国家保护地体系建设：西方标准反思与中国路径探讨

借鉴西方标准曾对我国保护地制度的建立起到了重要作用。然而,当前国际标准对我国已建立起来的保护地体系已经显现出不适用,因此有必要对其进行反思。回溯我国及世界保护地制度的建立过程及其关联,由于我国在国际保护地标准制定过程中参与度过低,导致我国保护地的特性与发展阶段需求在国际标准中体现不足。我国保护地具有的文化景观属性,即传统的“天人合一”的环境观与西方人和自然对立的思想截然不同。我国保护地面临着保护与发展双重挑战,直接将基于特定人口状况和发展阶段的保护地所制定的标准用于其他状况下的保护地,其合理性存在着问题。应更加批判地看待西方标准,积极探讨可持续和平发展的中国路径。

Construction of national protected areas system: A reflection on the Western-based criteria and exploration of a Chinese approach

Learning and borrowing Western experience and criteria played an important role in the establishment of China's modern protected area system. However, at present, after the system took shape, some insufficiency in the international standards have been exposed. For example, they lack a systematic framework for understanding the value of cultural landscapes. Under the favourable circumstances of the recent institutional reform, it is timely to reflect on the tradition of borrowing the Western-based international criteria. This paper first compares the establishment process of the international conservation system with that of China and argues that China was not able to participate in the design and criteria-formulation in the earlier stages, which led to the under-representation of its development phase and the characteristics of the cultural landscape of its protected areas. Secondly, the cultural landscape characteristics of Chinese protected areas are analysed from the perspective of the overlapping geographical distribution of population and the protected areas. It is then pointed out that there has been a distinction between the traditional Chinese concept (syncretism between people and their living environment) and that of the West (the opposition between nature and culture). Thirdly, this paper addresses the dual challenges of conservation and development that Chinese protected areas have been faced with. It challenges the rationality of applying the criteria formulated on the protected areas in a specific population and development context to others in a totally different context. Finally, a more critical view is suggested when we learn from the experience of other countries and deal with the international criteria. It is necessary to take full consideration of the comparability of the human-land relationship and to realise the political implication of international conservation careers as provided by international agreement systems. Meanwhile, it is time to devote more efforts to explore a Chinese approach of sustainable and peaceful development based on the cultural landscape characteristics and developing pressures on Chinese protected areas, which will contribute to a wider range of countries and regions that are faced with similar dual challenges of conservation and development.