50,000 hectares of mangroves
( 2003-09-24 17:06) (China Daily)
Guangdong plans to invest 100 million yuan (US$12.08 million) in creating
50,000 more hectares of mangroves along the province's coastal areas over the
next five years, reports Guangzhou Daily.
The 1.864 million hectares of wetlands in the province currently include
10,000 hectares of mangroves.
But industrial development has severely damaged the coastal wetlands in
recent years. Three-quarters of the marshes at the mouth of the Pearl River have
shrunk, said He Zhijun, director of the Wildlife Protection Office of the
Provincial Forestry Bureau.
Efforts are being made to legislate a wetlands protection law next year, he
added.
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