Discussion on the Stages, Thoughts and Driving Force of the Evolution of National Park Demarcation

Abstract

National park is a complex composite ecosystem with many uncertainties and faces the conflict of diversified management objectives. This paper traces the evolution of national park management objectives and delineation ideas in the context of different historical stages and reviews four stages of national park delineation ideas: purely natural landscape and natural assets conservation, species and population conservation, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem integrity conservation. Then, this paper analyzes the island biogeography theory, metapopulation theory, landscape ecology theory, and social ecology theory of national park delineation and discusses the related population viability approach, landscape pattern approach, and ecosystem integrity approach while revealing how national park delineation evolves to achieve conservation goals under the combined effect of internal processes and external forces. Finally, it is pointed out that the boundary establishment of ecosystem management and ecosystem integrity conservation based on science and value has essential application value for the implementation of balancing human-land conflict in national parks, having significant implications for the current national park system pilot construction and boundary establishment in China.