China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Tuesday said that wetland protection has been included in the assessment of the performance of forest and river chiefs, who are responsible for guiding the protection of forest and grassland, and water resources, in all provincial-level regions across the country.

Wetlands are some of the most valuable ecosystems on Earth. Water, wetlands and forests are intricately interdependent, so healthy wetlands are inseparable from the well-protected water and forest resources.

Over the past few years, China has continued to promote the establishment of forest chief and river chief schemes in all provincial-level regions to strengthen ecological protection and restoration of the ecosystems.

By establishing the schemes, various regions of the country can clarify the areas and space, responsibilities, goals and tasks for ecological conservation and restoration, and better strengthen efforts to address regional and cross-regional problems.

The previous assessments of forest and river chiefs focused on the performance of protecting forests and rivers themselves, but the inclusion of wetlands conservation this time highlights the important co-protection of wetlands, forests and rivers.

The latest data show that the country's wetlands cover about 56.4 million hectares. So far, China has formed a wetland protection system with 82 wetlands of international importance, 29 wetlands of national importance, 903 national wetland parks and 13 international wetland cities in the country.

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