Wild Geese fly over the Longmiao Lake in Xuyi County of Huai'an, east China's Jiangsu Province, Nov. 29, 2015.(Photo/Xinhua)

A total of 2,729 nature reserves have been built in China and 85 percent of the terrestrial ecosystems and wild animals and plants have been protected in an effective way, according to China's Ministry of Environmental Protection yesterday.

At present, China has terrestrial reserves of more than 1.7 million square kilometers, accounting for 18 percent of the total land area of China. The Convention on Biological Diversity stipulates that the ratio of terrestrial reserves to the total land area of a country should reach 17 percent by 2020 and China achieves this goal ahead of the schedule. China's nature reserves of 1.47 million square kilometers account for 14.8 percent of China's total land mass, higher than the world average level of 12.7 percent. By the end of 2014, China has 68 marine reserves covering 7,115 square kilometers.

China has seen progress in the rehabilitation and protection of ecosystems. In the past decade, China recovered wetland of more than 2,800 square kilometers and the forest area in China increased by 100,000 square kilometers. Moreover, China has designated 35 priority areas for biological diversity protection.