The unremitted ecological protection efforts of government departments at various levels in northwestern Qinghai Province have been rewarded with a growing number of wild species around the Qinghai Lake.

Covering 4,232 sq km in the northern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Qinghai Lake is China's biggest saltwater lake, with a host of rare, endangered wildlife species.

Yet in the 1980s, the number of wildlife inhabiting around the lake declined drastically because of illegal hunting and deteriorating ecological environment.

To deal with the situation, local governments in Qinghai have launched a series of environmental protection projects, greatly improving the living environment of Qinghai Lake wildlife, said Dong Jiansheng, deputy director of the provincial wildlife and natural reserve administration.

About 29 ha of farmland around the Qinghai Lake have been returned to forests and meadows, acknowledged the official.

The provincial government have also formulated policies on protecting the lake's wetland resources and saving the endangered wild species especially the bird species.

At the end of 2004, more than 150,000 birds perched around the Qinghai Lake, with bird species have rising to 189, or 25 more than that in 1984.

Dong said that the endangered antelope species, procapra przewalskii, have grown to 300, doubling that in the 1980s.

The official said the protection project over procapra przewalskii will continue in 2005 while the municipal government will speed up building a state-level natural reserve in the lake area.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2005)