In southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, 61 nature reserves have been established across a total land area of 410,000 square kilometers, a regional forestry official said Friday.

These nature reserves account for 33.69 percent of the land within the jurisdiction of the regional government, marking the highest ratio in China, said Zongga, director of the Wild Life Protection and Nature Reserve Department of the regional Forestry Bureau.

The proportion stood at just 4 percent in 1990, he said.

About 125 wildlife species and 39 wild plant species under state protection live in these forestry, wildlife, wetland, desert, snow mountain and canyon reserves, said the director.

The population of red deer, a species on the verge of extinction, has been growing since the late 1990s. The Tibetan antelope and black-necked crane populations are also expanding, he said.

Zongga also said the regional authority has mapped out a package of policies and regulations to standardize the protection of nature reserves.

Dinghushan, China's first nature reserve, was established in south China's Guangdong Province in 1956. The establishment of the first batch of nature reserves in Tibet was approved in 1985.

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