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Yunnan Establishes More Nature Reserves to Protect Plants, Animal
Southwest China's Yunnan Province, known as the "kingdom of animals and plants", has set up 112 nature reserves, covering more than 2.2 million hectares in area, to protect its array of animals and plants.
There are 2 million hectares of primeval forest in the nature reserves, accounting for 20 percent of the total area of natural forest in the province. The number of nature reserves, which include 10 state-level protection zones, is the most in the country.
An official with the provincial forestry bureau said that these nature reserves effectively protect 105 varieties of forest and more than 90 percent of the animals and plants in the province.
To protect local natural forests, the Standing Committee of the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress has worked out many local regulations, according to which, people who cut down or damage forests will be dealt with harshly.
According to statistics, the province's forest coverage rate has risen from the 40.6 percent five years ago to the current 44.3 percent. The number of Asian elephants has increased to 300 from the former 150 in the 1970s.
Yunnan is home to more than 30,000 varieties of plants and has many rare animal species.
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