Reconciling Conservation and Sustainable Resource Use Within China’s Protected Areas System
China is one of 17 mega-biodiversity countries, harboring 10 percent of all plant species and 14 percent of animal species globally. Rapid socio-economic development has put China’s biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide people under increasing pressure. With 44 percent of animal species in decline, 90 percent of grasslands experiencing degradation and desertification, 40 percent of wetlands severely degraded, especially mudflats and mangroves, and 53 percent of areas under threat from desertification, establishing and consolidating Protected Areas (PA) is needed to integrate conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources within the landscape.
In China, PROGREEN is helping to deepen knowledge of integrated landscape management approaches that draw on effective and participatory ecosystem conservation and enhance sustainable livelihoods in Chinese protected areas. The country knowledge program will focus on three main pieces of analytical work across ecosystems of national and global importance. These will help further the dialogue with the Government of China, provide needed inputs for Chinese decision-makers in the establishment of NPs (National Parks) and PA consolidation, inform the preparation of the China National Park Program, and facilitate dialogue with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) around ecosystem services.
Based on analytic activity, a technical report on global best practices for enhancing the effectiveness of China’s protected area governance, identifying gaps, and making recommendations for improved planning and management was produced. Additionally, China drafted guidance reports to reconcile conservation and development conflicts at the national and local levels, restore China’s protected areas, and provide benefit-sharing mechanisms for protected area management. The reports were presented to government stakeholders at a national consultation in March 2024 and will be revised accordingly.
Knowledge products created under this activity have informed two upcoming World Bank lending operations: the Yellow River Basin Ecological Protection and Environmental Pollution Control Program and the Sustainable Ecosystem Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Project.
