Development and Effects of Nature
Conservation in China in the Past 70
Years
Jixi Gao
In the 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, nature reserves
have increased in both quantity and variety and the focus of China’s nature conservation efforts has shifted from the construction of protected areas to the development of
a regional ecological security pattern. China’s nature conservation efforts have been
continuously strengthened, leading to remarkable results. In 1956, China built its
first nature reserve—Dinghushan Nature Reserve. After more than 60 years, China’s
nature conservation system has gradually matured. The nature conservation system
consists of geological parks, natural and cultural heritage sites, wetland parks, aquatic
germplasm reserves, marine protected areas, and specially protected islands. On
this basis, China successively added ecological function areas (2008), ecologically
fragile areas (2008), key ecological function areas (2011) and other key ecological
conservation areas to the system. In 2011, China first put forward the proposal of
“delineating the ecological conservation red line.” In 2015, China launched a pilot
reform of its national park system and started building a nature conservation system in
which national parks played a major role. These two major measures further enriched
China’s nature conservation system and significantly accelerated the formation of a
sound national ecological security pattern.
China has made remarkable strides in the following three aspects of nature
conservation: (i) improvement of the protected area system; (ii) development of
the ecological protection red line system; and (iii) the national park system reform.
Zou Changxin and Xu Mengjia also contributed to this article.
J. Gao (B)
Satellite Environment Application Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing, China
© China Environment Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 2021
J. Pan et al. (eds.), Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views
on Eco-civilization Construction, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6742-5_4
47
Conservation in China in the Past 70
Years
Jixi Gao
In the 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, nature reserves
have increased in both quantity and variety and the focus of China’s nature conservation efforts has shifted from the construction of protected areas to the development of
a regional ecological security pattern. China’s nature conservation efforts have been
continuously strengthened, leading to remarkable results. In 1956, China built its
first nature reserve—Dinghushan Nature Reserve. After more than 60 years, China’s
nature conservation system has gradually matured. The nature conservation system
consists of geological parks, natural and cultural heritage sites, wetland parks, aquatic
germplasm reserves, marine protected areas, and specially protected islands. On
this basis, China successively added ecological function areas (2008), ecologically
fragile areas (2008), key ecological function areas (2011) and other key ecological
conservation areas to the system. In 2011, China first put forward the proposal of
“delineating the ecological conservation red line.” In 2015, China launched a pilot
reform of its national park system and started building a nature conservation system in
which national parks played a major role. These two major measures further enriched
China’s nature conservation system and significantly accelerated the formation of a
sound national ecological security pattern.
China has made remarkable strides in the following three aspects of nature
conservation: (i) improvement of the protected area system; (ii) development of
the ecological protection red line system; and (iii) the national park system reform.
Zou Changxin and Xu Mengjia also contributed to this article.
J. Gao (B)
Satellite Environment Application Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing, China
© China Environment Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 2021
J. Pan et al. (eds.), Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views
on Eco-civilization Construction, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6742-5_4
47