China's wetlands include 10 percent of all the wetlands in the world. After becoming a signatory country to the International Convention on Wetlands in 1992, China has made more active efforts in wetland salvage and restoration. In November 2000, the China Action Plan for Wetland Protection was officially promulgated for implementation. It was a joint effort by the State Forestry Administration and 17 related ministries and commissions. The plan calls for bringing under control by 2010 human factors that lead to wetland shrinkage with the goal of restoring step-by-step deteriorated or lost wetland by 2020. By the end of 2002, China has established 353 wetland nature reserves of various kinds, most of which are shallows in the network of seas, lakes and rivers, or wetlands at the edge of forests. Twenty-one wetland sites, with an area of 3.03 million ha, in China are on the list of internationally important wetlands. (See "Land and Natural Resources.")
