[Video/China News Service]

The natural environment has been greatly improved in the Yellow River Delta region in Dongying, Shandong province in the past decade, said Bai Yugang, head of the Publicity Department of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, during a news conference in Beijing on Oct 19.

According to Bai, in the past 10 years, the province has carried out various Yellow River Delta wetland restoration projects, with the total wetland area reaching 1,130 square kilometers, an increase of 20 percent from that in 2012.

In the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve estuary, the number of bird species now stands at 371, compared with 187 in 1992 when the reserve was first created. Now it is the world's largest breeding ground for Oriental white storks, which is an example of the area's ecological protection and environmental improvement.