Item from July 25, 1984, in China Daily: Nanwan Peninsula, Hainan province, is the only nature reserve where rhesus monkeys breed in China. Since the sanctuary was established 20 years ago, the monkey population has increased from around 60 to 10,000. ... China will establish 138 more nature reserves by 1990, bringing the total to 400 and covering 240,000 square kilometers, authorities said.

Since China's first natural protection zone was established in Guangdong province in 1956, more than 2,700 nature reserves have been built across the nation, according to the State Forestry Administration.

Covering 1.7 million square kilometers and occupying 15 percent of the country's total land area, they have played an important role in safeguarding China's forests, wildlife and water.

Last year, the country's forest coverage reached nearly 22 percent and more than 260,000 sq km of land hit by soil erosion had been treated.

In the past five years alone, China invested about 90 billion yuan ($13.5 billion) in forest conservation projects.

However, research conducted jointly by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that nearly 11 percent of higher plants and some rare animals are not adequately protected.

Red-crowned cranes at a national rare birds nature reserve in East China's Jiangsu province, Jan 9, 2016. Reserves now account for 14.8 percent of the country's territory. [Photo/Xinhua]