Feb. 2 (Fujian Daily/ZhangHui ) - On February. 2, a press conference on 2023 World Wetlands Day was held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Eighteen wetlands in China, including the Min River Estuary Wetland, were designated as Wetlands of International Importance, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration of China announced.

The Wetlands of International Importance list is part of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands enacted in 1975. According to the Convention, the contracting parties can add qualified wetlands to the list and shoulder the responsibility to maintain the ecological characters and functions of wetlands. The wetlands need to meet at least one of the nine criteria, and have international significance in ecology, botany, and zoology and other aspects.

Since its accession to the convention in 1992, China has added 82 wetlands to the Wetlands of International Importance list in 12 batches. In 2008, Zhangjiang Estuary Mangroove National Nature Reserve became the first Wetland of International Importance in Fujian Province. The wetland has the most diverse and best-growing natural mangrove community in the north of the Tropic of Cancer in China.

Min River Estuary Wetland, the second Wetland of International Importance in Fujian Province, is located in the Meihua Channel in the south of Min River Estuary. Consisted of Shanyutan Wetland and surrounding waters and intertidal zone, it is the best natural estuarine deltaic wetland in Fujian. However, it was endangered by improper exploitation, pollution, biological invasion and other crises at the beginning of the century.

“We stop the improper construction projects, define the ecological redline in wetland management, build the sound management organization, and roll out the regulations to control Spartina alterniflora, clean up the floating garbage, return the aquaculture farmland to wetland, and develop the ecological monitoring,” said Zheng Hang, the director of the administrative office of the Min River Estuary Wetland National Nature Reserve. During the past twenty more years, the ecological status of the Min River Estuary Wetland has gone through a great leap. Meanwhile, its administrator has actively engaged in international interaction and promoted the ecology story of Fujian Province to the world.

Last year, Min River Estuary Wetland was added to the Tentative Lists of The World Heritage, covering the area of the four reservations, namely the Min River Estuary National Wetland Park, Min River Estuary Wetland National Nature Reserve, Min River Estuary Wetland Provincial Nature Reserve, and Changle Mussel Resources Enhancement Reserve. And this time, what has been is added to the Wetlands of International Importance list is the core of the above mentioned area, whose boundary is identical with that of the Min River Estuary Wetland National Nature Reserve.

Why can Min River Estuary Wetland be added to the Wetlands of International Importance list? It is because it meets four of the criteria of the Wetlands of International Importance.