A unique plan for wetland protection and restoration of Hunan Province during the 14th Five-year Plan period (2021-2025) was officially issued, according to the Hunan Provincial Department of Forestry, on October 20th. It is planned to build the wetland protection spatial layout composed of "one zone, four belts, one network and several points".

Hunan Province has about 15.3 million mu (1.02 million ha.) of wetlands and plays a vital role in wetland ecological areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. As a result, the province is rich in wetland resources and species. There are 489 wetland plants and 639 wetland animals recorded in Hunan.

The wetland protection spatial layout aims to carry out wetland protection and restoration with the Dongting Lake area as the core, build wetland ecological conservation belts with the Xianjiang, Zijiang, Yuanshui, and Lishui rivers and first-level tributaries as the link, and establish a provincial wetland protection network based on wetland parks, wetland nature reserves, and important wetlands.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Hunan will restore and rebuild 12,000 hectares of degraded wetlands, restore 10,000 hectares of wetland wildlife habitats, and improve the quality of 14 existing ecological enclosures in the Dongting Lake area. In addition, for the basins of the Xianjiang, Zijiang, Yuanshui, and Lishui rivers, the province will restore 3,000 hectares of degraded wetlands and rebuild ecosystems there, restore 1,000 hectares of wetland wildlife habitats, and build 4,000 hectares of small and micro wetlands.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn