Abstract: In order to meet the needs of national wetland conservation and management,the Chinese government launched the second National Wetland Inventory (NWI) in 2009 and completed it in 2012. The second NWI was in accordance with the wetland classification of the Ramsar Convention and the minimum inventory area was more than 8 hm². The inventory method combined “3S” technologies and field investigations,and the inventory contents included wetland wildlife,wetland hydrology and water quality,ecological environment,conservation and management status,threats in all the important wetlands. This article describes the technical features and management system in the second NWI,shows some of the inventory results and analyses the dynamic changes of the wetland resources and ecological status during the first and second NWIs.

Key words: wetland inventory, wetland classification, wetland ecological characteristics, rate of wetlands, rate of wetland conservation