Five departments： Complete the integration, merger and optimization of nature reserves in 2025.
A nature reserve has many signs, which are called scenic spots, tourist areas, geological parks, etc. There are also a large number of urban and township built-up areas in the reserve, and the ecological space and production and living space squeeze each other. The chaos in this nature reserve will be thoroughly rectified.
On March 17th, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs jointly issued the Plan for the Construction of National Parks and Other Nature Reserves and Major Projects for the Protection of Wild Animals and Plants (2021-2035) (hereinafter referred to as the "Construction Plan"), which determined that by 2025, the integration and optimization of nature reserves will be completed, and the unified registration of natural resources will be carried out. By 2035, the layout of nature reserves will be further optimized, and the total area will be stable at more than 18% of the land area.
"After the institutional reform in 2018, all kinds of nature reserves will be protected and supervised by the forestry and grass departments. Integrate all kinds of nature reserves, and in principle only keep one brand. " On March 18th, National Forestry and Grassland Administration experts told the First Financial Reporter.
The contradiction between protection and utilization of various nature reserves is prominent, which is one of the main problems faced by the construction of national parks and other nature reserves in China for many years.
There are a large number of urban and township built-up areas in the nature reserve, and the problem of mutual extrusion between ecological space and production and living space is prominent. Photography/Zhangke
According to the Construction Plan, due to historical reasons, the conflict between man and land in China’s nature reserves is more prominent. There are a large number of mining rights in nature reserves, and there are contradictions and conflicts between the development of mineral resources and the basic positioning of nature reserves; Water activities such as waterway shipping in nature reserves overlap with the distribution areas of aquatic organisms.
The Construction Plan also points out other outstanding problems in China’s nature reserves: influenced by the original natural resource management system, China’s nature reserves lack a unified and coordinated top-level design, and various departments set them up according to their own functions, resulting in unscientific and unsystematic classification system of nature reserves in China, and unclear and uncoordinated functional positioning. At the same time, the separate demarcation has also caused the spatial overlap among 49.8% nature reserves in China.
At the same time, the "Construction Plan" indicates that nature reserves and endangered species in China are mostly distributed in remote and backward areas, with limited construction investment and obviously insufficient protection and management capabilities; Due to the rapid economic development, rapid population growth and the lack of scientific and reasonable land use policies, China’s natural forest area has decreased, wetlands have shrunk, grasslands have deteriorated, wildlife habitats and wild plants’ original habitats have been seriously disturbed, eroded, fragmented and destroyed, and habitat islanding, fragmentation and functional degradation have become serious problems. The ability to prevent and control epidemic diseases and alien invasive species is insufficient.
Based on these problems, the Construction Plan proposes to properly mediate contradictions and conflicts in national parks, and smoothly and orderly withdraw mining rights, hydropower stations and other projects that do not meet the requirements of national park management and control. On the basis of fully soliciting the opinions of the owners and contractors, the collective land with high protection value in the core protection area will be given priority to standardize the circulation through leasing and replacement, and will be managed by the national park management agency in a unified way. Rational use of natural resources, franchising in general control areas according to law.
Relevant experts who participated in the preparation of the Construction Plan told the First Financial Reporter that promoting the franchise of nature reserves in a reasonable and orderly manner can lay a good foundation for the development of eco-industries such as eco-tourism and forest health care, promote the improvement of infrastructure and investment environment in communities and surrounding areas, and help stimulate domestic demand and expand employment.