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Dean Lawrence

Comp 105-007

WA #3

9 October 2017

Sustainability of Chinas National Park Systems

In National Park Development in China: Conservation or Commercialization?,

authored by Guangyu Wang and others, Chinas recent plan to develop and preserve parks is

analyzed to determine the current strengths and flaws of the system. Through that they aim to

determine whether the parks succeed in their ultimate purpose to be sustainable ecological

reserves. To find some of these strengths and weaknesses the authors focus on topics such as the

driving factors that the Chinese government has in developing these parks, or the impact that

these parks have had on the community around them. The authors also explore the future for the

parks, and where they might and should develop from here.

The research determines that the two primary driving factors in the development of the

parks system is the growing middle class thanks to economic growth, and a need to protect land

from that economic growth. Compared to the United States, the parks system in China is a much

more recent development. The first piece of land set aside for ecological protection was

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in 1982. The creation of three Golden Week holidays also

helped to spur ecological tourism in China around that time. Since that point, the system has

grown at a staggering rate. In 2009, the visitors to these national parks numbered 333 million.

The lands set aside for protection also account for 16.9% of the total land area of China.

The authors of this essay consistently argue that the national parks system in China is

more grounded in economic benefits than actual preservation of the land. The central
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government does not provide operational funding, so park managers must find ways to make

those funds themselves; often at the expense of ecological preservation. Many park managers

turn to private sectors businesses to develop hotels and resorts to entice visitors, rather than

investing money in preservation to make the wildlife the driving factor for tourists. The essay

mentions two construction projects in parks that have been more damaging to the land than

helpful. These two projects are a set of cable cars in the mountains that alter the landscape, and a

large elevator that allows access to a previously untouched and secluded area.

Another issue with the parks ability to achieve a sustainable model is that many of the

parks were established on land where villages already existed. For that reason, many of the

people residing inside the parks continue to exploit the resources of the forests to continue living.

One example of this is their need to continue cutting bamboo, which many animals that the

reserve is trying to protect may need. When rules are imposed that restrict the peoples ability to

harvest the land, it can be damaging to those societies. The inability of people to harvest tree

farms on that land has lead to a loss of income for the people living there. It is also difficult for

those people to transition to different jobs inside the park, as many of those jobs require specific

education that the native people lack. The authors argue that while it is true that the parks system

brings income into communities throw an influx of tourism, it is also the case that not all people

in these villages benefit from that, and many villagers may now have to fight for resources with

the substantial increase of tourists that have suddenly inhabited their land.

The essay also specifies that while there are a number of problems with the parks, the

central government has been cooperating with park managers and local governments to help

dismantle inappropriate buildings and develop more systems to monitor the wildlife. They have

also developed more regulations recently to help protect the parks. The authors go further to
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suggest a few possible ways that the parks can be improved in the future. One such suggestion is

to use a more scientific method of planning the parks, which would include keeping an inventory

of species and natural resources. They also suggest consolidating the many current management

systems for parks into a single organization controlled by the central government. This would

allow for the land to be more consistently protected and potentially for more funding from the

central government to keep the parks going.

The authors conclude that the parks ultimately fall short of the goal for sustainability.

They say that the lack of regard for the actual health of the ecosystems could lead to the loss of

these ecosystems in the long run. They also end with hope that as management of the parks

undergoes an overhaul, they may find a way to successfully protect the natural environment,

while simultaneously protecting the local peoples.

In general, based on the information and statistics presented in this essay, I agree with the

findings and conclusion of the authors. The authors were successful in convincing me that

Chinas national parks system does not live up to the goal of sustainability. As someone that

visits national parks in the United States whenever I can, the essay is also useful in teaching

potential pitfalls that any other park could fall into. While it only analyzes Chinese parks, the

flaws found most likely apply to parks in other countries as well.

I feel that the concisely explains itself well. It provides just enough facts and information

to get the point across, while not lingering on any point for too long. It also mentions specific

problems at specific parks in China as examples for how the parks are failing at their goal. It

does a great job at arguing itself by beginning with ways that the parks have helped local

communities. That is then followed by presenting how the parks have failed at actually

protecting the environment. They then show how the parks have also been hurting local
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communities. The authors conclude the essay by suggesting ways to fix the problem, and then

succinctly summarizing and presenting their conclusion on the parks.

I felt that this essay was a perfect fit for the sixth section of sustainability, as that section

focusses on the impacts of ecological tourism on the land. This essay is entirely about the growth

of ecological tourism in China and how that has impacted the land set aside for preservation. I

also felt that this article was a good pick, as it found a negative answer to the question of whether

its sustainable. Because they found problems with the parks system, the essay also includes

ways that the parks can be improved to more consistently achieve the goal of being sustainable.
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Work Cited

Wang, Guangyu, et al. "National Park Development in China: Conservation Or

Commercialization?" Ambio, vol. 41, no. 3, 2012, pp. 247-61. ProQuest. Web. 9 Oct.

2017.