Abstract:

Ecological protection redline (EPR) is a new concept recently put forward in the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Policy regarding the implementation of protection is strictest in EPR areas. Although there was no EPR worldwide previously, most countries had established protected areas, a similar practice to EPR, in natural or near natural areas, aiming at protecting species, habitats and ecosystems. In this paper, we summarize the ecological protection systems and their management practice executed by IUCN and in other foreign countries (USA, EU, Russia, Japan, etc.) based on relevant literature. Ecological protection areas range from 5% to 40% for most countries. In these countries, a specific management system is either governed by a special protection management department or a multi-sectoral management division. Different management and control measures are decided according to the human activity intensities. Based on gap analysis research in China’s presently protected areas and problems in classification management of protected areas, we suggest integrating and optimizing different types of protected areas by evalua- ting their importance and sensitivity. Land with important ecological service, biodiversity and habitat protection functions should be preferentially included in EPR. The area ratio assigned to EPR should be up to 30% of the total land area. We propose that unified supervision and management by China’s environmental protection departments should be strengthened, establishing EPR management laws and regulations, and implementing different management measures according to its classifications.

Key words: ecological protection redline, protected area, ecological security, management practice