The integration, optimization and adjustment of national nature reserves were announced on the 15th. According to the announcement of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Ministry of Natural Resources, the number of nature reserves in the country will be integrated and optimized from the existing 9,240 to 6,736, and more than 2,500 nature reserves will be withdrawn and merged.
In the past few days, a number of people related to the withdrawn nature reserves told the first financial reporter, "although I have heard about it before, the news is still relatively sudden", "after being delisted, all aspects are facing major adjustments", "in the past, a large part of the energy was devoted to ecological protection, and after the name of the nature reserve was revoked, there will definitely be a big adjustment in the direction of work, and what to do next has not been considered".
What will happen to the more than 2,500 nature reserves that have been dismantled?
"No significant conservation value" is the main reason
Guangdong Province is the birthplace of the first nature reserve in mainland China and the only demonstration province for the construction of nature reserves. According to the Guangdong Provincial Protected Area Plan (2021-2035) (hereinafter referred to as the Guangdong Plan) published by the Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province and the Forestry Bureau of Guangdong Province, by the end of 2020, 1,361 nature reserves had been approved in the province.
The Guangdong Plan proposes to optimize the status quo of nature reserves in the province and build 139 new nature reserves, including nature reserves, forest nature parks, wetland nature parks, geological nature parks, marine nature parks, and rocky desert nature parks. 142 nature reserves will no longer be retained, including nature reserves, forest nature parks, and wetland nature parks; Many nature reserves have been transformed, some nature parks have been converted into nature reserves, and some nature reserves have been converted into nature parks.
In the list of "nature reserves no longer retained" in Guangdong Province, there is one national nature reserve, which is the Guanyin Mountain National Forest Park in Guangdong, and the rest are city and county-level nature reserves. Guanyin Mountain National Forest Park was established in 2005 with the approval of the former State Forestry Administration, and has accumulated many historical problems after more than 20 years of development. The revoked Yunfu Xinxing Longtan Lake County-level Wetland Park in Guangdong Province, the Zhanjiang Suixi Luogangling Municipal Forest Park, and the Foshan Shunde Chencun County-level Forest Park also have various problems.
According to the Guangdong Plan, most of the revoked nature reserves have no planning scope, no functional zoning, and no management institutions, and cannot be actually managed. In addition, the impact of human activities in these nature reserves is great, and there are large areas of villages, permanent basic farmland, and collective artificial commercial forests in the area, which have low resource protection value, do not have original, typical and representative characteristics, and have no clear protection objects. Most of the revoked natural parks are man-made activities such as urban built-up areas and villages, and after the verification and treatment of the problem points, the remaining natural parks are seriously fragmented, the integrity of ecological resources no longer exists, and the protection value is low.
Several nature reserves are beginning to transform into nature parks. Photography / Zhang Ke
According to the Anhui Provincial Plan for the Integration and Optimization of Nature Reserves (hereinafter referred to as the "Anhui Plan"), the integration and optimization involves the existing 316 nature reserves. After integration and optimization, there are a total of 202 nature reserves in the province. 18 new nature reserves were established. 17 nature reserves have been revoked, mainly wetland parks, including 1 national nature reserve. Most of the areas that have been revoked are "nature reserves that have basically lost their natural attributes, have no clear protection objects, have no important protection value, and cannot be actually implemented".
According to the Heilongjiang Provincial Plan for the Integration and Optimization of Nature Reserves (hereinafter referred to as the "Heilongjiang Plan"), a total of 464 nature reserves of various types were established in the province in accordance with laws and regulations before the integration and optimization, and a total of 339 nature reserves of various types in the province after the integration and optimization. 72 protected areas were withdrawn, of which 46 were withdrawn due to complete or near-complete overlap with other protected areas. There are 26 nature reserves that have been revoked due to the loss of natural attributes and lack of conservation value. According to the statistics of levels, there are 15 nature reserves at the national, provincial, municipal and county levels, 39 at the provincial level, 10 at the municipal level and 8 at the county level.
