Wuxi access to wetlands improves

It is now more convenient for residents of Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, to visit wetlands as the city's natural wetland protection rate reached 67.5 percent in 2021.

In 2012, the figure was only 25.5 percent, according to Feng Yao from the Wuxi municipal bureau of natural resources and planning.

Eleven years ago, the Lianghong and Lihu Lake wetland parks became the first in Wuxi to be approved as national wetland parks, and by 2021 the city was home to three national wetland parks and six provincial wetland parks.

Over the past decade, Wuxi has been restoring and managing mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, and grasslands in an effort to build an ecological corridor and biodiversity protection network.

A wetland restoration and protection layout surrounding Taihu Lake has now taken shape in the city.

"The natural environment in Wuxi has improved in recent years and Taihu Lake is now surrounded by well-protected wetlands," said a local resident, adding everywhere she walks feels like a scenic spot.

According to the wetland protection plan from 2021 to 2035 in Wuxi, the city's natural wetland protection rate is supposed to reach 68 percent by 2035.

By the same year, it should have a complete wetland protection and management system, build 13 wetland reserves, and build and repair more than 100 small wetlands.

A healthy natural environment attracts more wildlife. In 2011, there were 185 species of wildlife in Wuxi, and 10 years later the figure has increased to 370, including 72 species of wild birds under national first- and second-class protection.