Why is it Green Listed?

Nanshan National Park is one of the first 10 pilot areas of national park system in China, and one of the 49 national park candidate areas identified in the National Park Spatial Layout Plan, with a total area of 1303.8 square kilometres. It is located at the demarcation line from southwest of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the second step of China’s terrain to the Southeastern Hills，the third step of China’s terrain It has preserved the complete vertical belt spectrum of vegetation such as evergreen broad-leaved forests, evergreen deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests, coniferous broad-leaved mixed forests, and thermal scrub grasslands in central subtropics. The park mainly protects endangered wild animals as well as their habitat, such as, Moschus berezovskii, Mergus squamatus etc. and rare plants as well as their communities, such as Abies ziyuanensis and Calanthe sieboldii etc. It is a typical representative of the forest ecosystems in middle subtropical zone, the representative region of mature stage of World Natural Heritage China Danxia Landform, the important area of ecological barrier in the southern hilly mountain belt; the inheritance place of Chinese excellent traditional culture and the red culture of the Long March. 

Photo Credit – Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism

Key Achievements

Conservation

Nanshan National Park has high species richness and forest stock, hence an ideal site for saving the extremely endangered wildlife, such as the dwarf musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) and the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), and the plant species with extremely small populations (PSESP), such as the Abies ziyuanensis and the Calanthe striata. 

• The authenticity of the ecosystems has been effectively protected. The natural vegetation coverage has increased from 91% to 92.7%. A total investment of RMB252 million has been invested to protect and restore 1,023.8 hectares of forest ecosystem, 110 hectares of alpine swamps, and 1,759 hectares of meadows. Grassland and forest enclosures have reached 1,300 hectares and 1,038.7 hectares respectively. The area of sown grassland and deteriorated grassland restoration reached 1,185.6 hectares. Nanshan National Park Administration was awarded as one of the best 10 examples for ecological restoration of territorial space in Hunan Province.
• Habitats for wild animals and plants have been significantly improved and wildlife populations have steadily grown. A sound protection network has been built that has ensured the effective protection of wildlife resources, especially the rare and endangered species. The monitoring work has seen 3,936 species-times of wild animals, and 77 wild animal species under key state protection, 9 of which were under Class I and 68 under Class II state protection. The populations of rare and endangered species, such as the Abies ziyuanensis and the Calanthe striata, are gradually expanding. Through re-introduction efforts, Nanshan National Park has successfully established stable wild population of the crested ibis (Nipponia nippon).
• New species and new records have been found in Nanshan National Park. The results of flora and fauna resource surveys are outstanding, and the number of newly monitored species and new records and species discovered by surveys and research is characterized by major breakthroughs.The monitoring work has recorded 11 new wild animal species and 3 wild plant species. The survey found 5 new record species (including 4 animals and 1 plant); 7 new species were found in the survey(including 2 plants, 5 animals). The National Park Administration has gained international and national academic recognition through published papers.

Good governance

• A unified management system has been established. The Nanshan National Park Administration is a not-for-profit public institution directly managed by the provincial government and its full funding comes from fiscal allocation. It is in charge of the protection and management of the natural resources, as well as the operation of the nature reserves inside the National Park. .
• A sound funding mechanism has been secured. As a not-for-profit public institution with its full funding from the provincial fiscal allocation, Nanshan National Park Administration has invested a total of RMB920 million into the piloting work and the overall development of the National Park since its establishment in 2017.
• Infrastructure development has been advanced. With the strong policy and funding support from the government, the Nanshan National Park Administration has procured the equipment and facilities in need and steadily improved its infrastructure. The List of Nanshan National Park Construction Projects (2018-2025) has been developed, the boundaries of the pilot national park was settled and boundary markers set up, including 4048 boundary monuments, markers, and information boards and signs. Ten biological monitoring stations have been set up or expanded, and 20 kilometres of patrol routes have been established and 66 kilometres of patrol paths restored. Three monitoring stations have been set up. Built on the intelligent park development, a pre-warning network for forest fire and pests has been built and installed with 14 sets of forest fire monitoring equipment and 10 sets of forest pests control and prevention equipment. Nine wildlife rescue station has been established.

Community benefits

• The income of the local communities has increased with the development of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Cooperation with research institutes has been established and technical training provided. In Aoling Village, a tea planting cooperative and an eco-aquaculture cooperative were set up with a total area of 237 hectares for tea cultivation and aquaculture farms and an annual income of RMB1.2 million. In Huangsan Village, a cultivation cooperative was formed with an annual income of RMB455,000, growing 33 hectares of Lonicera japonica, 2 hectares of Lilium brownii, 2 hectares of ferns, 15,000 plants of Paris polyphylla and 30,000 plants of Panax stipuleanatus.
•  The income of the local communities has increased with eco-compensation funds. Collective forest tenure reform was implemented. Since 2019, Nanshan National Park has implemented the management rights transfer of the 15,200-hectare collective forests, increasing the subsidy for the non-commercial forest from RMB232.5 per hectare per year to RMB750 per hectare per year. In addition to the original compensation, Nanshan National Park provides another RMB7.65 million every year as a direct compensation to the farmers who own the forests.
• The poor population have been lifted out of poverty with the development of the National Park. Support has been provided to rural roads construction projects, safety drinking water engineering projects, and farmland irrigation and water conservation projects that were implemented inside the general control area of the National Park, and the 25 poor villages inside the pilot national park were all lifted out of poverty. Now the 22 registered poor villages have all been lifted out of poverty, and 97% of the registered 5893 poor people from 1,315 poor families have shaken off poverty.