XINING, Jan. 23 -- The Sanjiangyuan National Park in northwest China's Qinghai Province invested nearly 320 million yuan (about 47.27 million U.S. dollars) in ecological protection and restoration projects in 2022, local authorities said on Monday.

The Sanjiangyuan area, known as China's "water tower," contains the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers. At an average altitude of more than 4,700 meters, Sanjiangyuan National Park is the world's highest national park covering a total area of 190,700 square km.

From 2016 to 2021, with a total investment of 6.7 billion yuan, the park carried out a series of infrastructure construction projects, and ecological protection and restoration projects, said Wang Xiangguo, director of the management bureau of Sanjiangyuan National Park.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve. On Jan. 24, 2003, the State Council officially approved the establishment of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve in Qinghai. China began the pilot operation of Sanjiangyuan National Park in 2016, and in October 2021, the park received its official designation.