Development and Effects of Nature Conservation in China in the Past 70 Years

In the 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, nature reserves have increased in both quantity and variety and the focus of China’s nature conservation efforts has shifted from the construction of protected areas to the development of a regional ecological security pattern. China’s nature conservation efforts have been continuously strengthened, leading to remarkable results. In 1956, China built its first nature reserve—Dinghushan Nature Reserve. After more than 60 years, China’s nature conservation system has gradually matured. The nature conservation system consists of geological parks, natural and cultural heritage sites, wetland parks, aquatic germplasm reserves, marine protected areas, and specially protected islands. On this basis, China successively added ecological function areas (2008), ecologically fragile areas (2008), key ecological function areas (2011) and other key ecological conservation areas to the system. In 2011, China first put forward the proposal of “delineating the ecological conservation red line.” In 2015, China launched a pilot reform of its national park system and started building a nature conservation system in which national parks played a major role. These two major measures further enriched China’s nature conservation system and significantly accelerated the formation of a sound national ecological security pattern.