The 19th Wetland Day fell on Feb. 2, 2015. The theme of this year is “Wetland: Our Future”. Wetland is a unique ecosystem with multiple functions which not only provides human being with food, raw materials and water resources, but also maintains the ecological balance, biodiversity and rare species. It also plays an important role in water conservation, flood storage, degradation pollution, regulating climate and replenishing ground water. As a result, it is called “kidney of the earth” and “natural reservoir” by experts.

According to statistics, the total area of wetland in Qingdao is 127506 hectares, accounting for 11.3% of the total territorial area of the city. The wetlands in Qingdao can be divided into 4 categories: offshore and coastal wetland, riverine wetland, marsh wetland and artificial wetland. Among them, offshore and coastal wetland has the widest range, accounting for 60.2% of the total wetland area.

Now, Qingdao has 2 state-level wetland parks, Shaohai Wetland Park and Tangdao Bay Wetland Park along with 5 other wetland parks. These are important for the living of people in the city since it not only makes Qingdao a paradise for migratory birds, but also the “secret weapon” for the long lasting of favorable climate in Qingdao.