On October 12, China announced the official establishment of the first batch of national parks such as Sanjiangyuan, Giant Panda, Northeast Tiger and Leopard, Hainan Tropical Rainforest, wuyishan and so on, with a protection area of 230,000 square kilometers, covering nearly 30% of the national key protected wild animal and plant species in the land area.
As a new thing, the national park has aroused widespread social concern. People who understand the process of national park exploration and pilot in recent years also have many questions.
"National parks are the greatest common denominator of the interests of the nation, the people, the nation and the community of human destiny. But the official establishment of a national park is only the first step in the long march. On the 21st, Yang Rui, dean of the National Park Research Institute of Tsinghua University, told the first financial reporter.
Yang Rui has been engaged in the research of national parks and nature reserves for nearly 30 years, and is one of the earliest scholars in China to carry out relevant research and practice.
Yang Rui (1st from left), dean of the National Park Research Institute of Tsinghua University, inspects Shunchang County, Fujian Province, on October 21. Photography / Zhang Ke
CBN: In 2015, China launched 10 national park system pilots, why were only 5 of the first batch officially established? In your judgment, what are the necessary conditions for "formal establishment"?
Yang Rui: The public is really concerned about this issue. In 2013, China proposed the "establishment of a national park system", and in 2015, it issued the "Pilot Program for the Establishment of a National Park System", which successively set up 10 pilot projects of the national park system, including Sanjiangyuan, Northeast Tiger Leopard, Giant Panda, Qilian Mountain, Wuyi Mountain, Shennongjia, Shangri-La Pudatcuo, Qianjiangyuan, Nanshan and Hainan Tropical Rainforest, involving 12 provinces of Qinghai, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Fujian, Hubei, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Hunan and Hainan.
Why were there only 5 national parks in the first batch? I think the first thing to do is to figure out why we want to try, why we want to build, and what is the relationship between trial and construction.
In January 2015, the state announced the pilot program for national parks, hoping to find the deep-seated problems, difficulties and institutional obstacles in national nature reserves through the pilot, so as to solve these problems in a targeted manner and improve the efficiency and systematization of the protection of natural protected areas.
Pilots are related to the establishment of national parks, but they are not equivalent. That said, not all of the protected areas involved in the pilot will eventually have to establish national parks. Or it is not based on whether a national park can eventually be established as the final outcome of the pilot. The establishment of national parks should have four conditions: natural endowments or national representation, authenticity, integrity and feasibility of management, that is, whether the institutional mechanisms of management are perfect. Now, the first five national parks that have been officially established all meet these four criteria.
CBN: When it was announced that the pilot of the national park system was set up, the total area of the 10 pilot areas exceeded 220,000 square kilometers. The five national parks officially established this time have a protected area of 230,000 square kilometers. What do you think of these two data?
Yang Rui: The main reason is that the area of Sanjiangyuan National Park has increased from more than 120,000 square kilometers to more than 190,000 square kilometers, and the two sources of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River have been included in the Sanjiangyuan National Park, which has greatly improved the integrity and authenticity of the Sanjiangyuan National Park.
If you take more than 190,000 square kilometers of Sanjiangyuan National Park, plus the area of 4 other national parks, the data of 230,000 square kilometers is no problem. At present, the boundary adjustment plan of Sanjiangyuan National Park has been approved by the competent authorities.
CBN: What are the main reasons why the other 5 sites participating in the pilot did not enter the list of the first batch of officially established national parks? What's next?
Yang Rui: Comparing the four criteria set up by national parks, the first is to see whether their natural endowments belong to the most beautiful part of the beautiful land, whether they are the most typical and representative part of the crown jewel and the ecosystem.
The second is to see whether its authenticity is natural and primitive, without too much artificial transformation and artificial traces. It is also necessary to consider whether its boundaries are large enough and whether the functions of ecosystem services are sufficiently complete. It also depends on whether it is integrated in place, there are no other nature reserves in the national park, and whether there is only one management agency to avoid the recurrence of the "Kowloon water control" situation.
Another key point to look at is that the management of national parks is a matter of central authority, which is directly exercised by the central government, or entrusted by the central government to the provincial people's government. A certain department in the province or a prefecture, city, or county government to exercise on behalf of the county does not meet the requirements.
Therefore, most of them have not yet entered the first list of national parks because there are some gaps in these four aspects. Natural endowments and authenticity are innate conditions, and integrity and institutional mechanisms can be achieved through effort.
But I personally would like to say that there should be a tribute to those protected areas that did not enter the first official list of national parks. Because in the six-year pilot process, every exploration is very hard, each pilot area has made great efforts, and there are many institutional innovations.
Sanjiangyuan National Park Service. Photography / Zhang Ke
CBN: From the perspective of economic value, what are the benefits of establishing a national park?
Yang Rui: National parks belong to the field of ecological civilization, but I think national parks are based on ecological civilization and transcend ecological civilization. National parks should have threefold value: ecological value (including intrinsic value and value of ecosystem services, such as clean water, clean air, water conservation, climate regulation ability, etc.), cultural value and spiritual value.
Of course, national parks also have economic value, but they should be regarded as subsidiary values, mainly the value of driving the development of the surrounding areas. For example, national parks are like iron absorbing stones, such as Wuyishan National Park can drive the development of surrounding tourism and related industrial chains. But the iron absorbing stone itself cannot be damaged, otherwise there is no adsorption force.
CBN: The relevant domestic departments are currently studying and formulating the National Park Law and the Nature Reserve Law. What are the main problems that these two laws are designed to solve?
Yang Rui: I expect that China will have 50-80 national parks in the future, and the area of national parks will account for 10% of the national land area. The area of natural protected areas with national parks as the main body accounts for about 18% of the land area.
Since the 1950s, in the past few decades, China's natural protected areas have made great achievements, but before this round of reform, there were also many problems, including overlapping space, unclear boundaries, unclear rights and responsibilities, low conservation efficiency, and unsystematic protection. Therefore, it is necessary for national parks to be a benchmark or "school bully" to promote the integration, optimization and comprehensive reform of other nature reserves.
Whether it is the establishment of a national park or a nature reserve, there must be a corresponding law as the basis, support and constraint, so the National Park Law and the Nature Reserve Law are very important.