Comparison of Forest Policies in China and Canada

This article compares the forest policies of China and Canada. It provides insights into the forest reserves related acts, legislations, and legal systems of both countries. It also gives details of chosen forests and provides recommendations for upgrading protection policies.

Running head: COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
Name of the Student
Name of the Student
Author note

1COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
Background......................................................................................................................3
What are forest reserves related acts?..............................................................................4
Aim..................................................................................................................................4
Objectives........................................................................................................................5
Information about forest reserves legislations of both the countries...................................6
China’s forest reserves.....................................................................................................6
History and background...............................................................................................6
Development of present forest reserves.......................................................................7
Type of forest reserves.................................................................................................8
Canada’s forest reserves..................................................................................................9
History and background...............................................................................................9
Development to present forest reserves.....................................................................10
Type of nature reserves in Canada.............................................................................10
Nature reserve related legislation......................................................................................11
China..............................................................................................................................11
Canada...........................................................................................................................12
Details of the legal system of both the country.................................................................13

2COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
China..............................................................................................................................13
Canada...........................................................................................................................15
Details of chosen forests of both the countries..................................................................16
China..............................................................................................................................16
Yancheng Red-Crowned Crane Nature Reserve.......................................................16
Anhui Alligator Reserve............................................................................................16
Sichuan wolong national nature reserve....................................................................17
Canada...........................................................................................................................17
Wood Buffalo National Park.....................................................................................17
Jasper National Park..................................................................................................18
Race Rock Ecological Reserve of Canada.................................................................18
Literature review................................................................................................................19
Critical discussion of china’s nature reserve related policies........................................19
Critical discussion of Canada’s nature reserve related policies.....................................20
Method and material..........................................................................................................22
Results and recommendations...........................................................................................23
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................25
References..........................................................................................................................27

3COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES

4COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
Introduction
In the year 1972, Stockholm, Sweden witnessed the first general concern of the global
society regarding the environmental changes and its reservation as it hosted the very first United
Nations Conference on the Human Environment with 113 delegates around the globe and two
state heads (Douguédroit, Annick and Sébastien). The impact of this program was such that the
United Nations Environment Program was introduced and the primary objective decided was –
developed and developing nations should focus their financial budgets so that sustainable
environments can be maintained (Xu et al.). In 1992, the UN Conference on Environment and
Development or UNCED ‘The Earth Summit’ was organized in Rio de Janeiro and the topic of
discussion was using sustainable forest resources for the development and preservation of forest
reserves. Furthermore, the UN also dedicated one of its sustainable developmental goals for 2020
and according to it, the goal 15th was dedicated for the life on land and decided to manage
forests, combat with desertification and to halt biodiversity loss and forest reserves (Zheng,
Heran and Shixiong). Hence, it was understood that the world is concerned for the 80% of
animals, plants and insects that are dependent on the forest and those 1.6 billion of people, who
are dependent on these forest reserves for their growth and livelihood. This leads to the
formation of wildlife reserves and protected lands throughout the world to achieve the objectives
of maintaining and protecting wildlife in the ecosystem as well as entertaining human. As
different wildlife has diverse habitats that need different ways for protection, policies and
legislation are also formed to support different reserves (Douguédroit, Annick and Sébastien).

5COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
What are forest reserves related acts?
As the world progresses, there is shift in mindset of people has been observed regarding
nature and its components. This developing world provided each individual with fundamental
needs of life hence, the shift from fundamental to sustainable needs lead them to think about
nature and its components (Ramcilovic-Suominen et al.). People are now more focused to create
an environment which is pure and healthy and to sustain that they started advocating protection
of wildlife and forests. the protected area is defined as a geographical outline which is
maintained, protected and recognized through legal means so that effective and long-term
conservation of the ecosystem, its nature, its animals and cultural values can be can be achieved
(Sparovek et al.). However, to protect these protected lands from illegal or unpleasant activities
of human, the formation and implementation of legislation and protective acts was important for
the protection and sustainable maintenance of forest reserves around the world (Ramcilovic-
Suominen, Sabaheta and Christian).
Aim
The primary aim of this project is to understand the history of infrastructure and
characteristics of forest reservoirs of Canada and China as these two countries are diligently
focused on this major concern of UN sustainable development goals. Furthermore the project
will compare the governmental norms and policies for effective and sustainable maintenance of
forest reserves of the two countries so that the comparison can help to understand the
implications of the policies. Finally, this project will provide a list of recommendations regarding
legislation sand policies so that implementation of those can upgrade the protection policies of
these countries and they are able to develop better reserves in the near future.

6COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
Objectives
To fulfill the aims of the project, several objectives need to be completed. Those
objectives are:
 The first objective will be understanding the forest reserves of the two country
and for this purpose three forest reserves form each country has been selected.
These forest reserves are: Yancheng Red-crowned Crane Nature Reserve, Anhui
Alligator Reserve and Sichuan wolong national nature reserve of China and wood
buffalo National Park, Jasper National Park, Race Rock Ecological Reserve of
Canada.
 the second objective will be comparing the plants, animals and other natural
resources related legislations of these forest reserves of both the countries so that
the state of the forests can be understood and the level of protection needed for
the development can be under stood.
 The third objective will be conducting literature review of forest reserve related
polices used worldwide and critically compare that with both these countries
policies so that positive and negatives of the legislations used by China and
Canada can be understood.
 Provide a set of recommendations regarding these policies and legislations so that
implementation of that helps to upgrade the protection related norms of both these
countries.

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Information about forest reserves legislations of both the countries
China’s forest reserves
History and background
As the Chinese economy started increasing, the focus of Chinese government started
shifting towards protecting nature and its resources as the government understood that tourism
will be the biggest way to generate revenue in the next that is twenty first century (Li, Wen-Yao
and Da-Wen). In the Chinese history, the development of Chinese nature reserves can be divided
into three stages, create, stagnation and rapid developmental stages. The first stage stagnation
lasted from 1950s to 1980s when the government understood the value of nature and natural
resources and started spreading the awareness among the countrymen so that the killing of wild
animals can be stopped (He et al.). At this stage, the government did not have any legislation
regarding animal protection and due to which the primary reserves created by the government
were destroyed by local population (Harwood). On the other hand, government continued its
awareness campaigns regarding reservation of wildlife and forests so that the rest reserves can be
protected. But from 1967 to 1976, China’s legal system destroyed and hence, all the work of
nature reserves was stopped, although there are some policies promulgated during the period
(Zhou et al.).
The second phase of forest reservation continued the struggle period of Chinese
government as the second stage lasted from 1980s to 2000s. During this period the Chinese
delegation attended the Earth Summit 1992 in Rio de Janeiro and focused its concentration on
animals and plant species that are on the verge of extinction (He et al.). The biggest step the
government took during this period was developing and implementing an animal protection
legislation in 1989. The government also took help from different global organizations regarding

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protection of animals and biosphere and in the course the Chinese Academy of Science
established the People’s Republic of China National Commission for Man and Biosphere and
joined the International Man and the Biosphere Reserve Network in 1993. The Chinese National
Commission for man and biosphere also contributed to the project by providing proper
information to other animal and forest related departs formed in this stage such as forestry
department and ministry of agriculture so that these departments can do a better job in protecting
wild animals (Li, Wen-Yao and Da-Wen).
The third stage, the rapid development stage started after 2000 as Chinese government
developed forest reserves in tremendous pace. This is determined as 50 natural reserves in 1980s
becomes 5000 protected areas and more than 2000 natural reserves by the end of 2003
(Harwood). The area of the nature reserves is about 13% of the Chinese total area. Further In
2016, the Chinese government republished the Law on the protection of wildlife with some
prominent changes to the old legislation. In this new law, the content provided information about
the ways using which, the population can contribute to protect wildlife and some general idea on
finding or manage wildlife reserves (Zhou et al.).
Development of present forest reserves
The present Chinese nature reserves have experienced five stages such as creation,
stagnation, restoration of growth, comprehensive planning and rapid growth. Other than these
each reserve has been created using scientific planning and construction and intensive operation
and management (Wang et al.). The first three stages of development followed the idea of rescue
and protection and according to that planning followed by construction leads to gradual
improvement in the future. However, maximum of the forest reserves in China are not developed

9COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
after scientific planning and construction due to which, the effectiveness of the protection of the
reserves has a big deviation. The fourth and fifth stage of development was about the
standardization of planning and management according to which, using modern technology all
the background data of the forest reserves were collected and possible changes in the
construction were made (Liu et al.).
Type of forest reserves
Based on the purpose, requirements and the conditions of present reserves, the Chinese
forest reserves can be divided in to six different types:
1) a. strict nature reserve, b. Wilderness protection.
2) National park.
3) Natural monument.
4) Habitat and species management.
5) terrestrial/marine landscape protection and
6) Ecological function reserve/resource protection site (Liu et al.).
Further, depending on the functional areas, the government divided forest reserves into
three sections such as core area, test area and buffer area. Core area is the well preserved natural
ecosystem or key habitats where the rare and endangered animals are protected. This place is
prohibited for general entry and if any organization or individual wants to conduct any scientific
research, a proper authorization will be provided by the government (Liu et al.). On the other

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hand, buffer area is the place where scientific research is allowed to conduct but tourism or
production activities are not allowed as per the legislation. Finally the test area where the
government allows to do educational activities, scientific research, visit and tourism activities,
but these activities also need though the corresponding legal process (Wang et al.).
Canada’s forest reserves
History and background
The Canadian history regarding forest and nature reserves is rich as the practice started
from 1873 when the government of Canada started separating the public lands from the
resourceful lands using interior dominion land branches. However the forestry in Canada started
from the British government and according to (Šamonil et al.), the Canadian government
currently helps to protect more than 2.8 million acres of land full of natural resources and
animals across the country. However, due to the effect of World War 2, maximum of the wildlife
sanctuaries and reserves were abolished and many species become endangered. The government
further focused on preparing legislation and policies so that more endangered or threatened
species of birds and other wildlife animals can be preserved (Lankia et al.). Each Canadian
believes that forest and nature is a part of their culture, heritage, economy and environment.
Further to protect that the government implemented sustainable forest management, strict
policies and legislations and spread awareness among the countrymen so that their support can
help this project to attain success (Rohner et al.).
The reason behind these practices implemented by Canadian government was their
understanding about the fact that these forest resources and natural biodiversity are helpful for
the sustainable growth and development of the Canadian economy and community (Šamonil et

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al.). Further according to Lankia et al., Canada occupies more than 9 percent of global forest
hence, by protecting the ecosystem the government aimed to contribute in maintaining the global
environment. The current practice is such that Canada is the leader in sustainable forest
management and has also collaborated with other countries and organizations to adapt to their
framework to monitor and report different changes in these reserves due to climate change
(Rohner et al.).
Development to present forest reserves
Wild animals are an integral part of Canadian heritage, as the second largest country in
the world, Canada has a very large land area with a small population. This makes Canada a
country, which owns large natural ecosystems (Venier et al.). There are only few countries in the
world with such forest percentage and hence, the Canadian government is focused to protect the
forest and its ecosystem. After attending the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Canadian
government focused into scientific planning and management of forest reserves (Stambouli et
al.). The current forest reserves criteria and indicators help the organizations and individuals,
who use forest resources for their production and business related matters to clarify different
issues related to trade and environment and the environmental credentials of Canadian
government. Further, as a founding member of Montreal process, the Canadian government also
collaborated with other organizations to promote the growth and development of nature reserves
indicators and criteria that are currently used around the world (Venier et al.).
Type of nature reserves in Canada
Unlike China, there are mainly two types of protected lands in Canada, forest
conservation and forest protection lands. Forest conservation is an array of activities, approaches

