Pei Zhang Has China’s National Park Policy Achieved Ecological Justice?

About this book

China’s national park policy is a landmark institutional reform in nature conservation effort. Yet, this study identifies significant tensions between top-down ecological mandates and bottom-up community development demands, as well as considerable variation in policy outcomes across local national parks.

To examine these dynamics, the study employs an actor-centered institutional analysis, conceptualizing authoritarian environmentalism and experimentalism as two policy styles in the national parks governance. The tiao-kuai model is used to explore coordination and conflict between hierarchical (tiao) and territorial (kuai) authorities, while an ecological justice perspective assesses policy outcomes.

The analysis is guided by two main questions:

(1) How do authoritarian environmentalism and experimentalism compete or converge within China’s national park policy?

(2) Why do some local national parks advance toward ecological justice while others struggle?

The study examines three representative cases: Qianjiangyuan, Wuyishan, and Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park. First, China’s national park policy demonstrates a hybrid style with two key characteristics: (1) authoritarian environmentalism and experimentalism coexist and alternate, rather than following a single, consistent approach; (2) the evolution of policy styles is shaped not only by the emphasis of top leaders, but also the power dynamics in tiao-kuai model.

Second, these policy styles produce distinct pathways to ecological justice: (1) authoritarian approaches enhance conservation and resource control but may undermine social-level ecological justice; (2) experimentalism grants local governments greater autonomy, allowing them to balance conservation and development according to local conditions, though it risks subordinating ecological goals to economic objectives; and (3) some local national parks achieve convergence of both styles. Through the interplay of centralization and decentralization, an eco-prioritized experimentalist framework emerges, advancing ecological justice across multiple levels under coordinated tiao-kuai model.

This study contributes to understanding China’s environmental governance in two ways. First, it demonstrates that authoritarian environmentalism and experimentalism can coexist and alternate within the governance framework. Case evidence from some local national parks shows that effective tiao-kuai coordination in this hybrid policy style can reconcile centralized control with local innovation, reshaping existing power structures. Second, the study highlights the pivotal role of eco-prioritized experimentalism in promoting ecological justice. It argues that effective environmental governance in China requires integrating ecological protection and community development into a shared central-local agenda, supported by a dynamic balance of authority between tiao and kuai.