Local governments must fulfill their protection responsibilities

The comprehensive plan for the nation's national parks offers a glimpse of the leadership's determination to protect the environment. With the national parks' ownership clarified, their management streamlined and funding channels diversified, the national park system will be able to advance more rapidly.

Apart from ownership and resources allocation, the national park plan also clarifies what local residents in such parks can do to contribute and the services they can receive. Local governments, on their part, should fulfill their duties to supplement the system.

The management of national parks largely hinges on the subsidies offered by the central government, meaning they should not be commercially exploited, a key step to eradicate possible power-money exchanges. Explicit guidelines are also in place to instruct all the departments concerned, be they at the central or local levels, to draw inspiration from established pilot projects across the country.

Su Yang, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council

Administrative boundaries need demarcating

There are several concerns that have to be addressed before the law on national parks comes into effect. The first is how to ensure the new law is compatible and in line with the existing one on nature reserves.

Over the past six decades, China has developed a sophisticated nature management system, which includes nature reserves, scenic attractions, geological parks and forest parks operated by multiple departments, particularly local governments. Parallels and differences between these and national parks should be defined in terms of legislation.

Institutional reforms are called for to demarcate administrative boundaries when it comes to the management of national parks and local natural resources. Specific organizations and funds will have to be established to take care of daily maintenance and regulate the use of resources.

The law on national parks should be able to convey their Chinese characteristics without making the same mistakes that were made in the preservation of nature reserves, such as overlapped management and flawed supervision.

Wang Fengchun, a researcher of the Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee under the National People's Congress

Parks should be immune to overexploitation

As protectors of the most valued ecology in the country, national parks should be immune to any sort of exploitation and instead under strict protection. Their role, according to international practices, is essentially about preserving vulnerable land and marine resources. Thus the number of visitors should be capped at reasonable levels.

Likewise, China's national park system will supplement the nationwide efforts to safeguard the ecology of nature reserves, while creating new jobs and other development opportunities for neighboring communities. It is, however, not designed to replace the existing nature reserve system but rather to improve the country's management of all types of natural reserves. The Philippines could well serve as an inspiration in terms of elaborately and efficiently categorizing natural reserves.

Zhu Chunquan, China's representative at the International Union for Conservation of Nature