There is one of the largest giant panda parks in the world called China Giant Panda National Park.
The largest distribution area of China's Giant Panda National Park is in Sichuan.
On September 29, 2022, the legislation of Sichuan Giant Panda National Parks entered a new stage--the "Sichuan Giant Panda National Park Management Regulations (Draft)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft Regulations") was submitted to the 37th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th People's Congress of Sichuan Province for deliberation for the first time. The draft regulations have a total of eight chapters and sixty-six articles, mainly including general provisions, sub-provisions, legal responsibilities and appendixes, and clarify the planning, construction, protection, management, development and other contents of Giant Panda National Park .
Fill in legal gaps in management and law enforcement
Establishing a natural protection area system with national parks as the main body is a major measure to implement Xi Jinping's ecological civilization thought and a major reform task proposed by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The "Pilot Plan for the Giant Panda National Park System" issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council requires that Sichuan Province, Shaanxi Province and Gansu Province can formulate local laws and local government regulations based on the actual situation of giant panda protection. On October 12, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced the establishment of five national parks including Giant Panda National Park at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations "HTM4 Convention on Biological Diversity".
The Provincial People's Congress Urban and Rural Construction Environmental and Resources Protection Committee pointed out that the State Council's approval requirement on agreeing to the establishment of the Giant Panda National Park. After the establishment of the Giant Panda National Park, other nature reserves will no longer be retained in the same area. Current laws and regulations cannot meet the needs of giant panda national park management and law enforcement, and some areas of giant panda national park management and law enforcement are facing legal gaps. Since the pilot of the Giant Panda National Park system, our province has achieved positive results and accumulated effective experience. Comprehensively summarize the pilot experience of the Giant Panda National Park system, solidify good experiences and practices in the form of local regulations, clarify the powers and responsibilities of the Giant Panda National Park management, fill the legal gaps in the management and law enforcement of the Giant Panda National Park, and provide legal guarantees for strengthening the protection and management of Giant Panda National Park. It is very necessary to formulate and issue regulations.
Li Tianman, Director of the Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau and Director of the Sichuan Provincial Administration of Giant Panda National Park, pointed out when explaining to the meeting that the formulation of regulations is to directly reflect the implementation of the new development concept of and build a new development pattern, which is highly political; it directly reflects the modernization requirements of the governance system and governance capabilities, which is highly legal; it directly reflects the ability level of local governance and reform and innovation, which is highly realistic.
Core protection zones are prohibited in principle from human activities
The draft regulations clearly define the purpose, scope of application, definition of national parks, and the responsibilities of local governments, park management agencies, and relevant functional departments. Relevant regulations have been made on the planning and construction, protection and management, development and sharing, guarantee and supervision, and regional cooperation of Giant Panda National Park.
In addition, the draft regulations also clarify relevant planning preparation and approval procedures, management requirements, and standardize production activities, projects and community construction management; clarify protection objects and asset management methods, standardize biodiversity protection , ecological restoration, ecological compensation and other systems; standardize co-construction and co-management, franchise, public facility construction, exchange and cooperation, etc.; standardize financial guarantee mechanisms, assessment and evaluation and supervision mechanisms; clarify the coordination and cooperation mechanisms of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu.
According to the provisions of the draft regulations, the giant panda national park is divided into core protection areas and general control areas according to the ecosystem functions, control goals and utilization values, and implements differentiated protection management. The core protected area is a high-density area and the most suitable habitat for wild panda populations. It mainly undertakes protection functions and in principle, artificial activities are prohibited.While adhering to the principle of natural ecology and ensuring that the main protection objects and ecological environment are not damaged, the indigenous residents in the core protection area can repair production and living infrastructure without expanding the scale of existing land use, and retain the necessary planting and breeding production activities for life; existing infrastructure maintenance and renovation of transportation, water supply and power supply, and infrastructure construction that cannot be avoided and is harmless in the ecological environment such as tunnels, bridges, and overhead are allowed to cross and cross.
The core protection area has road building control areas and large facilities control lines to manage according to the general control area.
Maintain the legitimate rights and interests of relocated residents
In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of relocated residents, avoid conflicts and disputes caused by relocation and affecting the construction of Giant Panda National Park, the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress Urban and Rural Construction Environmental and Resources Protection Committee believed that in addition to reasonable resettlement, reasonable compensation should be given in accordance with the law, such as compensation for land, ground attachments and green seedlings. Therefore, the draft regulations stipulate in Article 37: "The local people's government shall, together with the management agency, carry out the relocation and resettlement of indigenous residents in the core protected areas in accordance with the overall land space plan, the overall plan of giant panda national park, and the plans of geological disaster prevention and control, , rural revitalization, etc., and carry out the relocation and resettlement work in the core protected areas in accordance with the principles of voluntary and orderly. If it is necessary to relocate, a relocation and resettlement plan shall be prepared and submitted to the provincial people's government for approval before implementation."
In response to the past incidents of wildlife injury in protected areas, the draft regulations encourage insurance institutions to carry out wildlife compensation insurance business in accordance with the law.
In terms of legal liability, the draft regulations clearly stipulate violations of prohibited regulations and causes ecological and environmental damage, and make connections or supplementary provisions on legal liability. Clarify the geographical boundary scope of the Sichuan area of Giant Panda National Park.
At the time of deliberation on the same day, members of the Standing Committee believed that legislation was necessary and that the draft regulations were in line with Sichuan's actual situation, foresight, highly targeted and operational. It is recommended that the demarcation of protected areas should leave room for future economic and social construction; pay attention to the connection with relevant laws and regulations, and if it involves the rights and interests of the people, it should be the people-centered, adhere to the principles of putting life first and people first, and provide full guarantees.
Text source: Sun Xinzhi
Picture source: Comprehensive
