Climate Special 15: Care of the Wild

Today, we’ll continue our series on Sino-US climate cooperation and introduce how that partnership has entered a new chapter as China embraces one of America’s greatest contributions to ecological and biodiversity protection – the establishment of national parks.

Transcript

Care of the Wild 

Today, we’ll continue our series on Sino-US climate cooperation and introduce how that partnership has entered a new chapter as China embraces one of America’s greatest contributions to ecological and biodiversity protection – the establishment of national parks.

 The story begins with five saplings. In 1972, during his groundbreaking visit to China, US President Richard Nixon brought a special gift – four American red pine saplings and one redwood seedling from his home state of California. As the world’s tallest tree species, the redwood symbolized the longevity of the friendship between the two countries. Chinese premier Zhou Enlai decided to plant the saplings in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

Upon his return to the US, Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, and President Nixon gave a news conference. Standing behind the presidential podium, he remarked, “Just as we hope that those saplings, those tiny saplings that we left in China, will grow one day into mighty redwoods, so we hope, too, that the seeds planted on this journey for peace will grow and prosper into a more enduring structure for peace and security in the Western Pacific.”

In 1979, a song titled “Redwood” was written to commemorate this story. In it, famed soprano Zhu Fengbo sings, “Redwood, redwood, you have brought the affection of the American people and taken root in the fertile soil of China.”

Over five decades, the redwood planted in Hangzhou Botanical Garden has grown into a towering giant. Chinese botanists have successfully cultivated more than 40,000 saplings from it, planting them across 18 provinces and regions.

China and the US have cooperated for decades in protecting forest health, ecology and biodiversity. Now, China is planting another seed from the US – this time, not a tree, but an idea: national parks.

Wide Open Spaces

In 1872, the US introduced one of the world’s most influential conservation concepts with the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in the vast wilderness of the American West. By combining wilderness preservation, public enjoyment and accessibility, the idea inspired the creation of national parks across the US and the world. Over the past 150 years, nearly 100 countries have followed suit, establishing more than 6,500 national parks to support wildlife conservation and ecotourism.

China-US cooperation on national parks dates back to the 1990s. US NGOs have played a crucial role in promoting the national park system in China, particularly The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a leading conservation organization based in Arlington, Virginia, and the Chicago-based Paulson Institute think tank.

Yunnan Province in southwestern China is renowned for breathtaking landscapes and rich biodiversity. Although it covers only 4.1 percent of China’s land area, it is home to 19,333 species of high plants (50.1 percent of China’s total plant species) and 2,285 vertebrates (51.4 percent of the country’s total).

In 1997, a group of TNC experts and consultants visited northwest Yunnan. They were impressed by the region’s natural beauty, biological diversity and vibrant folk culture, and agreed it was particularly suitable for a national park. At the time, China had no national parks, and the Chinese government was unfamiliar with the concept.

Among the visiting experts was Rose Niu Hongwei, former China representative of TNC and now chief conservation officer at the Paulson Institute. In her 2018 article “A Witness to Two Decades of China’s National Parks,” published by the Shenzhen-based environmental organization MCF on WeChat, Niu recalled how everything started from scratch.

Pioneering Attempt

Yunnan’s provincial government took the lead in launching a national park pilot program. Niu wrote that beginning in 1998, it invited TNC to help implement the national park model in three areas: Patatson (also known as Paducuo) in Shangri-La County, the Meili Snow Mountains to Shangri-La’s northwest, and Mount Laojun near the city of Lijiang.

From 1998 to 2008, TNC led multiple government delegations from Yunnan to the US to study the American national park system.

In June 2007, Patatson National Park was officially established as China’s first attempt to integrate the US national park model. However, Niu wrote that due to a lack of experience and clear guidelines from the central government, Patatson deviated from the strict ban on economic development in its reserve zone.

Xu Jiayi, program director at Greenovation Hub, a Beijing-based environmental think tank that specializes in biodiversity conservation and national park research, said, “Patatson was the first pilot national park, but its biggest issue is that it has been overly developed for tourism, with areas used for activities like tea cultivation and hydroelectric projects. Very few areas were preserved for pure ecological protection, meaning it does not fully meet the standards of a true national park.” 

Patatson’s core protection areas – the Zanuo and Bita Lake reserves – make up 53.3 percent of its total area. However, Bita Lake was opened up to private entities running services like boat tours, horseback riding and barbecue restaurants. Tourists were even allowed to release non-native fish species into the lake, jeopardizing the habitat of native ones.

Niu wrote in her article, “At the time, the central government had not yet established a national park system, nor provided the Yunnan government with clear guidelines. Some local agencies had conflicting interests or shifted responsibilities for their own benefit, making our work in Yunnan challenging.” 

Despite its name, Patatson National Park remains a provincially administered nature reserve and is not part of China’s official national park system.

Niu added, “But I still believe Patatson was a pioneering and meaningful attempt to introduce the national park concept to China. It planted the seed for the country’s future national park system.” 

Plan for 2035

China’s central government officially launched its national park system in November 2013. On June 8, 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Paulson Institute signed the Statement of Cooperation on National Park System Management, announcing a collaborative project in which the Paulson Institute would assist China in establishing a nationwide national park system. As part of the initiative, the Paulson Institute supported the creation of nine pilot national parks across Beijing and eight provinces, including Jilin, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Yunnan and Qinghai.

At the signing ceremony Henry Paulson, chairman of the Paulson Institute and former US Treasury Secretary, said, “In the US, our national parks are an important source of shared national pride and cultural identity, as well as treasured natural resources for the public to enjoy.” He emphasized that the institute would help China (quote) “develop a comprehensive and effective system of protected areas by adding national parks into the system.”

