(East-West Question) Ma Hongbo: How to understand the "Chinese connotation" of national parks?
China News Agency, Xining, February 25th: How to understand the "Chinese connotation" of national parks?
——Interview with Ma Hongbo, Vice President of the Party School of the Qinghai Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China
China News Agency reporter Pan Yujie
Since the Chinese government proposed the "building a national park system" in 2013, a situation of promoting the reform of the natural reserve system with the pilot construction of the national park system is taking shape.
What are the inspirations from the experience of national park construction at home and abroad?
How does China endow the concept of "National Park" from the United States with the connotation of "people and culture"?
China News Agency's "East and West Questions" recently interviewed Ma Hongbo, vice president and professor of the Party School of the Qinghai Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, to answer the above questions.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Agency reporter: How did the concept of "National Park" come into being? What are the implications for China of the creation of national parks in the United States?
Ma Hongbo:
Since the birth of human beings, more than 90% of their time has been picked and hunted in the wild. Wilson, a biologist at Harvard University, once pointed out that human beings have a "pro-nature complex" and naturally like the wilderness, grassland and forest.
After the Industrial Revolution, the population migrated to cities. In order to improve the already seriously imbalanced relationship between man and nature, the concept of "national park" came into being.
The United States is an immigrant country with a history of just over 200 years since the "Declaration of Independence" was issued in 1776. Therefore, the concept of "national park" was created to strengthen the identification of people from all over the world with this emerging country.
According to historical narratives, in 1870, a group of explorers lit a bonfire at the confluence of rivers in the Yellowstone region of the United States, envisioning the establishment of a great park where Indians would live in peace for generations and wildlife would flourish freely.
But the reality is that the United States was building a railroad across the east and west, making it possible to develop tourism, and the beautiful scenery in the Yellowstone area soon became a huge business opportunity.
Two years later, the world's first national park, the Yellowstone National Park in the United States, was established with the purpose of "serving the interests and happiness of the people". It can be seen that at that time, it was not only for the protection of nature, but also for development.
After years of "tug-of-war" between protection and development, the United States has gradually determined the national park positioning of "mainly protection and taking into account the utilization".
Yellowstone National Park, USA.
China News Agency reporter Chen Wenshe
The National Park Service of the United States was established in 1916, and the "national park" has not been around for a long time in China, and it is still in the new stage of development. It should learn from international experience with an open mind.
At the beginning of the establishment of national parks, China has clearly put the protection of the authenticity and integrity of the ecosystem in the first place, which reflects the responsibility of a major country to deal with global climate change and protect the earth's homeland.
China News Agency reporter: You once said that the experience in the construction of British national parks may be more valuable for China to learn from. Why do you think so?
Ma Hongbo:
Different from the construction process of the United States on a "white paper", the United Kingdom has built national parks on the basis of high industrialization and urbanization since the 1950s.
Both China and the UK are countries with a long history, large population and profound cultural heritage, and the reality they face is partly similar.
First of all, unlike the United States, which first realizes the state of land before planning, the land ownership in British national parks is complex and diverse. .
After mutual compromises between various parties, the British National Parks, without changing the land ownership, passed legislative planning to enable the country to effectively control the direction of land use, and to compensate for the loss of residents' interests at the EU and national levels.
Since the implementation of the land contract policy in China in the 1980s, it has become a basic economic system.
Although the land in the national park is owned by the whole people and collectives, it is contracted and managed by generations of farmers and herdsmen. Therefore, it is also necessary to manage the land and correctly handle the relationship between all parties.
Since 2016, Qianjiangyuan National Park and Wuyishan National Park have carried out the reform of "easement" for collective forest land protection. The land contract rights remain unchanged. Residents operate industries in accordance with the requirements of the national parks and receive certain ecological compensation.
Snow scene in Wuyishan National Park.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
Secondly, British national parks do not have the vast wilderness and "virgin land" like the United States. Most of them are man-made landscapes, mostly "country parks".
There are about 450,000 permanent residents in the 15 national parks in the UK. Each park has both local residents working and living, as well as foreign tourists.
In terms of management, we focus on prosperous communities and pursue the coordination of traditional culture, economic activities and ecological protection, which is also instructive to us.
China News Service: From traditional nature reserves to national parks, what kind of exploration and reform has the Chinese government experienced? Compared with the international classification system, why does China regard national parks as the highest level of nature reserves?
Ma Hongbo:
In 1956, China's first Dinghushan Nature Reserve in Guangdong was established, and it has flourished since the reform and opening up, with a total of 2,750 in 2018.
However, most nature reserves are established under the condition of "rescue protection", which manages various natural resources in a complete ecosystem by categories, and introduces various management methods for nature reserves, resulting in overlapping and low efficiency.
In order to simplify this chaotic and "fragmented" situation, and to integrate and unify, Yunnan Province has been exploring the use of a new method of "national parks" since 1996 to solve the problems of protection and development.
Since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the pilot program of the national park system has risen from local to national.
In 2019, the Chinese government issued the "Guiding Opinions on Establishing a Natural Reserve System with National Parks as the Main Body", which divides all nature reserves into three categories. National parks are the first category and the highest protection level. The most unique, biodiversity-rich and globally valuable ecosystems are under the strictest protection.
