China's multi-measures to protect the "kidney of the earth" wetland protection rate increased to

River wind, water birds, reeds, ripples... In Harbin White Fish Bubble Wetland, which was dyed green, photography enthusiast Liu Lingxu recorded the picturesque scenery of Songhua River with his SLR camera.

"Due to excessive human interference, there were only more than 100 hectares of wetlands left in Baiyupao at one time, and the ecology was seriously degraded." Bai Liandi, director of Wildlife Management Office of Harbin City Forestry Bureau, said that in 2008, Baiyupao established the National Wetland Park. Through continuous acquisition and dehumidification, the area is now expanded to 284 hectares, and the shrinking wetland function is gradually restored.

On January 13, 2014, the results of the second national wetland resources survey organized by the State Forestry Administration were announced. The total area of wetlands in China was 53.6 million hectares, and the protected wetlands reached 23.24 million hectares. The wetland protection rate increased from 30% in the first national survey to 43%. At present, 18 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China have issued regulations on wetland protection at the provincial level, and some places have also incorporated wetland protection into the performance assessment of local party and government leaders.

Heilongjiang Province, whose wetland area accounts for about one tenth of the whole country, issued the Decision on Strengthening Wetland Protection in 1998, stopping all reclamation activities and establishing nature reserves for rescue. In August 2003, the People's Congress of Heilongjiang Province passed the Regulations on Wetland Protection of Heilongjiang Province, which explicitly required governments at all levels to incorporate wetland protection into national economic and social development plans and arrange the use of special funds. Up to now, there are 8 internationally important wetlands in Heilongjiang Province, such as Zhalong, Xingkai Lake and Dongfanghong, ranking first in China; 85 wetland nature reserves and 41 wetland parks have been built, basically forming a wetland protection network covering the whole province.

Wang Renchun, director of the Wetland Protection and Management Center of Heilongjiang Province, said that the promulgation of the Regulations has solved the embarrassing situation that has not been able to be followed for a long time, and the protection and construction of wetlands have been significantly accelerated.

At the same time, some cities have explored and tried wetland protection. Zhalong Nature Reserve, the largest breeding habitat of red-crowned cranes in China, suffered from serious water shortage, serious vegetation degradation and frequent wildfires in the late 1990s. In order to solve the problem of water shortage, Heilongjiang Province began to introduce Nenjiang River water into Zhalong since 2002, which was the first ecological water replenishment mechanism in China. This long-term water replenishment mechanism was subsequently fixed, with an average annual water replenishment of 250 million cubic meters for Zhalong.

In addition, Heilongjiang Province continues to carry out the work of returning farmland to wet land. According to the data provided by Forestry Department of Heilongjiang Province, Dajiahe Nature Reserve in Raohe County has adopted severe crackdown on illegal reclamation and replacement of cultivated land within and outside the area, returning more than 1600 hectares of farmland to wet land, greatly improving the integrity of wetland ecosystem. In 2013 alone, the area of returning farmland to wet land in the whole province exceeded 10000 hectares, basically distributed in protected areas and wetland parks at all levels.