China formally established its first 5 National Parks in 2021, and set 2035 as the year that the country will finish the creation of its “nature reserve system centered on national parks”.
How does a national park function in the world’s formerly most populated nation?
Tune in this episode of In Fact with Kyle Obermann.
#InFact
How does a national park function in the world’s formerly most populated nation?
Tune in this episode of In Fact with Kyle Obermann.
#InFact
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00:00China is a nation of history, metropolis, art, industry, and the focus of my career
00:06in expeditions, the wild, covering 42% of the country.
00:11In Europe, wilderness only covers 2%, but the percentage of wilderness itself doesn't
00:16tell the whole story.
00:18What about protection?
00:19So in 2021, China announced the creation of the first 5 of 49 planned national parks spanning
00:26land and sea.
00:27But how does a national park function in the world's formerly most populated nation?
00:33Let's dig into it.
00:34First, let's establish what's at stake.
00:52China is the world's third most biodiverse country, just behind Indonesia and Brazil.
00:57From expansive deserts in the northwest, some of the world's tallest mountains in the west,
01:03tropical forests to the south, and undulating hills, river valleys, wetlands, and forests
01:08covering the expanses of eastern China, an incredible number of ecological biomes cover
01:13the country.
01:14For example, China is the only natural home to wild pandas, but also to over 60% of the
01:20world's snow leopards.
01:22Yet species have also been lost.
01:25In 2022, the IOCN declared the Yangtze sturgeon and Chinese paddlefish extinct.
01:31And last year, the last known female Yangtze giant softshell turtle died.
01:36However, after decades of headlong development, followed by a series of natural disasters,
01:42the leadership is now aware of the need to protect the environment.
01:46Chinese President Xi Jinping is pushing the message of environmental protection from the
01:50top via the policy-guiding slogan,
01:52Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains are Invaluable Assets.
01:56Essentially meaning that the environment and economy are inextricably and symbiotically
02:00linked and establishing 2035 as the year that the country will finish the creation of its
02:06nature reserve system centered on national parks.
02:09So by 2018, 62 years after creating its first nature reserve, China had protected 18% of
02:20its land and 4.6% of its water through a network of over 10,000 different types of protected
02:26areas.
02:27And in many places, these actions reversed the fate of endangered species, like in 2021,
02:33when China declared pandas as no longer endangered.
02:36So with this success, why create a new national park system?
02:40Well, the simple answer is that the national park system allows for more efficient and
02:45effective top-down protection of species and habitats across a once fragmented patchwork
02:51system of protected areas.
02:54So to again take the panda for example, when the Giant Panda National Park was established
02:58in 2021, it grouped over 80 pre-existing and in some cases overlapping protected areas
03:04across three provinces to create one park.
03:08This over-complicated management structure had emerged from the previous sprint to protect
03:13different habitats and natural resources post-environmental degradation, but it was due for an update.
03:20So the first five national parks were officially established in 2021 for their biological significance.
03:26They cover the habitats of nearly 30% of the country's key terrestrial species.
03:31And the parks also attempt to help alleviate poverty through ranger employment and local
03:35eco-education programs.
03:37For example, in San Zhengyuan National Park, one individual from each household is eligible
03:42to be hired as a ranger.
03:45But there is an issue that many of the parks and nature reserves still face, the issue
03:49of collectively owned land as opposed to state-owned land inside national parks.
03:54The parks are still working to find a solution for this.
03:58So on this topic, I am frequently asked one question.
04:03Is China, like other nations in the past, forcibly relocating people to build these parks?
04:11Now, China's national parks are the most densely populated in the world.
04:16The original ten-pilot sites had over 600,000 people living inside their borders.
04:21But unlike many countries like the USA, which eradicated native peoples before creating
04:25parks, the government only plans to relocate those living in the core zones of the parks.
04:31And while they may not have a choice, all will receive compensation and aid with relocating,
04:36finding new housing, new jobs, and more.
04:43Okay, so up to this point, we've discussed what these parks have brought for nature and
04:47fixed, but national parks are different from nature reserves in that they are public parks
04:53for people.
04:54So how do you visit?
04:56For this question, I called my friend, a professional wildlife filmmaker and nature guide who has
05:01worked in several of China's national parks, Huiying.
05:14In fact, when I called, he was filming birds in a wetland park in Beijing.
05:54How do you appreciate nature?
05:55How do you not destroy nature?
05:57How do you appreciate and understand the various cultures and the various relationships between
06:02them and their biodiversity?
06:05The ecological tourism of the Sanjiangyuan National Park is a bit like the safari in Africa.
06:10We use the way of traveling to cross the wilderness, and local nomads as our drivers and guides.
06:20There's still over a decade to go until China's national park system is supposed to reach
06:24completion.
06:25But China's built these parks as it has simultaneously tackled poverty, cleaning its air, a pandemic,
06:31and more.
06:32So the first five are now open for people to visit, and more will come.