Thriving wild animals

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration said last year that the construction of all 10 national parks will be completed on schedule, adding that some had already made significant achievements in ecological and wildlife protection.

In May, Qinghai's provincial government said Three-River-Source National Park will be officially established this year. Covering an area of 123,000 sq km, mainly on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it will protect the sources of three major rivers－the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang－and wildlife including Tibetan antelopes.

In Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, which spans the border of Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, Siberian tigers and Amur leopards－two species listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List－have seen their populations increase in the past two years.

Zhang Shanning, deputy head of the park's management bureau, said 10 Siberian tigers and six Amur leopards had been born in that time.

In Giant Panda National Park, which unites more than 80 fragmented habitats scattered in southwestern China's Sichuan province and Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in the northwest, 319 cases of illegal use of forest land, 621 cases of commercial logging and 462 criminal cases of wildlife hunting and trading were subjected to prosecution or administrative punishment last year.