The Yellow River estuary from the satellite perspective.

　　On October 20th, General Secretary Xi Jinping inspected the water regime of the Yellow River and the ecological environment of the wetland in the Yellow River Delta, and learned about the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.

　　The Jiuqu Yellow River winds thousands of miles in Shandong, from Dongming County of Heze City into Lu, and finally to Dongying, rushing into the sea.

　　Thanks to the slowing of river channels and sediment deposition at the mouth of the sea, the modern Yellow River Delta gradually formed. At the confluence of rivers and seas, large tracts of newly-born wetlands contain thousands of species.

Changes in the Yellow River estuary from 1989 to 2020.

　　As a retreat from the sea, most areas of the Yellow River Delta have a short land-formation time, with less land salinity, less vegetation, and a fragile ecological environment.

Since 2002, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission has begun to implement water and sand regulation, which has created a good opportunity for ecological restoration in nature reserves.

　　The Yellow River Delta has restored a total of 188 square kilometers of wetland, returning farmland to wetland, and returning farmland to beaches of 72,500 mu.

Since 2017, the local water quality has remained stable at Class II.

Comparison of ecological restoration of the Yellow River estuary river marsh wetland (left) and salt marsh wetland (right).

(Provided by Lu Xinyu, CCTV reporter, Central Station)

　　The Yellow River Delta National Reserve is a wetland type nature reserve with a total area of ​​153,000 hectares, the new wetland ecosystem and rare and endangered birds in the Yellow River Estuary. It has become the broadest, most complete and youngest in the warm temperate zone of China Wetland ecosystem.

The Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve from the satellite perspective.

Satellite image source: Sky Map

　　In 1992, there were 187 species of birds in the reserve. Up to now, 370 species of birds have been observed in the reserve.

Among them, there are 24 species of national first-level protected birds such as red-crowned cranes and oriental white stork, and 64 species of second-level protected birds such as whooper swan and gray crane. The number of 38 species of birds exceeds 1% of the global total.

A group of bean geese taken in a nature reserve (documentary photo).

　　The wetland has been restored, the birds leaped for joy, and a fresh and bright ecological picture of blue and green intertwined is slowly spreading on the Yellow River Delta.

This is the scenery of Shandong Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve taken by drones in March 2019.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Nan

Planning: Liu Juan

Producer: Li Xiaoyun

Editor: Guo Jianwei and Qi Lijun

Satellite Technology: Xing Aiting and Jia Bowen

Proofreading: Ma Yucong

Satellite technical support:

Changguang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd.

Vigorous Quantum

Satellite data source:

Sky map

Xinhua News Agency Satellite News Laboratory

Xinhuanet Thinker

Xinhuanet 5G Rich Media Lab

Co-produced