The Yellow River Estuary National Park in east China's Shandong Province has successfully passed national evaluation and acceptance, with authorities now making solid progress in follow-up works.

At the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP14) concluded Sunday, China announced that about 11 million hectares of wetlands will be incorporated into the national park system, with focus on developing wetland national parks including the Three-River-Source National Park, Qinghai Lake National Park, Ruoergai National Park, the Yellow River Estuary National Park, the Liaohe River Estuary National Park and the Songnen Plain Crane Homeland National Park.

In October 2021, the National Park Administration approved the establishment of the Yellow River Estuary National Park. According to the plan, the park will integrate and optimize eight nature reserves, including the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, Geopark and Forest Park, with a planned area of about 3,518 square kilometers, of which 1,371 square kilometers are land area and 2,147 square kilometers sea.

"After the completion of the Yellow River Estuary National Park, the area will be about twice the size of the current reserve, which will be more conducive to the habitat and reproduction of various animals and plants," said Li Xingjie, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve.

As it is migration season, staff at the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve are monitoring migration data.

"At present, we are mainly monitoring and recording wild bird populations during the migration season to see which habitats are more suitable for birds to live in. Next, we will make targeted protection measures to make these birds more comfortable in our place and provide data support for the construction of the Yellow River Estuary National Park," said Zhang Shuyan, deputy station manager of the Yellow River Estuary Management Station of the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve.

The local government invested 68 million yuan (about $9.65 million) to build an ecological monitoring center in the Yellow River Delta to monitor key species such as oriental white storks and black-billed gulls in real time.

"The number of bird species in the nature reserve has increased from 187 in the initial period to 371, with 38 species accounting for more than one percent of their global population. It has become an important breeding ground for oriental white storks and black-billed gulls," said Zhao Yajie, deputy director of the Yellow River Delta Environmental Monitoring Center of the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve.

(Cover image via VCG)

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