In an effort to rescue the fast shrinking and deteriorating Zhalong Wetland, 5,400 people who live in the main area of the wetland are to be relocated by the year 2010, sources with the Heilongjiang Provincial Forestry Department said.

Zhalong Wetland, in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, is the largest of its type in the country and home to hundreds of endangered species of fauna and flora.

Around 500 species of plants and 300 species of waterfowl can be found in the reserve. It is particularly noted for the rare red-crowned crane.

"The activities of local residents have disturbed the environment since they first moved onto this land in the 1950s," Li Changyou, director of the reserve, told China Daily.

At present, there are 13 villages with 1,200 households and a population of about 5,400 people living in the main area of the wetland, which is about 700 square kilometres in size.

"Where men advance, cranes retreat," Li said.

He added that the majority of the small islands where crane nests are now used by people, and fertilizers and pesticides contaminate the water.

Fishing also takes food from the cranes and each year harvesting wetland reeds leaves the cranes with nowhere to hide.

And the worst danger is the occasional fire caused by carelessness, which sometimes destroys huge areas of reeds.

Compared with the 1960s or 1970s, biological diversity in the wetland has declined by 70 percent, with birds losing 40 percent of their habitats, Li estimates.

"The 700-square-kilometre main area is the essence of the wetland and we don't want to see it die out within a few years," he said.

"The relocation plan has already been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and is listed as one of the goals of China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10)," Tao Jin, an official from the provincial forestry department told China Daily.

The detailed relocation plan and the sum of money being offered as compensation to the residents are still under discussion, he said.

And this is the main point of contention between the residents and the government.

Residents say they are willing to leave the area as it has few facilities and work is scarce, but they are not satisfied with the compensation being offered by the government.

They say they might even refuse to leave the area if the local authorities do not increase the 10,000 yuan per household that has so far been offered as compensation.

Yang Shenghua, the head of one village, said: "Most people are willing to be relocated, but they are not satisfied with the money."

The area has poor transport links and no electricity, and people earn money by harvesting wetland reeds, and a little farming and fishing.

But as Yang said: "There are more fishermen than fish."

Li Changyou estimated that it would be an arduous job to relocate these people, and it will take some time for the wetland to get back to how it was before.

"Anyway, it is a good sign that people are beginning to pay attention to this problem," he said.

Set up in 1979, Zhalong Wetland is one of the seven wetlands in China that have been put onto the list of Wetlands of International Importance.

It is estimated that there are altogether 2,000 red-crowned cranes in the world. More than 400 live in Zhalong. They are under the country's top-level protection.

(China Daily October 31, 2005)