CHINA HONORS ITS PROMISE TO PROTECT NATURE
The country is planning to build a national parks system to promote ecological harmony, as Liu Wei and Li Mengxin report from Changchun for Xinhua Features.
As a conservationist, 27-year-old Wang Chunli knows what a rewarding yet bumpy ride the country must take before reaching its “Beautiful China” destination by the middle of the century.
For the past two years, she has been wrestling with the paradox between humanity and nature.
In December 2016, Wang paid her first visit to Xianghai National Nature Reserve in the northeastern province of Jilin. She was amazed by the rich landscapes, but shocked by the severe human disturbance in the reserve.
“I didn’t expect so many people to be living in a nature reserve. There were even residents among the habitat of red-crowned cranes and in the heartlands of rare plants,” she said.
The reserve, built in 1981, is an important wetland for migratory birds to reproduce and refresh themselves during their journeys. It sprawls across more than 1,000 square kilometers and 12 villages in Jilin’s Tongyu county.
More than 15,000 people are still living in the reserve. Before 2015, 30 percent of the core zone, in which human activity is strictly prohibited, was farmland.
Zhang Xuejun, who was born and raised in Xianghai, has witnessed firsthand how humans have occupied the reserve.
“When the wetland was first built, everyone appreciated the pleasant environment. But when they saw that putting sheep out to graze was lucrative, they all rushed to grab land in the core zone,” the 56-year-old said.
Initially, the local government sent out patrol teams to control illegal grazing. But the move was only partially successful because grazing was not limited to a single location.
In recent years, the provincial government has attempted to solve the puzzle with a resettlement project.
It demolished 248 houses and shacks, returned 6,711 hectares of farmland to grassland and every year the villagers are given 8,000 yuan ($1,260) as reimbursement for every hectare they have lost.
However, driven by the profit motive, people still catch rare birds and poison fish in the core zone.
“The biggest challenge is to coordinate ecological protection and community development, by which the government can cooperate with NGOs,” said Wang, who has been running a pilot program since 2016.
Improving local lives
In December 2016, after two years of research and negotiations, the Paradise Foundation, an NGO in Beijing, signed a 30-year agreement with the reserve and the Jilin government to establish the Xianghai Ecological Protection Center.
The center, which covers half the reserve’s core zone, is directly managed by the foundation and supervised by the local government.
When Wang was appointed as director of the center, the first thing she did was to visit a number of nearby villages to learn about the needs of local residents.
“Wang and her team always come to talk about the importance of ecological protection, so I know that wetland acts as the Earth’s kidneys. Now they are looking for good ideas to improve our lives,” Zhang said.
The center adopted a twopronged approach: first, local villagers were recruited to form patrols and crack down on poachers, which created jobs; second, environmentally friendly industries were established, such as growing organic grains and breeding chickens that are native to the area.
Despite Wang’s efforts, most villagers still sit on the fence, apprehensive because of their inexperience and the bleak market prospects.
Zhang was one of a small number of residents who agreed to breed the chickens.
“I believe in the concept of ecological protection. For the sake of our descendants, we need to make changes,” he said.
Ecological breeding demands zero use of chemicals and fertilizers. Zhang bought 500 chicks and raised them in a 6-hectare wooded area he owns. More than 100 died because of low temperatures, disease and predators, but after careful calculation of the costs, Zhang is still optimistic regarding profits.
The paradox of Xianghai is an issue for many nature reserves in China.
“Finding a solution to human disturbance is the key to the successful operation of nature reserves. It’s great to see governments are joining hands with NGOs. What has been done in Xianghai tells us that the use of privately protected areas is the correct path to follow,” said Zhu Chunquan, a representative of the China office of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
In 2013, the Old Creek Nature Reserve, the first privately protected area project in China, was jointly launched by the Paradise Foundation and the government of Pingwu county, Sichuan province.
The reserve covers 110 square kilometers, including migration corridors for a number of rare species such as giant pandas. Under a 50-year land trust agreement, the foundation is in overall charge and pays for the management of the reserve.
After years of endeavor, poaching has been practically eliminated in the reserve. Moreover, thanks to the innovation of customized agriculture, people in Minzhu, a village close to the reserve, are being lifted out of poverty. Of the 280 households in the village, 90 have seen their annual incomes rise by 10,000 yuan.
According to a report published by The Nature Conservancy last year, China has seen a rise in the number of privately protected areas nationwide, complementing the country’s system of nature reserves.
Aiming higher
However, China is aiming to go bigger with its green development strategy. Last year, the Overall Plan for the National Park System came into effect, which includes 10 national parks, the protection of many endangered species and the preservation of historic sites such as the Great Wall for the sake of the natural environment.
According to a report delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October, the country will develop a nature reserve system that will mainly comprise national parks.
“In the past, nature reserves tended to be small and mainly offered shelter to a single species or had an incomplete ecosystem. National parks will help to improve the situation,” said Cui Guofa, a professor in the nature reserve department at Beijing Forestry University.
However, national parks often cover much larger areas than nature reserves, while establishing them usually requires a larger number of people to be relocated from the core zone. The construction of the Old Creek park in Sichuan has resulted in the relocation of 170,000 people, according to the provincial forestry department.
Wang hopes that the national parks will at least try to emulate the model used at Xianghai, which stresses both ecological protection and community development and “leads the locals to protect the environment”.
Zhang Xuejun’s New Year resolution is to maintain the clear waters and lush mountains, while becoming richer along with his fellow villagers.
“Farmers from other villages as well as some businessmen have come to see how I feed my free-range chickens. I hope more households will join me this year,” he said.