How to protect "protected areas" after institutional reform

China is a fertile land of biodiversity, about 6% of the earth's land area of vast land, there are moist tropical forests, there are endless plain grasslands, there are steep glacier snow mountains, thousands of miles of frozen permanent ice sheet ... It is home to 15% of the world's vertebrates and 12% of plant species.
but like any other country, China faces the daunting challenge of protecting biodiversity. The business has seen a new era after sweeping reforms of government institutions in 2018.
Ouyang Zhiyun, director of the Center for Ecological Environment Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, systematically analyzed the opportunities brought about by the reform of government agencies for the construction of China's natural conservation lands, and put forward a series of proposals to improve the natural conservation system, the results of which were published in The Trends in Ecology, the top international journal in the field of ecology.china has about 12,000 nature reserves, including more than 2,700 nature reserves in the strict sense (as of 2017), with a total area of about 1.47 million square kilometers.
addition, China has established many other types and names of natural conservation areas, such as forest parks, scenic spots, geological parks, etc., which are usually relatively small in size.
paper points out that the natural conservation system, which accounts for 20% of China's land area, has long faced a core problem: overlapping management models. A specific natural protection area is often governed by more than one different government department or agency. These entity bodies develop different planning objectives and management rules for the protection of the environment, in accordance with their different responsibilities and mandates. In Hainan Province, for example, at least 50 of the 118 land and coastal protected areas have partial administrative overlap, with the largest administrative overlap among nature reserves, forest parks and scenic spots.
", this 'Kowloon rule' model has led to a series of problems. Ouyang Zhiyun, author of the paper, said.
first of all, it is difficult to carry out unified planning of the country's natural protection areas. Due to the lack of "top-down" system design and comprehensive planning, china's existing natural conservation system does not match the priority areas of biodiversity and ecosystem services. For example, China's natural protection is concentrated in the west, especially in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region. Many of the key areas of biodiversity and ecosystem services are located in the east or south of China, and the conservation of these areas is seriously inadequate.
, the protection and management objectives of different natural protection areas are inconsistent and even conflict with each other. Scenic spots, forest parks, wetland parks, geological parks, water conservation areas, community protection areas... Despite their variety, these areas often have similar functions, especially those that directly bring economic returns, such as tourism and entertainment. In contrast, public welfare functions such as ecological protection are easily forgotten.
1978, the former Ministry of Forestry managed Jiuzhaigou as a national giant panda nature reserve. Since 1982, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has also listed it as a national scenic spot. In 2004, it became a national geological park, taking on the geological landscape protection task of the former Ministry of Land and Resources.
, the land was given at least three names and was managed by three different government departments.
" is the same group of administrative personnel in the implementation of specific management, but different types of protection between the management objectives are inevitable conflict. When protection and development conflict, management often chooses the latter. Ouyang Zhiyun told China Science Daily. While the booming tourism industry brings significant economic benefits, it is also likely to affect the effect of species conservation.
according to a national survey of giant pandas released by the former State Forestry Administration, the number of giant pandas in the reserve declined between 1988 and 2013, while the number of pandas in other surrounding mountains increased.
, it is the classification system of natural conservation lands that is in line with international standards. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) divides nature conservation areas into six categories based on key management objectives: strict nature reserves, wilderness reserves, national parks, natural monuments, habitat/species management areas, land/ocean landscape conservation areas and conservation areas - each with clear conservation objectives and supporting criteria.
" and although China has different levels and types of protected areas, none of these classification systems currently reflect differences in management objectives, inspection standards and management methods. Xie
research fellow at the Institute of Zoology, wrote.In the northwest mountains of Yunnan Province, the Jinsha River, Lancang River and the Nuri River run side by side, with mountains and valleys deep and snowy peaks all over the country - it is one of China's three major diversity centers for species and a world-class gene pool for species.
1989. It is listed as a national scenic spot and was added to the World Natural Heritage List in 2003. Not only that, but also set up a national nature reserve, geological park, forest park ... Under different brands, the space overlaps a lot, but it follows different management regulations. In many cases, these regulations not only contradict each other, but even cancel each other out.