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and tools that has been applied by the Canadian government to achieve the biodiversity
objectives. These activities and objectives are backed by policies and legislations and protects
animals and plant species of these area (Treitz et al.). The governmental conservational approach
is seen as the provincial guidelines for the companies that are operating on that land and make
them follow three norms (Rohner et al.). These are such as the organization has to make sure
they will not disturb one section of forest that is habitat of most of the wild animals, they will
retain the trees that are used by wildlife while harvesting in that area, and thirdly they will not
harm any wild animal while meeting their purpose. Forest protection refers to the formation of
parks and land sections and protect them from population and industries using legislations
(Treitz et al.). The prime purpose of the formation is to protect the ecosystem and preserve the
wildlife acquiring those sections. Further it provides a network for wildlife movement from one
protected area to another. These areas mainly contain historic sites and national parks including
wildlife habitats and rare plant species (Rohner et al.).
Nature reserve related legislation
China
Effective conservation biodiversity can be achieved through proper legal system. The
government of China understood the fact after the drastic loss of biodiversity since the year
1970s due to several human actions and hence the focus shifted from preventive to protective
action (xu et al.). The Chinese constitution article 26 is dedicated to the fact that state bears all
the rights to protect its environment, and take action against deforestation, pollution and animal
hunting. The environment related acts has been presented in tabular form.
Criminal Law 1997 The actions such as hunting, selling or

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transporting animal parts stipulated as an
illegal crime action.
The Environmental Protection Law 1979,
revised 1989
The government should establish natural
reserves to protect ecosystem, water sites, and
habitats for endangered animals and plants
The forest law 1984, revised 1998 Forest compensation benefit fund will be
created and that fund will be used for forest
development and management.
The marine environment protection law
1982
It stipulated that marine ecosystem should be
protected and the reserves should be
established in important coastal and marine
ecosystem.
The grassland law 1985 According to it, the government should take
effective steps to protect the grassland,
vegetation and rare endangered plants
The water pollution law, 1984 revised 1986 The government should take necessary steps
to protect the water ecosystem
The air pollution law 1987, revised 1995 The government should protect the
atmospheric ecosystem.
Wild animals conservation law 1988 Sales and purchasing of wild animals, hunting
becomes prohibited and the government form
teams to protect them.
The fishery law 1986 Fishing of rare and endangered water animals
are prohibited and according to this law, the
government can take any action if any
individual are caught in such act.
The Import and Export Animal and Plant
Quarantine Law 1991
To protect the endangered species so that they
are not killed for such trade and business
Canada
As a federal state, the government of Canada owns each forest reserves and natural
resources under its jurisdiction and further if any deliberate action of countrymen harms the
balance of ecosystem, there are lawful provisions (Hessing, Melody and Summerville). The laws
are divided according to provinces and territories so that regulations and enforcement becomes
easier. These laws are important in different actions such as while timber harvesting, while

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wildlife habitat protection, land use, practices to regrow the forests and so on. The laws are being
presented in tabular format.
Species at risk act 2002 It provides legal protection to endangered
species and states that the Canadian
government is committed to conserve
biological diversity
Fisheries act 1985 Protects all the water land and states that
without governmental permission fishing or
harvesting are not permitted.
Migratory birds convention act 1994 This act was implemented for the protection
and conservation of migratory birds and their
nests
Plant protection act 1990 This act helps the government to protect
plants, agriculture and forestry from human or
natural disasters
Convention on biological diversity This international convention, where
Canadian government took part, is about
changes in biodiversity and the ways to
sustain the rich diverse areas around the
world.
Species at Risk Act 2002 To protect the endangered species so that they
can be provided with natural habitat.
International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora
This international convention ensures that the
trade in specimens of animals and plants does
not threaten their existence or survival.
Forestry act 1985 The government will review all the research,
related to protection, management and usage
of forest resources.
National parks act 2000 The government is determined to protect the
national parks, its biotic and abiotic
components so that ecosystem can be
maintained.
First nation land management act 1999 This law provides the government with power
to seek information about the way it will be
used or managed by the owner.

