China's national parks have delivered remarkable ecological, biodiversity and community gains since the first batch was officially established in 2021, a senior official from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
Sun Hongyan, the official from the administration, highlighted significant progress in the five national parks launched that year, namely, Sanjiangyuan National Park, Giant Panda National Park, Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, and Wuyi Mountain National Park, including healthier ecosystems, recovering wildlife populations, and improved livelihoods for local residents.
Sanjiangyuan National Park, located in northwest China's Qinghai Province, protects the headwaters of the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Lancang River, and has seen notable environmental improvements.
Compared with 2015, before the area became a pilot site, the number of wild animals has risen sharply, and grassland vegetation coverage has increased by 8.6 percent.
Local residents have seen their annual income rise to between 15,000 and 21,000 yuan, along with increased satisfaction and improved quality of life.
China began piloting a national park system in 2015 to strengthen ecological conservation. In October 2021, five of the ten pilot areas were officially designated as national parks, marking a milestone in the country's environmental governance.
In the Giant Panda National Park in southwest China's Sichuan Province, 13 once-isolated habitats have been reconnected, helping boost the wild panda population from about 1,100 in the 1980s to nearly 1,900 today.
Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park has restored wildlife migration corridors, allowing the number of Amur tiger and leopard to rise from 27 to 70, and 42 to 80, respectively.
Notably, for the first time in 30 years, traces of wild tigers have been spotted in the Changbai Mountain region of Jilin Province.
In Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, the rainforest ecosystem has gradually recovered, with the wild population of the critically endangered Hainan gibbons increasing from 35 to 42, making them the only gibbon species worldwide to show sustained population growth.
Meanwhile, Wuyi Mountain National Park has carried out coordinated ecosystem restoration across provinces of Fujian and Jiangxi, leading to the discovery of several new species.
China's national parks achieve significant progress in ecological protection, restoration
