North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region held a press conference on May 27 to introduce the effectiveness of the region's biodiversity protection measures.

In 2020, the days rated "good" or "excellent" air quality in Inner Mongolia reached 90.8 percent.

The average concentration of fine particulate matter that did not meet the PM2.5 standards (30 micrograms/cubic meter) in the region's leagues or cities decreased by 25.0 percent compared with 2015, which was 1.7 and 13 percentage points higher than the national assessment target, respectively.

Meanwhile, at the end of 2020, the region had established 182 nature reserves, with a total area of 12.67 million hectares, accounting for 10.71 percent of the region's land area. Also, the region's forest coverage rate reached 23 percent, an increase of 1.97 percentage points from 2013.

The average coverage of grassland vegetation in the region reached 45 percent, a 15-percent increase from the 30 percent at the beginning of this century.

At present, the total area of wetlands in the region has reached 90.16 million mu (6.01 million hectares), accounting for 11.26 percent of the wetland area in China and ranking third across the country.

During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period (2016-20), Inner Mongolia completed the treatment of 71.98 million mu of desertified land, accounting for more than 40 percent of the national control tasks.