Abstract
On December 24, 2021, the 32nd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of China passed the Wetland Conservation Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into force on June 1, 2022. This is the first time that China has legislated specifically on wetland ecosystems in order to strengthen wetland conservation and restoration. China's Wetland Conservation Law clarifies the concept and management system of wetlands within a framework of legal protection. Fully considering ecosystem integrity, the law explicitly stipulates prohibitive and restrictive acts and further establishes systems of wetland protected areas, protected wetland directories, overall size maintenance, acquiring and occupying wetlands, ecological compensation, wetland restoration, community engagement and wise use of wetlands, and basic management of wetland resources, which are based on legal systems of wetland conservation, restoration and management that have effectively achieved conservation goals worldwide. Furthermore, China's Wetland Conservation Law emphasizes the importance of scientific and technological support for rational wetland conservation. The formulation and implementation of China’s Wetland Conservation Law constitute an important action for China to conserve wetland ecosystems, which will not only play a vital role in reversing the current trend of continuing wetland loss in China but also have a far-reaching impact on the development of human civilization through nature conservation.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their great helps and valuable suggestions.
Funding
This study was financially supported by the Project of Study on the Compilation and Publicity of the Interpretation of Wetland Conservation Law of China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration (Grant number 2021050101).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Ziwen Ma, Mingxiang Zhang, Zhenming Zhang, Jiakai Liu and Shanze Li. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Ziwen Ma and Mingxiang Zhang, Ming Jiang commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Ziwen Ma, Mingxiang Zhang, Zhenming Zhang, Jiakai Liu, Shanze Li and Ming Jiang read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ma, Z., Zhang, M., Zhang, Z. et al. Interpretation of the Wetland Conservation Law of the People’s Republic of China. Wetlands 43, 58 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01702-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-023-01702-6