The local biodiversity is rebounding in the Haizhu National Wetland Park, reflecting the watershed improvements made to the ecosystem and environment in recent years.

The Haizhu National Wetland Park. [Photo/WeChat account: gzhzfb]

Over the past decade or so, significant conservation and restoration efforts have been made in the Haizhu National Wetland Park, which was founded in 2012.

It's widely said to have resulted in a remarkable turnaround in biodiversity. The recorded species of birds there, for example, have risen from 72 to 190, while the number of documented insect species has soared from 42 to 738. Over the past two years, two new insect species have been discovered here.

Located in the southern section of the central axis of Guangzhou city, the Haizhu National Wetland Park covers an area of about 1,100 hectares, 869 of which are included in the national wetland plan.

Volunteers guide young visitors at the Haizhu National Wetland Park. [Photo/WeChat account: gzhzfb]

In recent years, the water ecosystem and environment of Haizhu has continued to improve. Indeed, the proportion of high-quality water quality in 74 river inlets reached 93.2 percent in June this year, an increase of 77 percentage points compared with 2019 and 18 percentage points compared with 2022.

As of August 2023, the number of volunteers in Haizhu exceeded 5,200 people. What's more, 78 river protection activities were carried out, involving more than 4,780 hours of volunteer services.