Harbin National Forest Park, Daqing National Forest Park, Heilongjiang Xi'an District Hailanghe National Wetland Park, Heilongjiang Muling Leifeng River National Wetland Park, Heilongjiang Qinggang Mammoth Geopark (national level), etc. were revoked; Mudanfeng National Forest Park, Wudalianchi National Forest Park, Heilongjiang Anbanghe National Wetland Park, Heilongjiang Xingkai Lake National Geopark, and Heilongjiang Wudalianchi Volcanic Landform National Geopark have all been integrated and merged.
A large number of protected areas are facing transformation
According to the first financial reporter, after the integration, optimization and adjustment of the national nature reserves were announced, the relevant persons in charge of the withdrawn nature reserves had different attitudes, some people said that "what to do next" and "a little panicked", and some people said "very helpless", "it doesn't matter", "there is no brand, it is still a park, and the normal operation will not be greatly affected".
Taking the Guanyin Mountain National Forest Park in Guangdong Province as an example, in recent years, the park has continued to expand its cultural tourism industry while protecting the ecology, attracting more than 1 million tourists every year and holding nearly 100 special activities every year. The goal is to build the park into a cultural and tourism project complex that integrates forest health care, cultural experience and marriage wishes.
However, after the revocation of the "National Forest Park" brand, the impact on all aspects is still not small. For example, the largest signboard at the entrance of the park cannot be used, a large number of signs and signs have to be changed, the management committee and other relevant institutions may also have to adjust, and the original stamps and seals can no longer be used.
According to the first financial reporter, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Natural Resources and the Guangdong Provincial Forestry Bureau have clarified the general direction of the transformation of nature reserves into natural parks:
The original nature reserve overlaps with the natural park, which is dominated by landscape resources, and is more suitable as a natural park, coordinating its protection and rational utilization, and giving full play to its ecological recreation function. The impact of human activities in the original nature reserve is great, and there are large areas of villages, permanent basic farmland, and collective artificial commercial forests in the area, which are difficult to manage, and are no longer suitable for strict protection as a nature reserve, and are transformed into natural parks as a supplement to ecological protection.
Harbin National Forest Park, located in Xiangfang District, Harbin City, was founded in 1958 and is the only national forest park located in the urban area of a large city, with a forest coverage rate of 90%. There are many universities around the park, most of which have foreign hotels to accommodate visitors from all walks of life; Located in Mudanjiang City, Mudanfeng National Forest Park consists of Peony Pagoda Scenic Area, Little Guilin Scenic Area, Ski Resort Area and Primeval Forest Adventure Area. After the withdrawal of these parks, their tourism and leisure functions may be further expanded.
The tourism and leisure functions of the withdrawn nature reserves may be further expanded. Photography / Zhang Ke
According to the first financial reporter, after the revocation of the Heilongjiang Qinggang Mammoth Geopark, Qinggang County will still be based on the mission of "spreading fossil culture and telling fossil stories" to further develop the Qinggang cultural tourism industry.
According to the Heilongjiang Plan, the integration and optimization of the space between protected areas will no longer overlap, which solves most of the problems left over from history, alleviates the conflict between the production and life of indigenous residents and the management of protected areas, and leaves room for community development to carry out community economic development more freely. Therefore, the integration and optimization of protected areas will play a positive role in promoting regional social and economic development.
The Anhui Plan also states that the integration and optimization of nature reserves has solved the contradictions and problems involving the interests of the people, alleviated the conflict between people's livelihood development and environmental protection, effectively reduced some unnecessary disputes, and resolved some management problems.
"The goal of integration and optimization is to straighten out the relationship, resolve the contradictions, and promote development, and the old problems cannot be solved and new contradictions are generated." A forestry expert involved in the integration and optimization of local nature reserves told the CBN reporter that in fact, the withdrawal is not necessarily a bad thing, "the identity constraints of nature reserves are gone, and on the premise of not damaging the ecological environment, you can rest assured and boldly carry out development." ”
(This article is from Yicai)