China's largest freshwater lake, the Poyang Lake in the eastern province of Jiangxi is an important wintering place for waterfowl in Asia.

February 2 marks the World Wetlands Day. It is also the anniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat, which was adopted as an international treaty in 1971. The theme for World Wetlands Day 2024 is "Wetlands and Human Well-being." This year's campaign spotlights how interconnected wetlands and human life are — with people drawing sustenance, inspiration and resilience from these productive ecosystems. Importantly, the theme for 2024 underscores how all aspects of human well-being are tied to the health of the world's wetlands. It calls on each of us to value and steward our wetlands.

Wetlands are among the most vital ecosystems on our planet. Beyond water conservation, biodiversity preservation and climate regulation, wetlands also play an important role in water purification, flood storage and drought prevention, and carbon sequestration. Recognized as "Earth's kidneys" and "species gene bank," wetlands are essential for maintaining ecological, food, water resources and biological security as well as coping with global climate change.

China, with vast terrain, varied climate and complex natural environment, now boasts 56.35 million hectares of wetlands. Among these are 82 wetlands of international importance, 58 wetlands of national importance, 903 nationalwetland parks and 13 international wetland cities. Accounting for 4% of the world's total wetland coverage, China's wetlands have well played their role in providing production and living resources, optimizing ecological environment, and offering cultural sites for one-fifth of the world population. Committed to maintaining human-nature harmony, China has been actively exploring ways to strike a balance between economic growth and ecological protection in its pursuit of high-quality development.