Transforming Protected Area Management in China
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Trends in Ecology & Evolution elsewhere; where this understanding in- *Correspondence: We discuss institutional reforms to [email protected] (A.G. Rossberg). fi ’ forms identi cation of management ob- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2019.06.004 China s protected area manage- jectives and construction of problem- ment. Currently (as elsewhere), © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. specific management models; where protected areas suffer fragmented these models are calibrated – wherever References management, lack of a compre- they are needed – using cutting-edge 1. Marquet, P.A. et al. (2014) On theory in ecology. BioSci- fi – hensive classi cation, inadequate methods of data collection and statistical ence 64, 701 710 2. Keddy, P. (2005) Putting the plants back into plant ecol- coverage of biodiversity and eco- inference; where society has confidence ogy: six pragmatic models for understanding and conserv- – system services, and divided, in what ecology predicts; and where ing plant diversity. Ann. Bot. 96, 177 189 3. Ferrier, S. et al. (2016) The Methodological Assessment Re- inconsistent legislation. We recom- curiosity-driven empirical and theoretical port on Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity and research discovers ever new possibilities Ecosystem Services. Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Sci- mend establishing a new system of ence-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for understanding and managing ecolog- 4. Levin, S.A. (1975) On the care and use of mathematical protected area management that – ical systems. models. Am. Nat. 109, 785 786 can address past difficulties by 5. Łomnicki, A. (1988) The place of modelling in ecology. Oikos 52, 139–142 using ongoing institutional reforms Ecological research will always form a 6. Caswell, H. (1988) Theory and models in ecology: a differ- ent perspective. Ecol. Model. 43, 33–44 as unprecedented opportunities. spectrum from purely empirical work 7. Scheiner, S.M. and Willig, M.R. (2008) A general theory of – through data-driven modelling to theoreti- ecology. Theor. Ecol. 1, 21 28 8. Fawcett, T.W. and Higginson, A.D. (2012) Heavy use of cal analysis of fundamental principles [1, equations impedes communication among biologists. Protected Areas in China – 2,5,9]. It is essential however that all par- Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 109, 11735 11739 Establishing protected areas is the major 9. Evans, M.R. et al. (2013) Predictive systems ecology. ticipants have a basic understanding and Proc. Biol. Sci. 280, 20131452 strategy for conserving biodiversity a joint sense of ownership of the entire 10. Kendall, B.E. (2015) Some directions in ecological theory. worldwide [1]. Global aspirations such Ecology 96, 3117–3125 spectrum [5,20]. Only then can knowledge 11. Courchamp, F. et al. (2015) Fundamental ecology is as the United Nation’s Sustainable and understanding flow effectively in both fundamental. Trends Ecol. Evol. 30, 9–16 Development Goals 14 and 15 (https:// 12. Edwards, A.M. and Auger-Méthé, M. (2019) Some directions, bringing to full fruition the unity guidance on using mathematical notation in ecology. sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) – and utility of our science. Methods Ecol. Evol. 10, 92 99 emphasise their importance and ines- 13. Chiel, H.J. et al. (2010) From biology to mathematical models and back: teaching modeling to biology students, and biol- capable connections. The International ogy to math and engineering students. LSE 9, 248–265 Convention of Biological Diversity’s 14. Hastings, A. and Gross, L., eds (2012) In Encyclopedia of Acknowledgments Theoretical Ecology, University of California Press Aichis targets (https://www.cbd.int/sp/ 15. MacArthur, R. and Levins, R. (1967) The limiting similarity, G.B. acknowledges funding by the Swedish Research targets/) specify quantitative targets for convergence, and divergence of coexisting species. Am. Council (grant VR 2017-05245), G.M. by the Hungarian Nat. 101, 377–385 areas protected (target 11), stopping National Research, Development and Innovation Office 16. Simberloff, D. (1982) The status of competition theory in – the loss of natural habitats (target 5), (grant K123796). ecology. Ann. Zool. Fenn. 19, 241 253 17. Barabás, G. et al. (2012) Continuous coexistence or and species extinction (target 12), while discrete species? A new review of an old question. Evol. underscoring the vital services natural Ecol. Res. 14, 523–554 18. Milner-Gulland, E.J. and Shea, K. (2017) Embracing uncer- ecosystems provide (target 14). tainty in applied ecology. J. Appl. Ecol. 54, 2063–2068 1School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary 19. Page, K.M. and Nowak, M.A. (2002) Unifying evolutionary University of London, London, UK dynamics. J. Theor. Biol. 