Promoting High-Quality National Park Development with a Correct View of Performance
— An Interview with Dr. Cao Debao, Lecturer at the School of Health Humanities, Peking University
“Advancing national park development with high quality is not only a major ecological issue concerning the national economy and people’s livelihood, but also a serious political issue and an important social issue. It is also an important yardstick for testing whether leading officials at all levels have a correct view of performance,” Dr. Cao Debao, Lecturer at the School of Health Humanities, Peking University, said in a recent interview. “Only by firmly establishing and practicing a correct view of performance, consistently prioritizing ecology, coordinating overall considerations, and making sustained efforts over time can we build national parks into a shining hallmark of Beautiful China and allow high-quality ecological benefits to serve the present generation and benefit future generations.”
Establishing a Performance View Guided by Ecological Value
Cao Debao has devoted many years to research on national park development. He has become increasingly aware that China’s national park system shoulders multiple strategic missions, including protecting the authenticity and integrity of ecosystems, inheriting natural and cultural heritage, and continuously improving people’s well-being. It also carries the important responsibility of the times: safeguarding national ecological security and promoting harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.
Cao believes that national parks represent the essence of China’s natural ecosystems, a landmark achievement in practicing Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, a core carrier for the high-quality development of forestry and grassland undertakings, and the natural foundation for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. National park development is a major strategic project to safeguard the country’s ecological roots, preserve natural heritage for the nation, and enhance ecological well-being for the people. Its ecological, strategic, contemporary, and cultural values are far beyond what short-term economic gains in one place or at one time can measure.
In his view, ecological value is the intrinsic value of national parks, and a performance view guided by ecological value should be established to promote national park development. Cao said that national parks are key pillars of the national ecological security barrier system. They protect China’s most typical and representative natural ecosystems, gather the country’s richest biodiversity resources, serve as important carriers for the integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, and act as the “ballast stone” for responding to global climate change and strengthening the national ecological security defense line.
Cao pointed out that since the establishment of the first batch of national parks, systematic protection has been achieved for more than 70% of the original habitats of wild giant pandas. The populations of rare and endangered flagship species such as Tibetan antelopes and Hainan gibbons have steadily expanded, their habitats have continued to grow, and the authenticity and integrity of natural ecosystems have received unprecedented protection and improvement. Although many ecological products are non-market goods, their value is enormous and cannot be measured by money.
The National Park Law clearly states that national park development should “adhere to ecological protection first and coordinate protection with development.” Cao said that in national park development, efforts should be made to create ecological management and protection posts, improve ecological compensation mechanisms, regulate the development of ecological tourism, and cultivate distinctive forestry and grassland industries. Through these measures, national parks can be built into “demonstration zones” for high-quality development, allowing ecological protection and prosperity for the people to advance together, transforming local residents from ecological guardians into beneficiaries of development, and truly realizing the organic unity of ecological, social, and economic benefits.
Some Deviations and Problems Must Not Be Ignored
During his research, Cao found that China’s national park development has achieved major phased results. However, in the process of practical implementation, there are still some deviations and problems that cannot be ignored.
“First, inertial thinking has not yet been broken,” Cao said. Some officials have still not freed themselves from the path dependence of “GDP-only” thinking. They mistakenly regard strict ecological protection in national parks as a constraint on regional economic development, illegally cross ecological protection red lines in resource development and project construction, and even commit violations such as occupying national park spaces and damaging natural ecosystems.
“Second, formalism still occurs in some places. Some regions show a tendency toward impatience for quick results, focusing on highly visible ‘showcase projects’ and ‘image projects.’ They replace systematic governance and regular management with campaign-style promotion and superficial construction, while neglecting basic work such as long-term ecological restoration, community-based collaborative governance, and improvement of governance systems.”
“Third, departmentalism has become prominent,” Cao said, giving examples. Some officials lack the systematic thinking of “a national chessboard.” Cross-regional and cross-departmental coordination mechanisms remain inadequate, with unclear responsibilities, buck-passing, and regulatory blind spots, resulting in fragmented ecological protection and weakened effectiveness of systematic governance.
“Fourth, responsibility awareness is weak,” Cao said. Some leading officials regard national park development as a “non-rigid task,” and in practice there are problems such as loose assessment constraints, weak supervision and accountability, and perfunctory implementation of work.
Cao believes that leading officials at all levels must deeply recognize that national park development is a landmark and leading project of ecological civilization construction in the new era. They must resolutely abandon short-sighted thinking, utilitarian attitudes, and formalism, firmly establish the core concept of “ecology first and protection foremost,” and uphold the sense of responsibility that “success does not have to be achieved in my term, but I must contribute to its success.” With a highly responsible attitude toward history, the people, and the future, they should ensure that all work related to national park development is carried out solidly and carefully, produces practical results, and operates effectively over the long term.
Strengthening the “Hard Constraints” of Official Assessment and Evaluation
Cao said that the view of performance serves as the “command baton” for leading officials at all levels in carrying out their work. The primary prerequisite for promoting high-quality national park development is to use a correct view of performance to calibrate the direction of development, build ideological consensus, and reinforce primary responsibility.
In his view, guiding high-quality national park development with a correct view of performance requires strengthening the “hard constraints” of assessment and evaluation and firmly establishing a clear orientation of ecological priority. The effectiveness of national park protection and management should be fully included in target assessment for ecological civilization construction, comprehensive evaluation of leading officials, and outgoing audits of natural resource assets, with the weight of core ecological protection indicators greatly increased. A scientific and standardized assessment and evaluation system should be established and improved, focusing on core areas such as ecosystem health, the effectiveness of rare and endangered species protection, maintenance of ecosystem authenticity and integrity, improvement of community livelihoods, and enhancement of management and protection capacity. Independent third-party evaluation mechanisms should be introduced to ensure that assessment results are objective and fair.
Cao said that the lifelong accountability system for ecological and environmental damage must be strictly implemented. Officials who achieve outstanding results in ecological protection should be commended and given important responsibilities, while those who damage the ecological environment or fail to fulfill their duties should be held seriously accountable. The “one-vote veto” system for ecological protection should be resolutely implemented, forming a clear orientation that “those who protect parks are credited, and those who damage parks are held accountable,” thereby fully stimulating the internal motivation of officials at all levels to protect ecology and fulfill their responsibilities.
“Guiding high-quality national park development with a correct view of performance is, in essence, a political practice of upholding the commitment to serving the country through ecology and shouldering the mission of green development,” Cao said. National parks are treasures of the Chinese nation. We have the responsibility to protect every national park’s lucid waters and lush mountains with care and dedication, so that the beauty of natural ecology will remain in China forever and ecological benefits will be passed down from generation to generation. (Tie Zheng)
(Source: China Green Times)