After Xi Jinping unveils China’s first 5 national parks, goals set for nationwide network

Name: China pledges US$232m to world biodiversity conservation at COP15 conference in Kunming
Uploaded: 2021-10-21T14:05:50.000Z
Duration: 2 min 40 s
Description: China pledges US$232m to world biodiversity conservation at COP15 conference in Kunming

Regions across the country will be encouraged to establish national parks, says head of China’s research institute for such protected areas

First in line would be the Tibetan Plateau, the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, and the country’s vast sea area

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Tibetan antelopes at the Sanjiangyuan National Park in northwest China’s Qinghai province. Photo: Xinhua

Echo Xie

Published: 10:05pm, 21 Oct 2021Updated: 1:48am, 22 Oct 2021

Last week, President Xi Jinping announced China’s first batch of five national parks as he emphasised Beijing’s biodiversity commitments at the COP15 summit.

Plans have now been unveiled to take the ecological protection push further, by expanding the national parks network countrywide.

“We will establish a dynamic and open mechanism and guide all regions across the country to promote the establishment of national parks,” Tang Xiaoping, head of China’s research institute for national parks, said in Beijing on Thursday.

“Our next step is to set up national parks in ecologically significant areas on the Tibetan plateau, the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, as well as the vast sea area,” said Tang, deputy director of the National Parks Management Office at the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

That would include the Yellow River Delta, the Qinling mountains in northwestern Shaanxi province, and the Zoige wetland on the Tibetan Plateau, he added.

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China pledges US$232m to world biodiversity conservation at COP15 conference in Kunming

The idea to create a protected area system was put forward in 2013, and China has set up 10 pilot national parks since 2016. Five of these were formally accorded national park status last week.