219, 93–98 China has exceptional biodiversity: its eco- 2Division of Theoretical Biology, Dept. IFM, Linköping University, 20. Pásztor, L. et al. (2016) Theory-based ecology: a systems range from permanent ice fields Linköping, Sweden, Darwinian approach, Oxford University Press 3ELTE-MTA Theoretical Biology and Evolutionary Ecology to tropical moist forests [2],anditholds Research Group, Budapest, Hungary 15% of the world’s vertebrate and 12% 4The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, 22203, USA 5The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia of its plant species [3] in about 6% of the 6Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Earth’s land surface. As with other coun- Chicago, IL, 60637 USA Science & Society 7Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, USA tries [4], it encounters major obstacles to 8Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, conserving this biodiversity, limiting its Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile 9Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Mathematical Transforming Protected ability to meet international commitments. Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, South Africa China’s experiences in protected area 10African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Muizenberg, Area Management in China South Africa management have important implications 11School of Biological Sciences, Kadoorie Biological Sciences Weihua Xu,1 Stuart L. Pimm,2,*,@ for the rest of the world, particularly given Building, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong 1,3 4 1 Kong, China Ao Du, Yang Su, Xinyue Fan, the upcoming 15th Conference of Parties 12Department of Biological Physics, Eötvös Loránd University, 5 6 (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Budapest, Hungary Li An, Jianguo Liu, and 1, 13International Initiative for Theoretical Ecology, http://iite.info Zhiyun Ouyang * Diversity in China in 2020. 762 Trends in Ecology & Evolution, September 2019, Vol. 34, No. 9 Trends in Ecology & Evolution Problems in Managing China’s International Union for Conservation Challenges in accountability arise if Protected Areas of Nature (https://www.iucn.org/theme/ players are also judges. What depart- By 2017, China had established 2750 protected-areas/about/protected-area- ments should be accountable for what is- ’ nature reserves (the strictest type of categories). sues? How should a protected area s protected area) covering 1.47 million km2. management performance be moni- Since the establishment of the first reserve Second, the quantity and spatial allocation tored? Who is to be blamed or rewarded? in 1956, the total area increased rapidly, of protected areas fall short of meeting the One example is the Sanjiangbingliu areas especially between 1990 and 2000. needs of biodiversity conservation and the in Yunnan Province, where several types As with the total global area [1,5],it provisioning of ecosystem services [7,8]. of protected areas overlap substantially, has plateaued or even decreased slightly Each department has its own agenda. and regulations contradict, offset, and since then. Since 2000, China has Even when applied to the category of even cancel one another (Box 1). also established numerous other types nature reserves, no overall plan meets of protected areas. These have multiple national conservation targets. Besides, Opportunities from Institutional goals for ecosystems, landscapes, natural many nature reserves were established Reforms resources, relics, and others, yet their ‘bottom-up’, in places that suffered serious China’s government is now implementing combined area is small. In total, China has threats or where local governments were institutional reforms. Some closely relate over 12 000 protected areas, covering strongly motivated to do so. For instance, to ecological protection. Four reforms are 20% of its land surface [6] (see Figure S1 local governments prefer protected areas critical for highly efficient and standardised in the supplemental information online). that attract tourists (e.g., forest parks and management of protected areas. wetland parks) over strictly regimented The central problem has been the nature reserves. Without comprehensive Restructuring Government Agencies fragmented management of these different planning, the current protected area sys- The number of ministries or branches of the protected areas. One or more departments tem does not match key areas for biodiver- State Council has decreased by 15 from 79 or agencies within the corresponding dis- sity and ecosystem services. The largest since March 2018, as some departments trict or county government (Table S1 in the protected areas are in western China, were merged or subordinated to an upper supplemental information online) manages especially in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. authority (http://sg.weibo.com/user/rmrb/