The Potatso National Park, which opened in 2007 as the first park of its kind in China, has seen improvements in both the protection of rare animal species and in the incomes of the local people.

The park covers a 602-square-kilometer area of Shangri-La, in Yunnan province, which is famous for its crystal- clear lakes, undulating mountains, and gurgling streams.

Much of it lies in an autonomous prefecture inhabited mainly by Tibetans. Ding Wendong, head of the nature reserve work, said that two of the park’s species with dwindling populations had seen a significant increase in their numbers after the park was established.

“Numbers of both the black-necked crane and double-lip fish in Bita Lake have risen rapidly. The crane population went from 17 in 2001 to 77 in 2009,” Ding said by way of example. Both management and facilities in the area were backward before 2007, he added.

People had cut down trees and were developing tourism without any restrictions. And the tourism boom had a profound, but mostly negative, impact on the environment.

“They had horse riding and barbecues visitors, which destroyed the environment. But it was impossible to stop them because it was their main source of income.”

Now the park provides a balance between its role as a nature reserve and its economic benefits. The local government spent more than 200 million yuan ($30.8 million) on ecological tourism in the park in 2007.

Around two major scenic spots – Shudu Lake and Bita Lake – 69 kilometers of blacktop roads have been added to serve as fire-breaks as well.

There are also 10 km of plank roads along the lakes to protect the grassland. Potatso had more than 2 million visitors from 2006 to 2009, and made 110 million yuan from it in 2010.

More than half of the revenues went to environmental protection. Those people living within the park’s boundaries also benefit from a more regulated tourist business. Bao Fuhao, director of park administration, said that the park brings them an income and provides them with jobs.

There are 23 villages in the park, which get 5 million yuan a year in subsidies, and about a third of the park’s 230 employees are locals.

“It’s good for the ecology – a better income encourages people to protect the area,” Bao remarked. “They realize that the better the park is maintained, the better their lives will be. It’s a virtuous circle.”

Because of the national park’s success, other cities and counties in Yunnan have applied to the provincial forestry department to set up national parks.

By May of this year, several areas had registered successfully, including Meili Snow Mountain and Laojun Mountain.

Most of the nature reserves are in comparatively poor areas, so there is still a clear contradiction between the conservation and much-needed development.

But Guo Huijun, vice-director of the provincial forestry department, explained, “The national park emphasizing conservation in a sustainable way is what should be adopted in Yunnan.”

The world’s first national park was Yellowstone, in the United States, established by the president in 1872.

There are now more than 9,800 national parks around the world. “We believe that national parks, as a new type of protected area, will complement the existing nature reserve system,” Guo went on to say.

Yunnan’s biodiversity is the richest in the country and a large part of its northwestern part is on UNESCO’s list of world nature heritage sites, he added.

In August 2008, the provincial national park administration was added to the provincial forestry department.

Qin Guangrong, the provincial governor, explained that more than 6 billion yuan has been spent on protecting species diversity in that northwest part over the past five years. Protection has become a priority of the provincial government.