Getting out of the woods: Quandaries of protected area management in China

The number and area of nature reserves in China have increased significantly in the last 2 decades. This massive increase has not been matched by a corresponding enhancement of management inputs and capabilities. Six major problems in protected area (PA) management are identified in this article: selection of unsuitable sites for conservation, shortage of funding, rising people–park conflicts, the paper park syndrome, multiple but disparate management agents, and lack of international experience. Five management quandaries are discussed to highlight the major dilemmas, ie, whether the reserves should exclude traditional resource-tapping activities, whether non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should be encouraged to help management agents, whether the management should earn income from the reserves, whether they should be the umpire or a player in the utilisation of natural resources in reserves, and whether an integrated management structure should supersede the present compartmentalised arrangement. Finally, specific recommendations are obtained from the study.