Based on the wetland areas recorded in the First National Inventory of Wetland Resources (FNIWR; 1999-2001) and the Second National Inventory of Wetland Resources (SNIWR; 2009-2011), as well as regional environmental parameters including meteorological conditions and land-use structure, the driving forces of changes in China's wetland area from the FNIWR to the SNIWR were investigated. The total area of China's wetlands larger than 1 km(2) decreased from 384.8 x 10(3) km(2) in the FNIWR to 350.8 x 10(3) km(2) in the SNIWR. Natural wetland areas, including marshes, rivers, lakes, and coastal we...