The funds will be used mainly on building a 200-square-meter wetland monitoring station, one meteorological station and 16 monitoring sites, a source with the natural reserve said.

Experts believe the facilities, to be equipped with high-tech instruments, will provide detailed reports on changes in the wetlands and therefore put them under better protection.

Chinese State Forestry Administration(SFA) committed 12.07 million yuan(about 1.45 million US dollars) late in 2004 to building its first wetland monitoring project in Yellow River Delta Natural Reserve.

Statistics from the natural reserve show the wetlands in the delta have played a crucial role in water conservation and purification and in protecting bio-diversity.

Covering an area of nearly 200,000 hectares, the wetlands in Yellow River Delta are also among the youngest and best preserved in China.

China has 66 million hectares of wetlands, which are the largest in Asia and fourth-largest in the world.

SFA's director Jia Zhibang told a press conference here Monday that China has built 473 wetland natural reserves and put 45 percent of its total natural wetlands under effective protection. Enditem