As a natural heritage shared by the whole people, the national park carries the common welfare of the present and future generations. Recently, the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress voted to pass the "National Park Law of the People's Republic of China", which will come into effect on January 1, 2026. The National Park Law further enriches and improves my country's ecosystem protection system and protects the most American soil with the strictest standards.

The National Park Law has 7 chapters and 63 articles, including general provisions, layout and establishment, protection and management, participation and sharing, guarantee and supervision, legal liability, and appendix.

"This law provides rigid constraints for the protection of national parks, and provides strong support for comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China and accelerating the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature." Sun Youhai, Dean of the School of Law of Tianjin University and director of the Academic Committee of the Environmental Resources Law Research Association of the Chinese Law Society, believes that the National Park Law embodies the strictest protection, mainly including scientific layout, standardized establishment, strict protection, strengthening management, participation from multiple parties, sharing by the whole people, improving the system, and strengthening guarantees.

Of course, the National Park Law stipulates that the country scientifically plans the overall development layout of national parks, strictly enforces the conditions for setting up national parks, and reasonably determines the quantity and scale; strictly establishes the establishment procedures, requires basic investigations, widely listen to opinions, do a good job in the preliminary work, and establish them after approval by the State Council; requires the integration and optimization of nature reserves, and after the establishment of national parks, the relevant other types of nature reserves will be integrated or revoked.

As the main body of my country's natural protection area system, national parks have been included in the national ecological protection red line regional control scope. In this regard, the National Park Law clearly states that the state adheres to the integrated protection of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands and sands, and implements overall protection, systematic restoration, and comprehensive governance; adheres to planning first, requiring the preparation of a national park master plan to clarify specific matters of protection and management; strengthens zoning control, and in principle, artificial activities are prohibited in core protected areas, and general control areas strictly restrict artificial activities; strengthens biodiversity protection, maintains ecosystem security, and improves ecosystem quality.

How to coordinate the problem of ecological protection and local residents' development rights, Wu Chengzhong, chief expert of the Cultural and Tourism Research Base of the University of International Business and Economics, pointed out that in accordance with the relevant requirements of the National Park Law, in the process of promoting national park construction and ecological protection, the principle of "ecological protection first, people-centered, government-led, multi-party participation, and social sharing" should be strictly followed.

The National Park Law clearly states that before establishing a national park, the impact assessment and solutions for the production and life of original residents and enterprises should be proposed, and it is clear that the overall national park plan should make arrangements for the production and life activities of original residents; it requires guidance and support for local residents, rural collective economic organizations and enterprises to provide ecological products and services; improve the national park public service system, enhance public service functions, and encourage original residents to participate in business services in national parks.

"Through the above-mentioned system design and specific measures, we will strive to effectively safeguard and promote the legitimate development rights and interests of local residents while achieving the ecological goals of national parks, and promote ecological protection, rural revitalization, and shared and coordinated development of residents." Wu Chengzhong said.

In order to ensure the implementation of various systems, the National Park Law has established a collaborative management mechanism with clear subjects, clear responsibilities and mutual cooperation. The head of the Economic Law Office of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress introduced that the law clarifies the responsibilities of the central and local governments, national park authorities, relevant departments, and national park management agencies, and requires all parties to establish corresponding mechanisms and strengthen work coordination; improve daily management, patrol and other systems, improve the natural resource rights confirmation and registration system, strengthen the construction of the monitoring network system, and do a good job in disaster prevention and mitigation, safety management and emergency guarantee related work; clarify that the state establishes a diversified national park fund guarantee system and ecological protection compensation system based on financial investment, and encourages social forces to provide support for national park construction by establishing funds, donations, and funding.

"The particularity of the mission of national parks, the breadth of management scope and the complexity of management objects make comprehensive law enforcement an important link in the construction of the national park system." Sun Youhai emphasized that the National Park Law further strengthens the comprehensive law enforcement of national parks and authorizes national park management agencies to exercise the administrative penalty power for illegal acts in national parks. At the same time, the National Park Law stipulates clear legal responsibilities and makes connections with other relevant laws for illegal acts such as damage, alteration, obstruction, or dismantling or moving national park boundary signs, carrying out prohibited activities in national parks, and disobeying the management of national park management agencies.