Hunan Provincial Development and Reform Commission has approved the construction of seven wetland protection and restoration projects in the Dongtinghu Lake area.
The seven projects are reported to be: Lixian Beiminhu Wetland Protection Project, Dongtinghu Henglinghu Wetland Protection Project, Dongtinghu Wanzihu Wetland Protection Project, Hunan Jicheng Milu Nature Reserve Wetland Protection Project, Quyuan Wetland Protection Project, Miluo Heyehu Wetland Protection Project, and Dongtinghu Area Baodahu Wetland Protection Project.
The seven projects cover more than 300,000 hectares and involve a total investment of over CNY70 million.
In addition, Hunan is also applying for approval to build another two wetland projects, Changsha Tuantouhu Wetland project and Dongtinghu Area Liujiahu Wetland Project.
Hunan features rich wetland resources with the total wetland area reaching 5.6068 million hectares, which accounts for 26.47% of China's total wetland area. However, since the 1960's, the area wetland in the province has been shrinking and decaying as a result of large scale drainage projects and pollution.
