said Sunday.

"China will be able to bring more than 90 percent of its total natural wetlands into effective protection, realize sustainable use of wetlands' resources and bring their ecological functions and benefits into full play," a spokesman who declined to be named made predictions about the future results of the program.

Wetlands, the natural ecological system often referred to as the earth's "kidneys," play an important role in water conservation, as well as the prevention of soil erosion and flooding. The range of sizes go from village ponds to lakes, bogs, marshes, rivers, desert oasis and vast delta areas, SFA's experts say.

China has the largest wetland area in Asia, covering about 65 million hectares, which is 10 percent of the world total.

Chinese wetlands are home to 1,540 varieties of plants and 1,500 species of animals, including 300 species of waterfowl, which accounts for one-fourth of China's bird families.

To form a perfect integrated system of wetland protection, administration and construction, China will improve many aspects of monitoring, policy-making, and scientific research, the SFA's spokesman added.

"Such a system will help China become one of the world's advanced countries in the field of wetland protection and management," he said.

Under the program, a series of major projects of wetland protection and rehabilitation are scheduled to be carried out from this year to 2010.

They will include the planning of 90 natural wetland reserves, new construction of 225 wetland reserves in various types with 40 as the main State ones, 30 of them listed among those of international importance, four demonstrative ones neighboring oil fields and three others near polluted lake areas.

(China Daily February 2, 2004)