China sees significant progress in construction of national parks

Giant panda Xian Xian is pictured at the second-phase giant panda wild training fields of Tiantai Mountain in Wolong National Nature Reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 24, 2024. [Xinhua/Shen Bohan]

Three years ago, in 2021, China announced the establishment of five national parks across the country, and in the time since China has made remarkable achievements in the construction of the parks.

The five parks, which include the Sanjiangyuan National Park, the Giant Panda National Park, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, and the Wuyishan National Park, cover a protected land area of 230,000 square kilometers, and are home to nearly 30 percent of the key terrestrial wildlife species found in the country.

Since their establishment, over 10 institutional measures and standards have been implemented, laying the groundwork for China's national park system.

Over the past three years, the quality of the ecosystems in China's national parks has steadily improved, and the effectiveness of ecological conservation has been significant, with the continuous growth in the numbers of flagship species like the giant panda.

For instance, the number of Tibetan antelopes in the Sanjiangyuan National Park has recovered from fewer than 20,000 in the 1980s to more than 70,000 today, while the population of snow leopards has returned to over 1,200.

The number of Siberian tigers and Amur leopards at the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park has grown from 27 and 42 at the start of the pilot stage of the national park in 2017 to around 70 and 80, respectively. Even more encouraging is the discovery of eight breeding families of Siberian tigers and 10 breeding families of Amur leopards, with the survival rates of both animals' cubs showing a clear upward trend.

The wild population of Hainan gibbons at the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park has increased from fewer than 10 in two families 40 years ago to 42 in seven families.

Thanks to a series of conservation measures, the wild giant panda population has grown to nearly 1,900. Giant pandas have become an "umbrella species" whose protection benefits more than 8,000 kinds of rare wild animals and plants including golden snub-nosed monkeys, snow leopards, and Chinese yews.

The growth in the number of flagship species is in part thanks to how China's ecosystems have steadily improved in terms of diversity, stability and sustainability. The sources of the Yangtze River, Yellow River, and Lancang River have been placed under comprehensive protection, safeguarding more than 70 percent of wild giant pandas and connecting 13 ecological corridors that link local giant panda populations.

In addition, several initiatives have been implemented to benefit local communities, including insurance for damage caused by wildlife, and ecological relocation. Nearly 50,000 community residents have been employed as ecological rangers.

Zhang Limin, director-general of the protected natural areas management department of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said a series of major initiatives to improve people's livelihoods have been implemented in tandem with the construction of national parks, leading to a steady rise in people's incomes and bringing greater benefits and happiness to them.