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International experts discuss China’s draft Protected Areas Law in Beijing 21 February 2006
China is achieving a milestone in its modern conservation history – it is formulating its first ever Protected Areas Law. With protected areas now covering some 15% of China ’s territory, an adequate legislative framework is urgently needed. To move forward in that process, an International Symposium on China ’s Protected Areas Law was held in Beijing from 15-16 February 2006. The meeting was organized by the Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee of the National People’s Congress (EPRCC), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the South-North Institute for Sustainable Development. While currently only a Regulation on Nature Reserves exists, the new law will likely have profound implications for every aspect of protected areas designation, planning and management, as well as for the communities living in and around protected areas. China has designated new protected areas at an astonishing pace in the past two decades. There are now 2,194 nature reserves in China covering some 15% of the country’s territory, an area which is six times the size of Great Britain and contains more people than the total population of Sweden . However, China ’s legislative framework for protected areas (PAs) has not kept pace with these developments. In drafting a new Protected Areas Law, China is taking a major step to strengthen its national PA system. EPRCC is leading this two-year process, with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and IUCN for this final phase. The IUCN China Programme has served as the implementing agency for an ADB funded Support to Environmental Legislation project, and has coordinated a team of international and domestic experts to provide technical assistance to EPRCC in the drafting of the Protected Areas Law. At the recent International Symposium, national and international experts commented on the first draft of the new law, including the potential for applying IUCN’s protected areas categories. The meeting was attended by more than 110 people, including representatives from government ministries, local and international NGOs, nature reserves, international organizations and embassies. In attendance were representatives from the IUCN China Programme, the IUCN Regional Environmental Law Programme for Asia , the IUCN Protected Areas Programme, the IUCN Environmental Law Centre, as well as several IUCN Commission members. EPRCC Deputy Director Ye Rutang hailed the meeting as one of the best he has ever attended. “T his is only the first draft of the law. However, to get so much excellent input at this stage demonstrates the law’s importance and that it has good prospects for acceptance,” said Rutang. The Protected Areas Law drafting process began in February 2004 with official requests by EPRCC to the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and the State Forestry Administration (SFA) to each contribute their own drafts of the law, together with requests to six other agencies to draft regulations in related fields. This work was completed in June 2005. In the next stage, EPRCC put together a consultative draft law which built upon the submission of materials by SEPA, SFA and other agencies and that was completed in January 2006. Following the International Symposium, a series of meetings will be organized with relevant government agencies and other stakeholders, with the aim of revising the draft law. By the end of 2006, the final version of the law will be completed and distributed to the members of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for review. For more information
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