Moving toward a Greener China: Is China’s National Park Pilot Program a Solution?

Gonghan Sheng, Heyuan Chen, Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon, John L. Innes, Zhongjun Wang, Yujun Zhang and Guangyu Wang
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Gonghan Sheng: National Park Research Centre, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada
Heyuan Chen: National Park Research Centre, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada
Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon: National Park Research Centre, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada
John L. Innes: National Park Research Centre, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada
Zhongjun Wang: National Park Research Centre, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada
Yujun Zhang: National Park Research Lab, School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, 35 Qinghua E Rd, Beijing 100091, China
Guangyu Wang: National Park Research Centre, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 12, 1-23

Abstract: National parks have been adopted for over a century to enhance the protection of valued natural landscapes in countries worldwide. For decades, China has emphasized the importance of economic growth over ecological health to the detriment of its protected areas. After decades of environmental degradation, dramatic loss of biodiversity, and increasing pressure from the public to improve and protect natural landscapes, China’s central government recently proposed the establishment of a pilot national park system to address these issues. This study provides an overview of the development of selected conventional protected areas (CPAs) and the ten newly established pilot national parks (PNPs). A literature review was conducted to synthesize the significant findings from previous studies, and group workshops were conducted to integrate expert knowledge. A qualitative analysis was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot national park system. The results of this study reveal that the PNP system could be a potential solution to the two outstanding issues facing CPAs, namely the economic prioritization over social and ecological considerations that causes massive ecological degradation, and the conflicting, overlapping, and inconsistent administrative and institutional structures that result in serious inefficiencies and conflicts.

Keywords: national park; pilot program; environmental sustainability; governance; economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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