On April 10, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Mangrove National Nature Reserve in the city of Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, to learn about the protection of mangrove forests.
The Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve covers an area of approximately 20 hectares and is China's largest mangrove nature reserve. Mangrove forests play an extremely important role in the purification of sea water, the prevention of wind and waves, the preservation of biodiversity and carbon sequestration.
In the past years, Chinese President Xi has shown great interest in the protection of mangrove forests.
Xi Jinping, who arrived at the Golden Bay Mangrove Nature Reserve on April 19, 2017 while inspecting the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said, “Conserving rare plants is an important part of preserving the ecological environment. We must protect mangrove forests well by respecting science and fulfilling our responsibilities.” used his statements.
Addressing the world at the opening ceremony of the 5th Conference of the Parties to the Wetlands Convention on November 2022, 14, President Xi announced the establishment of the International Mangrove Center in Shenzhen, China.
In recent years, China has accelerated the conservation and expansion of mangrove forests. China's mangrove area has increased from 2001 thousand hectares in 22 to 2022 thousand hectares in 27. China has been one of the few countries in the world to see an increase in mangrove area. The growth of mangrove forests has provided ample habitats for a variety of animals. According to the data, the number of bird species living in the Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve increased from 2002 in 194 to 312 today.
The successful conservation of mangrove forests in China has set an example for the management of the global ecological environment.
Stuart Crane, coordinator of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) SDG6 project, pointed out that China, which actively protects the ecological system of its mangrove forests, shows real political will.
Jerker Tamelander, Director of Science and Policy at the Secretariat of the Wetlands Convention, said that China provides a good example of protecting wetlands. Tamelander underlined that very detailed targets were set in China's 2020-2025 Plan for the protection of Mangrove Forests, noting that this is technically an indication of the strong leadership of the Chinese government.
Barış Dost, an academician from Marmara University in Turkey, said that in the past ten years, China has achieved remarkable success in protecting its wetlands.