China’s Shennongjia National Park Inscribed on the IUCN Green List

On December 10, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced new Green List sites in Montreal, Canada. Eleven protected areas from China received their certificates of IUCN Green List, including the Shennongjia National Park in the northwest of Hubei province.

On November 17, 2016, Shennongjia National Park was built as one of the pilot national parks in China. During the pilot process, Shennongjia National Park fully leveraged the strengths of four world-class designations, four national protected areas and two provincial protected areas. A three-level management system of an administration bureau, management offices, and management and protection centers was established, making the Shennongjia National Park an entity with procedure-based management under a single leadership. This effectively solves the problems of overlapping management and fragmentation of rules that have affected the development of Shennongjia for many years. Remarkable achievements have also been made in the fields of natural resource protection, ecological environment improvement, and community well-being.

Meng Hui, Head of the Nature Reserve Management Office of the Administration of Shennongjia National Park, said that the Park has earnestly implemented the Conservation Regulations of Shennongjia National Park. Ten illegal acts are strictly forbidden for better ecological protection. The Technical Specifications for Field Patrol of Shennongjia National Park and the Technical Specifications for Biological Monitoring of Shennongjia National Park were issued. The natural resources in the Park are fully monitored. In addition, the Park also led the establishment of the Alliance of Adjacent Protected Areas of Western Hubei and Eastern Chongqing, deepening regional cooperation on ecological protection.

It is the lofty mission and sacred duty of the Shennongjia National Park personnel to build a solid ecological safety barrier in Shennongjia and protect China’s green miracle at 31 degrees north latitude through comprehensive and full-time protection by the entire staff.

At present, a system of strict protection, large-scale scientific research and full monitoring of the Shennongjia National Park’s ecosystem has been put in place, and the efficiency of protection and management has been greatly improved. Wild animals and plants enjoy a better living environment and higher welfare, and the features of the national park, namely, the priority of protection and the public welfare of the whole people, are manifesting themselves. The number of golden snub-nosed monkeys in the park has steadily increased to more than 1,470, and nearly 3 million square meters of ecological restoration has been completed. From the establishment of Hubei Shennongjia National Nature Reserve to that of the Shennongjia National Park, 1,000 or so wild animals of more than 30 species have been rescued (including those rescued by local residents, volunteers and tourists). Tufted deer, Besra, Reeves’s muntjac, golden snub-nosed monkey, owl, golden eagle, macaque, Asiatic black bear, wild boar, goral, and red and white giant flying squirrel are among them.

(Golden Snub-nosed Monkey of Shennongjia, Photo by Jiang Yong)