An Action Plan for Protection of Seagrass Resources in China has recently been approved at a meeting of the inter-ministerial and provincial board for "reserving environmental degradation trends of the South China Sea and Thailand Gulf," a research project jointly supported by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The seagrass constitutes one of the three typical ecosystems of shallow seas, playing an important role in marine eco-environment, says HUANG Xiaoping, an expert in marine environment and ecology from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology. According to him, the economic value of the plant greatly exceeds those of mangrove forests and coral reefs. However, a series of field surveys show the ecological environment of seagrass beds in South China Sea are facing serious threats.

The general goals of the action plan are to bring seagrass protection into the coordination system for the protection of biological species, take effective measures to protect its ecosystem, and ensure sustainable use of its resources so as to to bring benefits to the mankind and even the future generations.

Its objectives include: to establish a sound system for the protection and rational use of seagrasses; to set up a coordinated administrative system for their protection in order to deal with the relationship between protection and the traditional production of the local people; to strengthen the construction of Natural Reserves for Seagrass in order to protect its current beds and provide a base for scientific research; to speed up protection of seagrasses in order to slow down their degeneration, and widely carry out publicity, education and personnel training programs to raise the protection consciousness; to develop an information system about the plant in order to provide an exchange platform for scientific research and its protection; and to promote scientific research on seagrass and thus provide more scientific basis on its protection.