A national forest park. (File photo/China News Service)
(ECNS) -- China plans to intensify regulation of national forest parks and strip poorly run facilities of their rankings, according to the State Forestry Administration (SFA).
Development for urbanization and industrial projects, the opening of golf courses, and property development are all forbidden within the national forest parks network, said the SFA in a circular, adding that park authorities should focus on protecting forest resources and biodiversity. Any economic activity out of step with these functions is not appropriate in park settings, which are often popular tourist destinations.
The SFA also demanded strict controls over the impact of human activities, saying that construction of roads, hotels and entertainment facilities should not be lavish or surpass a park's ecological capacity.
The administration is set to kick off a three-month campaign to review its network of national forest parks. Unqualified parks will be eliminated from the rankings if they fail to conform.
Forest parks in China are categorized at three levels—national, provincial, and city/county — with the first national forest park established in 1982 in Zhangjiajie of Central China's Hunan Province. Statistics show that China currently has 881 national forest parks, with a planned total area of 12.78 million hectares.
