China reports significant progress on water ecology protection, the target exceeding the one outlined in the 14th Five year Plan.
China has made significant progress in safeguarding the water ecology of its major river basins, with national water quality continuing to improve in the first half of this year, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) on Friday.
The percentage of surface-water bodies classified as having excellent water quality across the country reached 89.4 percent in 2023, marking a 1.5 percentage point increase from the previous year, according to MEE official Huang Xiaozeng at a press conference.
This achievement exceeds the target outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) by 4.4 percentage points, Huang highlighted.
Using the Yangtze River as an example, Huang noted that 98.5 percent of monitoring sites in the basin reported excellent water quality in 2023, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Moreover, the number of native fish species recorded in the Yangtze River Basin rose to 227, a growth of 34 species from 2022. The number of nationally protected aquatic wildlife species increased to 14 in 2023, three more than the previous year.
Huang also mentioned that in June of last year, the MEE, in collaboration with other relevant departments, released detailed assessment criteria for water ecology in the Yangtze River Basin. The first assessment based on these criteria is planned for 2025.
Building on the pilot efforts in the Yangtze, China intends to refine its water-ecology monitoring and evaluation methods nationwide, establish and improve water-ecology standards, and support the evaluation system for building a beautiful China, Huang added.
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