Author: Huang Baorong wei Yu (Researcher and Special Research Assistant, Institute of Science and Technology Strategic Consulting, Chinese Academy of Sciences, respectively)
At the 15th Summit of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "in order to strengthen biodiversity conservation, China is accelerating the construction of a natural protected area system with national parks as the main body, and gradually incorporating areas with the most important natural ecosystems, the most unique natural landscapes, the most essential natural heritage and the richest biodiversity into the national park system". In his speech at the 2022 World Economic Forum video conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "China is building the world's largest national park system. "The construction of the national park system is an important part of the mainland's unswerving promotion of the construction of ecological civilization, and it is also a pragmatic measure to actively implement the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity." At present, the mainland national park has shifted from the system pilot to a new stage of construction, and on the basis of scientifically summarizing the pilot experience, forward-looking deployment is drawn up, and the blueprint for the construction of the national park system is an important part of promoting the construction of the national park system with high quality and high standards.
The importance of high-quality construction of a national park system
National parks are an important type of global nature reserve, not only a natural protected area for maintaining the balance of the national natural ecosystem and biodiversity, but also a public area for providing ecological recreation, science popularization and scientific research for the people, and an important window to highlight the image of a country and region civilization and even the national spirit. The United States integrates the spirit of wilderness into national parks, viewing national parks as "nature's bible", in order to cover up the weakness and spiritual poverty of the national mentality at the beginning of the establishment of immigrant countries; European national parks mostly adopt a multi-party synergy and regional co-governance model, reflecting European cultural characteristics such as contract management and power checks and balances. Although the construction of China's national parks started late, it carries a heavy responsibility and mission. National parks nourished by Chinese civilization are an important carrier for condensing the wisdom of the East and showing the pattern of great powers. The construction of the national park system is not only an inevitable requirement for inheriting and carrying forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture and enhancing national self-confidence and cultural self-confidence, but also an important measure to build an ecological security barrier to defend the beautiful homeland of the Chinese nation, build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful socialist modern country, show the "rule of China" and "the beauty of China" to the world, and lead the construction of the "community of life on earth".
Favorable conditions for the construction of a national park system with high quality
China's unique three-step landform and diverse climatic characteristics have created a rich and colorful ecosystem and natural landscape. The first step of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is vast and majestic, with its glaciers, lakes and abundant water and grass, which give birth to the world's most spectacular and wild natural landscapes and extremely rich biodiversity. The second step plateau is staggered with the basin, the "central mountain" Qinling Mountains show the beauty of the secret realm, Zhangjiajie, Jiuzhaigou, Huashan and other natural landscapes are the best in the world, and the "national treasures" such as giant pandas are world-famous. The third step of the plains and hills are intertwined, lakes and wetlands and waters are crisscrossed, and the world's natural and cultural dual heritages such as Taishan, Huangshan and Wuyishan show the world the beauty of Chinese long-term harmonious coexistence with nature; Poyang Lake Wetland, Dongting Lake Wetland, Yangtze River Estuary and other internationally important wetlands are full of vitality, not only home to wild animals such as the "Water Chinese Treasure" Chinese sturgeon, finless porpoise and the "Bird World National Treasure" Oriental White Stork, but also a "paradise" and an important migration "station" for migratory birds around the world. China is also a maritime power, one of the countries with the richest marine biodiversity in the world, with world-class beautiful islands such as the Paracel Islands and the Nanji Islands. Rich biodiversity, numerous endemic species and natural wonders make China the natural conditions to build a world-class national park system.
In the 1950s, the mainland officially launched the project of nature reserves in the contemporary sense, and has established nearly 10,000 nature reserves of various types, accounting for about 18% of the land area. In recent years, the mainland has actively promoted the establishment of a natural protected area system with national parks as the main body, so that 90% of the terrestrial ecosystem types and 71% of the wild animal and plant species under national key protection have been effectively protected. The mainland has also organized normalized national biodiversity surveys, established and improved biodiversity monitoring and observation networks, established platforms such as the China Ecosystem Research Network and the China Biodiversity Monitoring and Research Network, and successively released the Red Book of Endangered Animals of China and the Red List of Biodiversity of China, and the foundation for biodiversity conservation has been continuously consolidated. It can be seen that the construction of the mainland national park system already has rich practical experience and knowledge reserves.
Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, our party has vigorously promoted the theoretical innovation and institutional innovation of ecological civilization, and built a complete set of theoretical systems for ecological governance, such as jointly building a community of life on earth, adhering to the integrated protection of landscapes, forests, lakes, grasses and sands, and system governance; Promote ecological priority and green development, and improve a number of institutional guarantees for ecological governance, such as the ecological environment management system with separate owners and regulators, and the market-oriented and diversified ecological protection compensation system. In addition, the property rights system of natural resource assets with the unified registration of rights to natural resources as the core, the national park law and the nature reserve law being formulated, etc., will provide a solid institutional guarantee for the construction of the national park system on the mainland. In the process of building national parks, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have always attached great importance to the pilot project of the national park system and the construction of various systems, so that the national park cause has made remarkable progress in just a few years, which will certainly become the greatest confidence and strong guarantee for the construction of the national park system on the mainland.
Accelerate the construction of the national park system
The mainland has established the goal of building a beautiful China in which man and nature coexist in harmony, and national parks, as the most important part of natural ecosystems, the most unique natural landscapes, the most essence of natural heritage, and the richest biodiversity, are undoubtedly the iconic contents of beautiful China. Therefore, the goals and requirements of the construction of the national park system should be integrated into the overall deployment of the construction of a beautiful China, and strive to basically include the important ecosystem that best represents China's image into the category of national parks, so as to ensure that national parks become the core areas for guarding the most precious home of "Beautiful China". At the same time, we will establish and improve the important institutional systems related to national parks and make them operate effectively, and continuously promote the modernization of the governance system and governance capabilities of national parks.
At present, the mainland has promulgated the norms for the establishment of national parks and the technical specifications for the overall planning of national parks, and has basically established the access conditions for national parks and the principles, procedures and contents of planning. In order to further build the national park system, the selection of national parks should strictly follow the relevant requirements of ecological importance and national representation, and ensure that national parks can effectively play the basic function of protecting the most precious natural heritage of the Chinese nation. Based on the concept of public welfare for the whole people, national parks should provide high-quality ecological products for the whole society, as well as public services such as scientific research, education, culture, and ecological recreation. Therefore, the planning of national parks needs to take into account the multiple functions and multiple goals of national park construction, in addition to experts in ecology and forestry, it is also necessary to absorb the in-depth participation of experts in many fields such as management, sociology and education, and fully consult the opinions of local governments and communities; The establishment of national parks should more strictly implement the principle of "establishing one after another in maturity" and fully guarantee that each national park can meet world-class standards.
According to the Overall Programme for the Establishment of a National Park System, the mainland has made important progress in the construction of the national park system. In the future, it is necessary to further improve the overall coordination mechanism to solve the cross-departmental and cross-regional coordination problems faced by national parks in construction and management; Improve the government governance system with clear responsibilities and rights and administration according to law, and improve the efficiency of national park governance; Improve the "state-led, jointly participated" co-construction, co-governance and sharing system, encourage multiple subjects to participate in the construction and management of national parks, and ensure that the construction results benefit the whole people; Improve scientific decision-making and consultation mechanisms, and promote scientific decision-making, democratic decision-making, and decision-making in accordance with law on major matters in national parks.
A modern national park governance system requires a modern scientific and technological support system. We should make full use of remote sensing monitoring, artificial intelligence and other scientific and technological means, through big data governance platforms, smart national parks and other construction projects, to comprehensively improve the governance effectiveness of all aspects from ecological monitoring to planning layout, resource confirmation, ecological assessment, patrol law enforcement, nature education, visitor guidance and other links, and support the construction of a modern governance system of national parks.
The mainland is building the world's largest national park system, and in the future, to promote the construction of national parks, it should be positioned as world-class in terms of goals, and strive to become a model for global national parks to follow. The essence of China's national park governance system is to reflect Chinese characteristics and highlight Chinese civilization. Therefore, we must respect the traditional cultural forms, community development and the rights and interests of indigenous residents in the national park area, attach importance to the integration of natural and cultural heritage, give full play to the unique role of traditional culture, local knowledge, simple natural wisdom and green customs and habits in the governance of national parks, establish a harmonious and win-win relationship between national parks and communities, solve the contradictions between community development and ecological protection, and make national parks truly become China's traditional "unity of heaven and man" ideology and "ecological civilization" and "earth life community" and other ideas of important practice and display windows.
Guangming Daily ( 2022-09-02 06 edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily