World Wetlands Day is celebrated annually on February 2 to mark the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. This year marks the 26th World Wetlands Day with a theme of "Wetlands Action for People and Nature" that highlights the importance of actions that ensure wetlands being conserved and sustainably used. It's an appeal to invest financial, human and political capital to save the world's wetlands from disappearing and restore those we have degraded.

With 4 percent of the world's wetlands, China has met the diverse needs of one-fifth of the world's population for wetland production, living, ecology and culture.

In 1992, China formally acceded to the International Convention on Wetlands. Over the past 30 years, China has made great efforts to protect and restore wetlands, and the ecological conditions have continued to improve.

So far, China has designated 64 wetlands of international importance, set up 602 wetland nature reserves, more than 1,600 wetland parks and a large number of wetland protection communities, with the wetland protection rate reaching 52.65 percent. Also, China has invested 19.8 billion yuan ($3.11 billion) in wetland conservation and more than 4,100 projects have been carried out to protect and restore wetlands, according to China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

A new law on wetlands protection passed on December 24, 2021, will take effect on June 1, 2022, establishing the country's first specialized legislation on the issue.

According to the law, the country will exercise the administration of wetlands at different levels, and important wetland areas should be brought under the ecological conservation red lines.

The law prohibits any organization or individual from destroying the habitat of birds and aquatic life in wetlands.

It's forbidden to exploit peat from peat swamp wetlands or to exploit their groundwater without authorization, according to the law. Also, it's forbidden to occupy or dig ponds in mangrove wetlands, as well as to fell, excavate or transplant mangroves, or to over-exploit mangrove seeds, among other activities.

The new law highlights provisions for protecting peat swamps and mangrove wetlands.

China will host the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP14) in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, from November 21 to 29 this year.

The Conference will implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and review the development strategy of wetland conservation and other major issues.

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