The Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, a model of biodiversity conservation

sdchina.com2021-10-10 18:26

　　The Information Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government held a press conference on October 8 to introduce the progress and results of the biodiversity conservation in Shandong. A number of representative areas with remarkable achievements in biodiversity conservation have emerged in Shandong province since the implementation of biodiversity conservation, such as the Yellow River Delta, Kunyu Mountain, Changdao Island and Nansi Lakes.

　　Established in October 1992 with the approval of the State Council, Shandong Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve is located in the estuary of the Yellow River, with a total area of 153,000 hectares. It is the largest, most complete and youngest wetland nature reserve in the warm temperature zone of China, which mainly protects the newborn wetland ecosystem and rare and endangered birds in the Yellow River Estuary.

　　At present, the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve has 1,627 species of wild animals and 368 species of birds, up from 187 when the reserve was established. Among them, there are 12 species of national first-class protected birds, 51 species of national second-class protected birds, and the number of 38 species of birds exceeds 1% of the global population. The reserve has 685 species of plants, including 193 wild seed plants, 512 insect species, 99 of which are new records in Shandong province, 6 amphibian species and 195 species of macrobenthos. Note that the Oriental white storks in the reserve have increased from 7 birds of two nests bred in 2005 to 306 birds of 105 nests bred in 2019, with a total of 1,639 birds successfully bred, making it the largest breeding ground of Oriental white storks in the world. In 2010, the reserve was awarded the title of "Hometown of Oriental White Storks in China" by China Wildlife Conservation Association.