Wetland Conservation Efforts and Policy Impacts in China

Despite the benefit to China’s population from wetland ecosystem services, massive wetlands are disappearing due to severe human activities and climate change. This chapter summarized wetland conservation efforts and policy impacts in China. It emphatically introduced the general situation based on the results of national wetland inventories, documented the dominant threats of wetlands, and reviewed threats from agricultural cultivation, urbanization, and Spartina alterniflora invasion. It evaluated major policies for wetland conservation by time and specifically highlighted the National Wetland Conservation Program. It summarized conservation efforts and achievements in China. Specifically, the spatiotemporal patterns of marshes and swamps restored from farmland and restoration of mangrove forests observed from remote sensing were documented. Given the current status of wetland conservation, it provided insights about challenges and recommendations.