China creates a platform to monitor “red lines” of environmentally important areas

Beijing. February 20. Silkroadnews - According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, China plans to complete the construction of a platform for monitoring the “red lines” to protect important natural areas by 2020, Xinhua reports.
The plan for creating a platform with a total investment of 286 million yuan (around $45 million) has been approved by the authorities. Preliminary work for building the platform has already begun, the report reads.
The platform will receive data on vital ecosystems, changes in the environment and possible negative impact from the remote sensing satellites and ground-based monitoring stations.
In February 2017, China published a document on the development of red lines to protect ecosystems, aimed at establishing the exact boundaries of natural areas with important environmental functions by 2020.
Such areas include those ones important for water and soil conservation, biodiversity, wind and sand protection, and environmentally sensitive areas prone to soil erosion, desertification and salinization.