Andrew J. Klimkowski

November 23, 2008

China's Ministry of Environmental Protection and the National Tourism Administration recently established China's "first national park." Largely inspired by the U.S.'s national park system, China's central government is planning a national parks system to stop devastation of the country's most biodiverse and beautiful areas. Tangwanghe National Park is the name of the first park established under the new system. It is located in China's Heilongjiang Province. If Chinese geography is beyond your ken, just know that the park is in northeast China and close to China's border with Russia. The issue surrounding China's designation of its "first national park" is whether it actually is China's "first national park." Nevertheless, China has taken an environmentally proactive step largely inspired from the U.S.'s national park system. Therefore, it is critical for the U.S. (and all other countries) to continue generating and implementing successful, vanguard legislation that mitigates increasing human pressures on the global ecosystem--for the entire world to see and hopefully emulate.

The issue over whether Tangwanghe is actually China's "first national park" stems from the following: the Yunnan provincial government established Pudacuo National Park in Shangri-La in June 2007. The Yunnan province is located in southwest China. The staff at Pudacuo was surprised when Tangwanghe was named China's "first national park." But Bai Chengshou, director of nature reserve management at China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, said, "[y]ou can't just call yourself a national park. I don't agree with these parks in Yunnan arbitrarily proclaiming themselves national parks." This conflict between provincial and central government creates an imperfect situation because there is no single, unified, and consistently funded agency to effectively manage the parks and reserves. As a result of this imperfect situation, many of the 2,531 nature reserves throughout China promote sightseeing over environmental protection in an effort to draw in more funds. But Tangwanghe will be different. Tangwanghe will be run by China's central government and managed in an effort to strike "a balance between conservation and tourism." I contend that this balancing and the fact that Tangwanghe will be managed by a single, unified, central, and consistently funded agency make it China's first national park.

As mentioned above, China is attempting to emulate the U.S.'s national park system. The U.S.'s system was created "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." To further this purpose, President Ulysses S. Grant, on March 1, 1872, signed the bill that established the world's oldest national park, Yellowstone. China, over 135 years later and after seeing the benefits of successful ecosystem management in the U.S., is just now taking centralized action to stop destruction of the most beautiful and biodiverse areas. This certainly constitutes environmental progress. But progress has its price. The park would be a great source of timber, and logging would provide an economic boost to the local town. But China is looking to follow the U.S.'s lead and create national parks that will protect natural resources and generate revenue. Perhaps Wan Bentai, chief engineer of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, said it best, "[t]he construction of national parks upgrades the use of natural resources."

Tangwanghe National Park is almost entirely covered by vegetation. The park is most famous for its virgin forests of Korean pines, which are the most well-preserved in Asia. In addition, strangely shaped granite stones permeate the park and many have been given names for the figures they faintly resemble; such as "drunken tortoise" and "alien guest."

As noted above, there is a lesson that can be gleaned from all of this: the successful implementation of environmental laws in the U.S. may very well lead to global environmental victories. In this sense, each country is like a state in Justice Brandeis' dissent in New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann. "[A] single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." In this instance, a courageous country may serve as a laboratory and try novel environmental experiments, within reason, without great risk to the rest of the world. In summary, I doubt Ulysses S. Grant had any idea that his signing of the bill to establish Yellowstone in 1872 would influence China to designate its first national park and preserve the "drunken tortoise." But the U.S. must remember that the eyes of the world tend to look in its direction. Thus, it is wise and necessary to set a good example.

Sources:

Hallie Martin, China: First National Parks Planned, Greenwire, Nov. 21, 2008, http://www.eenews.net./Greenwire/2008/11/21/28/.

Calum MacLeod, China Designates First of Planned National Parks, USA Today, Nov. 21, 2008, at 13A, available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-20-chinaparks_N.htm (last visited Nov. 21, 2008).

China to Build First Pilot National Park, China View (Beijing), Oct. 9, 2008, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/09/content_10169181.htm.

Tim W. Clark & Steven C. Minta, Greater Yellowstone's Future 10--11 (1994).

16 U.S.C. § 1 (2006).

16 U.S.C. § 21 (2006).

New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262, 311 (1932) (Brandeis, J., dissenting).