Summarizing the shortcomings of the traditional nature reserve management system, national parks comprehensively use the three forces of government, market and society to implement comprehensive protection, and practice the concept of "community of life". Funds, and at the same time realize the diversification of financial protection, and truly make protection solid.
Zaduo County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, the first county in the source of the Lancang River, is one of the important breeding habitats for wild animals in the Three River Source region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Jiangning
China News Agency reporter: How do you understand "the strictest protection is the most scientific protection"? How can China's national parks deepen their understanding of "protection"?
Ma Hongbo:
The strictest protection must be based on scientific research, otherwise it is easy to "go to extremes" in practice.
For example, in the 1980s, the grassland degradation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was thought to be caused by overgrazing and rodent damage, so rodents were eliminated, animals were reduced, and fences were erected.
More than ten years later, it was discovered that moderate trampling and excrement of cattle and sheep are important factors for maintaining the vitality of grassland.
The pika is also an important part of the plateau biological chain.
In the source areas where there are no trees and only grass, birds rely on pika burrows as habitats; these burrows are also "rain containers", which can conserve water, carry seeds, and loosen soil.
The participation of pika accelerates the circulation of energy and material circulation in the system.
The pika of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Sun Zifa
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is far more complex than our current understanding, like only the first page of a book from heaven.
Before respecting, protecting, and using, we must respect nature.
To put it bluntly, it is best not to interfere with people before they truly know and understand.
The same is true for the purpose of establishing a national park: to protect the integrity and authenticity of the ecosystem, to pass it on from generation to generation, to continue to explore, not to make judgments based on apparent cognition, and to easily change nature.
At present, the concept of "landscapes, forests, fields, lakes, grasses and sands are a community of life" advocated by China's national parks is a deepening of the long-term understanding of the division of departments, awareness of the internal mechanism of the "interconnection of all things" in the ecosystem, and the overall and systematic sexual protection.
China News Agency reporter: Why do you say that China is building a national park with "people and culture"?
Ma Hongbo:
China's national parks must protect the ecology and inherit cultural heritage, and also shoulder the tasks of ecological poverty alleviation, economic development, and improvement of people's livelihood.
Let the aboriginal people become the main body of ecological management and protection, and play the positive role of traditional culture, which is the highlight of China's national park construction.
For example, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a region of extremely high ecological value in the world, and it is also a deeply impoverished region.
In Sanjiangyuan National Park, the status of aboriginal residents has been transformed into ecological stewards to participate in the protection, earning an income of 1,800 yuan per person per month, so that herdsmen can get rid of poverty.
In the "kindergarten" of the Tibetan antelope at the Sonam Dajie Conservation Station of the Hoh Xil Management Office of the Yangtze River Source Park of Sanjiangyuan National Park, "Daddy" took a photo of a small Tibetan antelope.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ma Mingyan
At the same time, since 2010, the Chinese government has implemented the mechanism of counterpart assistance to the youth, which not only brings project funds to the Sanjiangyuan area, but also promotes personnel exchanges in the eastern and western regions. Local officials, practitioners, and people have been able to step out of the plateau and broaden their horizons. change in thinking.
In addition to policy mechanisms, market forces are also fully exerting, traditional production methods are changing, and indigenous residents are able to moderately carry out franchise operations and increase their income in the development of the service industry.
For example, the Snow Leopard Observation Festival in the Ansai Grand Canyon at the source of the Lancang River, and the ecological experience activities at the source of the Yellow River are all useful attempts.
The snow leopard was trapped in the Sanjiangyuan area because it accidentally broke into the herdsmen's cattle pen. The herdsmen captured and released snow leopards into the wild.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongmei
Ecological protection does not necessarily require relocation of immigrants, but more importantly, through education and training, people's ideas and behaviors need to be changed.
We saw in the Baizha Forest Farm in Nangqian County, the source of the Lancang River, that blue sheep often ran into the monastery for food.
Blue sheep is a very alert animal, but it knows that people will not hurt it, which shows that people and nature can live in harmony, as long as they have good thoughts.
Sanjiangyuan National Park respects and retains the concept of "nature protection, harmony between man and nature" advocated by local traditional culture, and allows herdsmen to watch grasslands, snow-capped mountains and rivers from generation to generation and live a beautiful park life.
Nature not only provides the material conditions necessary for survival, but also an important source of our happiness. Human beings should return to the world and realize "poetic dwelling".
(over)
Interviewee Profile:
Ma Hongbo, Vice President, Professor and Ph.D. of the Party School of the Qinghai Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.
He received a bachelor's degree in geography from Shaanxi Normal University in 1987, a master's degree in economics from Capital University of Economics and Business in 2002, and a doctorate degree in economics from Lanzhou University in 2006.
He has successively won the titles of Outstanding Professional and Technical Talents in Qinghai Province, Outstanding Experts in Qinghai Province, Leaders of "Little Heights" in the field of social sciences in Qinghai Province, and Leaders of Philosophy and Social Sciences in the first "Kunlun Talents" Program in Qinghai Province.
In 2016, he received the special government allowance of the State Council. In 2019, he was selected as an outstanding talent in the "Thousand Talents Program for High-end Innovative Talents" in Qinghai Province. In 2020, he was hired as a doctoral tutor of human geography at Qinghai Normal University.