The State Council announced 17 newly constructed national nature reserves through a notice issued on July 12.

The move is aimed at protecting rare wild animals such as Siberian tigers and natural scenery such as wetland.

The size and function of the nature reserves will be announced by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Related areas should set the nature reserve boundary according to the approval and publish it to the public on time, it said.

Related areas and ministries should take up their responsibilities by enhancing supervision on illegal acts involving nature reserves. Administration of nature reserves should also be coordinated with local economic development and people’s production and living, the notice added.

According to the list of new national nature reserves, the newly constructed national nature reserves cover 9 provinces and autonomous regions, including Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu provinces, Tibet and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions.