C-PAR1 project makes fruitful achievements

China's protected area efforts lauded by global environment fund

The Three-River-Source National Park in Qinghai province. LI YOUCHONG/FOR CHINA DAILY

China's Protected Area Reform for Conserving Globally Significant Biodiversity (C-PAR1), financed by the Global Environment Facility, has achieved remarkable success, surpassing several objectives by a significant margin.

The project, which started in 2019, achieved a "satisfactory" midterm review in March 2022. By January 2025, it concluded a "satisfactory" terminal review. The project is to end in March.

Jointly implemented by the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (FECO/MEE), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), C-PAR1 has played a pivotal role in effectively tackling key obstacles impeding China's overarching objectives of biodiversity conservation while also cultivating valuable insights for global reference on harmonizing protection and development within local communities.

C-PAR1 identified three critical challenges that need to be addressed in order to propel the country toward achieving its long-term biodiversity conservation goals: a deficient legislative framework and ineffective governmental oversight of protected areas, a scarcity of expertise and experiences for provincial-level national park administrations, and inadequate mechanisms for information exchange and coordination.

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of C-PAR1's eight project steering committee member units — the FECO/MEE, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), the Ministry of Finance, the MEE, the UNDP, the Three-River-Source National Park Administration, the Sichuan Administration of Giant Panda National Park, the People's Government of Xianju County, Zhejiang Province — and numerous partners and experts, all the three challenges have been essentially resolved, with the achievement directly serving national government bodies' decision-making and the country's legislation process.