The central government plans to spend 1.6 billion yuan (262 million U.S. dollars) to preserve and restore China's wetlands, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.
The planned investment includes 680 million yuan for protection and restoration projects, 405 million in compensation for services that benefit the environment, 400 million in incentives for those who help protect the environment and another 115 million used to revert agricultural lands to wetlands.
China ranked the fourth in the world in terms of wetland surface, with important wetlands such as Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake. The government vowed to protect the wetlands with 1.59 billion yuan in fiscal spending last year, helping them expand in many parts of the country.
