Chinanews, Beijing, February 27 – Beijing used to be famous for its more than 200 rivers, and wetlands covered 15% of the city area. However, accelerated urban planning and drought these years have drained many rivers and wetlands. Latest statistics show that only 50, 000 hectares of wetlands remain so far, covering some 3% of the city area.

 

The situation is worse downtown, as only 2.08% of the area there are covered with wetlands, allowing for even artificial lakes and rivers.

 

“The coverage of wetlands in a city should be between 3% and 4%, thus there is a lot to be done in Beijing to that end,” said Wei Mingjie, an engineer from Beijing Municipal Institute of Urban Planning.

 

“Some former wetlands have been transformed for construction, which must not happen in the future,” added Wei.