Significant progress achieved on China's national parks construction: official

BEIJING -- The population of flagship species in Sanjiangyuan and Wuyishan national parks has recovered as part of the achievements made in China's national park protection, an official said Monday.

The authenticity and integrity of the ecosystem in these national parks were "under effective protection," said Tian Yongchen, director of the National Park Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), at a regular press conference.

In 2021, China established the first batch of national parks, with a protected land area of 230,000 square kilometers.

These parks, namely the Sanjiangyuan National Park, the Giant Panda National Park, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park and the Wuyishan National Park, are home to nearly 30 percent of the key terrestrial wildlife species found in the country.

Citing a previous plan on the spatial layout of national parks, Tian said there were 49 candidate national park areas, covering 1.1 million square km, accounting for 10.3 percent of China's land area.

The official said the master plan will be steadily advanced, and more than 400 counties in 28 provincial-level regions are expected to benefit from it.

Tian said the NFGA is actively collaborating with other departments to facilitate the enactment of a law on national parks as early as possible.

Key future work also includes optimizing the regulations on the establishment, construction, and operation of national parks, guiding the promulgation of provincial regulations, and strengthening the unified law enforcement by multiple departments, according to Tian.

Striving to build the world's largest national park system, China will hold the second National Park Forum on Aug 19 in Xining, the capital of Qinghai province.