ZHANJIANG, Guangdong: A project to restore the mangrove forests off the Leizhou Peninsula in Zhanjiang, the southernmost city of South China's Guangdong Province, added over 1,000 hectares of the tropical vegetation before wrapping up recently.

The completion of the Integrated Mangrove Management and Coastal Protection (IMMCP) marked a major milestone in the efforts of both Zhanjiang and Guangdong to protect the area's mangrove resources.

The mangrove forests off Guangdong Province are the country's biggest. The forests have suffered in recent decades because of unchecked duck and shrimp farming, which caused the mangrove areas to shrink from some 40,000 hectares in the 1950s to just under 11,000 hectares today.

Official statistics show that the city of Zhanjiang has 20,000 hectares of wetlands and about 7,700 hectares of mangrove forests.

The mangrove forests in Zhanjiang represent 78 per cent of Guangdong's total mangrove forests, and 32 per cent of the nation's total.

"Zhanjiang has the richest mangrove resources in China," said Niek Haarman, consul of the Netherlands Consulate General Guangzhou.

"The IMMCP project helps to promote the sustainable management of mangrove resources in Zhanjiang, which will maintain the area's ecological integrity and biodiversity. The forests also act as an effective coastal shelterbelt and offer a sustainable basis for economic development of the coastal region."

The IMMCP project is a Sino-Dutch joint initiative that was launched in 2001 to help reverse the damage to the region's mangrove areas. The Netherlands' government has provided US$3 million worth of financial support to the project, while the Chinese Government provided US$2 million.

The project has added 1,003 hectares of mangrove forests along the peninsula in the past five years.

Haarman said the Netherlands' government is preparing a similar joint project in the neighbouring province of Hainan.

Mangroves not only help defend against natural disasters like tsunamis, typhoons and tropical storms, but also provide an important lodging for migratory birds, said Liu Dongchao, an associate professor at the Zhanjiang-based Guangdong Ocean University.

As a result of the IMMCP project, Liu said, a total of 193 bird species have been identified in the area's mangrove forests this year.

"The Zhanjiang mangrove project marks a milestone in Guangdong's efforts to protect its mangrove resources," said Deng Huizhen, head of Guangdong Provincial Forest Administration.

"Guangdong has the largest mangrove forests in China," she said.

"The province has every reason to protect this resource."

She said Guangdong would rely on both regional regulations and international co-operation to help protect its mangrove forests, and was planning to reclaim more wetlands for mangroves.