For example, the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Nature Reserves prohibit the development or commercial activities in the core areas and buffer zones, while the Regulations on the Administration of Scenic Spots do not prohibit grazing, logging, hunting and other activities that may affect the protection of species. Although these activities can lead to species habitat isolation and degradation of wildlife habitats.
unfortunately, even if the ecological environment in this area deteriorates, it is difficult to blame the responsible party, because the decision leading to the consequences is precisely in line with the relevant types of protection management regulations. Xu Weihua, the paper's
researcher at the China Center for Ecological Environment Research, told China Science Daily.
"Which department is responsible for what?" How should the management performance of the protected area be reflected? Who should be punished or rewarded? Ouyang Zhiyun said, "In the absence of a good answer to these questions, management is difficult to effective, accountability is difficult to achieve." Since 2018, the State Council of the People's Republic of China has carried out drastic reforms of government institutions, with eight fewer institutions at the ministerial level, seven fewer at the deputy ministerial level, and some departments merged or subordinated to higher authorities.
" is an opportunity. Xu Weihua said, "Some reforms closely related to nature conservation will help our country to re-establish a unified, standardized and effective management system for natural protection - the fewer regulatory bodies, the more consistent the objectives and responsibilities, the less overlapping functions or conflicts." It
that ownership of all the natural resources and assets of the State in our country has been transferred from multiple sectors to a newly established sector: the Ministry of Natural Resources. The Department of Natural Resources has the right to consider both development and conservation objectives when formulating land and space plans, including conservation planning.
" change will help to address the spatial overlap, lack of coordination and conflicting management objectives and rules resulting from the 'water management' in Kowloon in the past. Ouyang Zhiyun said.
much to look forward to in this reform. For example, the National Park Service, the new agency managed by the Department of Natural Resources, will be responsible for the ongoing national park reform in the country and the unified management of all natural reserves.
Once a national park is established, other nature reserves previously managed by different departments will be abolished, and various types of protected areas that overlap in other areas will be consolidated into one protected area in accordance with certain rules, resulting in a protected area, a brand, and a regulatory body.
The former Ministry of Ecological Environment, after a series of adjustments, no longer specifically manage natural resources and nature reserves, only responsible for supervising the management of various types of protected areas, which completed the separation of "athletes" and "judges", will help to more objective assessment and supervision of protected areas.
's newly established Ministry of Ecological Environment has much to offer. In September 2018, the Ministry of Ecological Environment responded quickly to the improper management of seven nature reserves, tasking the relevant local governments to solve the problem of illegal resource development in nature reserves.
the reform of government institutions will certainly bring about significant improvements in the construction and management of china's protected areas, there are still several problems worth noting. Ouyang Zhiyun said. In their paper, they also put forward a series of suggestions: to rebuild the classification system of natural conservation sites, to consider the establishment of ecological functional protected areas in order to coordinate with the red line of ecological protection, to consider rare and endangered species, natural ecosystems, natural landscapes and natural relics, to prepare a unified natural conservation system planning, and to build a unified legal system for natural conservation.
government agency has opened a historic change in the field of nature conservation in China. Recently, a number of related researches have provided theoretical basis and reference opinions on how to use this historical opportunity to construct a unified, standardized, scientific and efficient management system of natural protection.
Tang Xiaoping, vice president of the National Forestry and Prairie Bureau's Institute of Investigation, Planning and Design and deputy director of the National Park Management Office, who was not involved in the study, said, "It is worth noting that while the central level institutionally straightened out the unified management of the country's natural protection areas, many grass-roots levels, for reasons such as streamlining the number of institutions, abolished the forestry sector responsible for the management of conservation lands, merged the professional management bodies of the nature conservation areas, and eliminated the law enforcement force of the protected areas, which in fact seriously weakened the management capacity of the protected areas." It is hoped that more researchers and decision makers will pay attention to grass-roots practice in the future. Links
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