Convention on Wetlands chief praises China's conservation efforts

The secretary-general of the Convention on Wetlands has hailed China's "impressive" efforts and progress in wetland conservation and management during the ongoing 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP15), which is being held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

Speaking at a side event on Friday evening, Musonda Mumba said China now hosts more wetland cities accredited by the convention than any other country, and that the diversity of these cities is also impressive.

"It was a demonstration of the cities but also commitment of a legal perspective, because China is one of the very few countries that actually have a wetland law," Mumba said. "And I think there's a lot that China can share with the rest of the world around the work that has happened there."

Mumba said she was also impressed by the depth of work on wetland conservation in China, and that she was glad to find much of the work there is also people centered. She called for more countries to involve people more substantively in wetland management and making changes.

During the COP15, nine more Chinese cities were awarded Wetland City Accreditation, increasing the total number of such cities in China to 22.

According to China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration, China has carried out more than 630 projects for wetland conservation and restoration over the past five years, with 310,000 hectares of wetland restored, and mangrove area increasing by 8,800 hectares.