(Yicai) Aug. 12 -- China has completed the natural resource property right registration of its first five national parks, marking a big step forward in advancing ecological civilization.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has clarified the ownership, management responsibilities, and ecological boundaries of the Giant Panda National Park, Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, Sanjiangyuan National Park, and Wuyi Mountain National Park, aiming at protecting the integrity of their ecosystem and rationally and scientifically using their valuable resources, according to a statement released yesterday.

China established its first group of five national parks after six years of preparation in October 2021. They span across 10 provincial-level regions, including Sichuan province and Xizang Autonomous Region, and cover nearly 30 percent of the country’s key wildlife species.

The Giant Panda National Park covers about 22,000 square kilometers, the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park nearly 4,269 sq km, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park 14,100 sq km, the Sanjiangyuan National Park around 190,700 sq km, and the Wuyi Mountain National Park over 1,280 sq km, according to the MNR.

Unified property rights registration for national parks and natural resources, such as water, forests, grasslands, wetlands, oceans, and minerals, reinforces the public ownership of these assets, strengthens the protection of natural resource property rights, clarifies the roles and responsibilities of owners and regulators, and lays a solid foundation for ecological civilization, experts told Yicai.

Registering national parks’ property rights also helps address prominent issues in China’s ecological protection efforts, such as unclear ownership and ambiguous responsibilities, enabling more effective conservation of natural resources.

By establishing a comprehensive ecological ledger covering water, food, economic, and carbon reserves based on registration data, China aims to achieve holistic protection of national parks and asset-based management of natural resources.

China had completed the property rights registration of 1,057 key areas covering 320,000 sq km as of July 31. These areas include national parks, other protected regions, forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, lakes, mineral resources with proven reserves, and uninhabited islands.

The MNR will continue to enhance the legal, standardized, and digital frameworks for unified natural resource property rights registration, the ministry noted. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), China aims to largely complete the registration of newly established national parks, internationally and nationally important wetlands, and key rivers and lakes, it added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione