North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has stepped up its efforts to improve the local environment in recent years.

As part of its efforts in this regard, the region has established 14 state-level nature reserves to protect its abundant varieties of water birds, wetland, pastures, forests and rare animals.

The region is home to 2,500 varieties of high-class plants, more than 50,000 species of vertebrates, 118 species of mammals, 376 kinds of birds, 29 species of amphibians, and 81 varieties of fishes. Of them, 101 species are under state special protection.

At present, the region has a total of 96 nature reserves of different levels, and 11 of them have been included in the state plan for protecting bio-diversity.

(People's Daily 09/06/2001)