Hunan: Home to 3 Ramsar Sites and 49 National Wetland Parks

　　After the White Dew (the 15th solar term in Chinese traditional calendar, begins around September 8 and ends around Sept. 23), a large number of migratory birds come in succession to Dongting Lake -- “the kidney of the Yangtze River”, for a stop or wintering. People will be able to see again the beautiful and rare scenes in the traditional eight views of Xiaoxiang such as “wild geese alighting on the beach” and “cranes singing in the marsh”.

　　According to the Forestry Department of Hunan Province, Hunan tops the national rankings with three Ramsar Sites of International Importance, namely, East Dongting Lake, West Dongting Lake and South Dongting Lake, as well as 49 national wetland parks including Dongjiang Lake and Shuifumiao. Except for coastal wetland, Hunan possesses various types of wetland, including wetlands in lakes, rivers, marsh, mountainous area and plains.

　　Hunan boasts large areas of wetland. Apart from paddy field, the total area of wetland reaches 15.3 million mu (about 1,020,510 hectares), covering 4.81% of the total area of the province. The area of protected wetlands amounts to 10.5998 million mu (about 707,006 hectares), covering 69.3% of the wetlands, while the national average is 43.51%.

　　During the past three years, Hunan has carried out 21 national projects of wetland protection and restoration, 27 projects with subsidies from the central government and three projects of the construction and improvement of natural reserves after the Three Gorges Dam Project, attracting nearly 300 million yuan of national investment and international support.