After leaving TNC, Rose Niu joined the Paulson Institute as its chief conservation officer in 2013. In a 2023 interview with American nature photographer Kyle Obermann, Niu detailed the cooperation between the Chinese government and the Paulson Institute from 2015 to 2019.

According to Niu, the NDRC and the Paulson Institute collaborated on a series of 17 research reports covering all major aspects of China’s national park development, including governance structures, legal and regulatory frameworks, financing mechanisms, system planning, land ownership, park management and visitor management.

The second key area of cooperation was training. “From 2016 to 2019, we conducted four training sessions,” Niu said in her interview with Obermann. “Each session included 20 to 25 officials from relevant central government departments and managers from the 11 pilot national parks. They spent two weeks in the US – one week in classroom-based theoretical training and another visiting various national parks for exchanges and field studies.”

Over four years, nearly 100 Chinese national park employees participated in exchange programs and study tours in the US. In October 2021, China officially designated five of its pilot projects as national parks, covering a total land area of more than 230,000 square kilometers and protecting nearly 30 percent of the country’s key terrestrial wildlife species.

The five parks are: the Three-River-Source National Park located in Qinghai Province and Xizang Autonomous Region; Wuyishan National Park in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces; Giant Panda National Park crossing into Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces; Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces; and Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park in Hainan Province.

In December 2022, China announced an ambitious plan to build the world’s largest national park system by 2035, with 49 candidate sites under consideration.

Park Life

According to Xu Jiayi with Greenovation Hub, China’s central government has demonstrated strong determination to establish its national park system. The primary motivation, Xu told NewsChina, is to reform the country’s fragmented and inefficient natural protection system.

“The government is now placing great emphasis on building the national park system and genuinely wants to see it through,” Xu said. “One of the key objectives is to streamline China’s complex and overlapping system of protected areas, integrating them into a unified, national park-centered framework for more effective management.”

According to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), as of 2020, China had over 9,240 protected areas covering 18 percent of the country’s land. However, these areas were classified into more than 20 different protection categories, leading to inefficiencies, overlapping responsibilities and unclear jurisdictional boundaries.

To address these challenges, China launched an initiative in 2020 to establish a national park-centered natural protection system. This reform aimed to consolidate protected areas into three main categories: national parks, nature reserves and nature parks. By 2024, the number of protected areas had been streamlined to 6,736.

“China’s previous approach to protected areas was rigid – once designated a protected area, no commercial development or economic activity was permitted,” Xu said. “National parks use a zoning system. While the core zone remains strictly off-limits to the public, peripheral areas can be used for limited commercial activities. A fundamental principle of national parks is shared access – allowing people to experience the beauty and wonder of nature. If all protected areas were entirely closed off to the public, it would do little to improve local livelihoods or support sustainable development.”

Unlike the US and many other countries, most of China’s designated national park areas include human settlements. Managing land use, fostering cooperation with local communities, and balancing conservation with economic development remain significant challenges for national park planners and administrators.

In a 2023 interview with The Paper, a Shanghai-based news outlet, Jin Tong, director of science for TNC’s China program, noted that China could draw valuable lessons from the US’s 150 years of national park development and management.

One key concept, Jin suggested, is the idea of “gateway communities” – towns located just outside major tourist attractions like national parks. These communities offer accommodations, recreational activities and services for visitors and provide housing for park employees.

“Gateway communities and national parks complement each other,” Jin said. “This model not only minimizes the need for large-scale relocations but also supports local economic growth. It’s one way to balance environmental conservation with economic development.”

Seeding Hope

On November 14, 2023, China’s NFGA and the US National Park Service (NPS) held their first video conference, during which they agreed to establish a cooperation mechanism on national parks.

The two sides discussed areas for collaboration, including exchanges related to sister protected areas, national park legislation and law enforcement, education and volunteer services. The US invited Chinese representatives to visit the US for exchanges and training. However, insiders expressed concern over the potential impact of US President Donald Trump’s policies on China-US cooperation.

“The biggest impact will likely be budget cuts,” Xu Jiayi told NewsChina. “During Trump’s first term (2017-2021), funding for US-China projects on climate change – including the Clean Energy Research Center and other joint programs – was entirely cut. Domestic environmental funding for the Environmental Protection Agency was reduced, but not drastically.”

During Barack Obama’s presidency (from 2009-2017), the US signed more bilateral agreements with China than under any previous administration, particularly in the area of climate change. One of the most ambitious examples was the China-US Clean Energy Research Center (CERC), established in 2009 to facilitate joint research. However, the program was discontinued during President Joe Biden’s administration.

“As for national parks, I believe Trump will likely cut funding for international cooperative programs, particularly those involving China,” Xu said. “He might reduce funding for the management and research of US national parks and biodiversity programs, but not drastically.”

She pointed out that a key challenge for government-led China-US cooperation on national parks is the lack of a detailed budget or project list. “CERC, for example, had a specific list of cooperative projects and annual budgets, making it easier to manage and sustain,” she said.

Xu remains hopeful about continued non-governmental exchanges. “I’m still optimistic about future cooperation,” she said. “Since the Chinese government has made national park development a priority, it will actively seek international partnerships. Collaboration isn’t limited to the US National Park Service – there’s plenty of room for NGOs, businesses and academic institutions to play a role. Given China’s urgent need to build a successful national park system, there’s significant potential for bilateral cooperation.”

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Yi Ziyi, translator Du Guodong, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.