Abstract
The concept of National Forest Park (NFP) is mainly used in mainland China. Originating in 1982, NFP embodies a “top-down” concept and associated program launched by the Chinese government. It is aimed at promoting forest-based tourism and economic development under the premise of protecting forest resources. After 30 years of development, NFPs have made great achievements in protecting specific forest resources, promoting forest-based tourists, promoting regional economic development, and they have gained popularity worldwide. However, due to the fast pace of NFP expansion, lack of predictable planning and innovative thinking, and ineffective governance, some problems like overexploitation, scenic pollution, monotonous development patterns, and ecological degradation associated with NFP constrain its sustainable development. In order to solve these problems effectively, a holistic review of the status of NFPs in China is needed. To help meet this need, the origin, evolution, and current status of NFPs in China were analyzed. The presented research also included retrospective analyses of challenges and opportunities for NFPs sustainable development in China. Results show that from 1982 to 2015, the number of NFPs grew dramatically, and this development occurred in four phases. In addition, NFP development has been unbalanced in regional distribution. When analyzing the evolution of NFPs, the main issues to date have included failure to implement Master Plans in practice, unclear supervisory responsibilities, ambiguous classification, unbalanced distribution, destruction of natural resource and ecosystems, insufficient cultural protection, weak awareness of nature education, lack of resource statistics, monotonous planning, and weak marketing. Study findings can contribute to promoting the sustainable future development of NFPs and support the forest-based tourism industry.
Highlights
According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) statistics, the world’s forests cover one-third of the global land area
Relevant planning documents were acquired from National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA)
Considering that the establishment of National Forest Park (NFP) has the advantage of enhancing landscape scenery, Considering that the establishment of NFP has the advantage enhancingeconomic landscapebenefits, scenery,it rich cultural connotations, scientific popularization, and providingofsubstantial rich connotations, scientific for popularization, and providing substantial benefits, it has hascultural emerged as a best practice promoting forest conservation in a economic comprehensive manner
Summary
According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) statistics, the world’s forests cover one-third of the global land area. Various types of protected areas have been established to protect the forest environments In some cases, this has been combined with developing tourism. Yellowstone National Park was established as the first national park, with the aim to incorporate tourism and leisure functions into the natural area, but with its conservation being the first priority [6,7] National parks such as Yellowstone protected many of the country’s best-known natural sites, and generated major revenues for organizations such as the National Park Service [8]. An important milestone for this was the “Huangshan Speech” by Secretary General Xiaoping Deng in 1979 This address pointed out the potential of China’s tourism industry. In order to respond to this call, the Ministry of Forestry (former name of NFGA) issued a document named “Notice on Protecting Forests and Developing Tourism in State-owned Forest
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