Chongqing Wetlands Map (Picture provided by Chongqing Geographic Information and Remote Sensing Application Center)

 Wetlands, the“kidneys of the earth”, are one of the three major global ecosystems, along with forests and oceans. With the aim of raising public awareness of wetland conservation and effective wetland protection, World Wetlands Day is celebrated on February 2 every year. This year, Chongqing Planning and Natural Resources Bureau and Chongqing Geographic Information and Remote Sensing Application Center have specially launched the Chongqing Wetlands Map to take you into the wetlands and get close to the nature. Here are five of them for recommendation.

Chongqing Xiuhu National Wetland Park

Chongqing Xiuhu National Wetland Park features the natural Bibei River and its tributaries, forest and marshes, stream source wetlands, mountain and lake, reservoir and ponds, rice paddies, springs and artificial canal as the main landscape, with quite streams and clear water and ornamental features. The natural and humanistic landscapes in the Park are intermingled, and the Wetland Park integrates Bayu culture, farming culture and other humanistic landscape resources, forming a tourist scenic belt that integrates many styles of cultural landscapes.

Chongqing Kaizhou Hanfeng Lake National Wetland Park

Located in Kaizhou District, Chongqing Kaizhou Hanfeng Lake National Wetland Park comprises three wetland categories: river wetland, reservoir wetland and marsh wetland, and seven wetland types: permanent river, seasonal river, floodplain wetland, herbaceous marsh, shrub marsh, forest marsh and reservoir wetland, forming a natural and artificial composite wetland system. The Wetland is rich in flora and fauna and is the wintering habitat of many waterfowl in the Three Gorges Reservoir in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Chongqing Huanghua Island National Wetland Park

Chongqing Huanghua Island National Wetland Park includes Huanghua Island, an island in the main stream of the Yangtze River, and some of its surrounding waters. This Wetland Park is rich in ecological types and complete in system structure and function, with a synergistic symbiosis of wetland and forest ecosystems and a distinctly seasonally changing zone of subsidence. The Park’s landscape is dominated by river wetland landscapes, combining island, lake, reservoir, rice paddies, forest and human landscapes, and is important for scientific research on the evolution of river wetlands and the mechanisms of species evolution.

Chongqing Liangping Shuanggui Lake National Wetland Park

Chongqing Liangping Shuanggui Lake National Wetland Park is rich in wetland resources and is divided into three major wetland categories: artificial wetland, river wetland and marsh wetland and three major wetland types: permanent river, reservoir wetland and paddy/flooded paddy. The Park’s superior ecological environment and the abundance of rare flora and fauna constitute a treasure trove of biological resources and a base of tourism resources. The bamboo and pomelo vegetation on the shores of the lake create a valuable natural landscape of“picturesque landscapes and the fragrance of bamboo and pomelo”, with wetland waterfowl, herons herding cows and singing of frogs and birds, full of the vitality and wildness of nature.

Chongqing Nanchuan Lixiang Lake National Wetland

Lixianghu Township is the former Nanchuan Tuxi Township, and Lixiang Lake is the former Tuxi Reservoir. With beautiful mountains, clear and quiet water, numerous harbors and barges, 38 peninsulas and one island (Muyu Island), good infrastructure and pleasant scenery and climate, Lisiang Lake is an ideal place for ecological tourism, holidays, and physical fitness. (Translated by Wang Huixin, Fathom Language Limited)

Editor:Jiang Yiwei