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Details of the legal system of both the country
China
The Chinese government, over the course of past years has developed a legal system for
the successful implementation of laws and regulations regarding conservation of biodiversity and
natural reserves (Yu, Wenxuan and Czarnezki). The first system they established was system for
environmental impact assessment. The rule regarding the protection of surrounding of under-
construction protected lands was proposed in 1986 (Zomer et al.). As per this regulation, any
capital construction project having effect on environment and biodiversity has to follow the
environmental impact assessment. The second system they implemented was regarding nature
reserve system and according to this the government should pay proper attention to formation
and management of natural reserves (Zinda and Aloysius). All the legislations such as forest law,
environment protection law, marine environment protection law, grassland related law and the
regulation of natural reserves assisted the government of china with legal basis to protect the
natural reserves of china (Mackelworth). The government formed, evaluated and implemented
different rules regarding establishment, management and construction of reserves were created
by the government and its bureaucrats and due to that by the end of 1995, the government was
able to create 799 natural reserves across the country (Zinda and Aloysius).
The third system the government implemented was regarding the licensing system and it
was comprised with license for forest logging according to the forest law, fishing related license
according to the fishery law, and land use license according to the land law (Yu, Wenxuan and
Czarnezki). Furthermore, the government also started proving license to wild animal
conservation by some private organization in the country using the implementation of newly
formed aquatic wild animal conservation and terrestrial wild animal conservation law (Zomer et

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al.). Finally the fourth system was implemented by the government and it was the quarantine
system, which was established to prevent the illegal transportation of animal and plant related
products. Further it helped to restrict the outbreak of disease or pest or pathogens from other bio
diversities (Mackelworth).
Canada
As 94 percent of Canadian forest were on public lands, hence the responsibility of
protecting and preserving the forest and resources was not only endured by the government but
also by the population located at the vicinity (Gustafsson et al.). The legal system of Canada
regarding nature reserves and protected areas was depended on the international union for
conservation of nature according to which, different level of national guidelines applied to those
protected lands to implement necessary restrictions. Protected areas are a big part of Canada’s
national forest conservation strategy (Rohner et al.). Hence according to this, the federal law
system restricted several acts such as industrialization, harvesting, mining, hydroelectric project
development and banned these activities in 95% of the protected areas. Further, using national
park and provincial park system and with the help of national parks act, the government has
created strategies to create, manage and protect wildlife and rare plant species present in those
areas (Andrew et al.). Further, the government has also focused protecting the environment of
nearby countries ecosystem so that pests and pathogen transferred from those conservations do
not harm the plant and animal species of Canada, therefore joining International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and Convention on biological diversity was a wise
and important step by the Canadian government. Furthermore, to enable sustainable development
and management in this sector, the government has enabled several scientific researches to

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incorporate new regulation and sections into legislation and policies and upgrade the forest’s
management plans (Andrew et al.).
Details of chosen forests of both the countries
China
Yancheng Red-Crowned Crane Nature Reserve
This nature reserve is one of the most important reserves in china, as it is the home for
some of the rare bird species. This nature reserve was founded in 1984 with an area of 453,000
HA. The location of this reserve is on the edge of yellow sea making it as an important place for
immigration of migratory birds from north-east Asia and Australia (Yancheng). The reason
behind this rich biological resource is the presence of rivers, swamps and wetlands and due to
this more than 3 million migratory shore birds migrates through Yancheng and more than 20,000
waterfowls visit the reserve (Su and Hongfei). Therefore, to maintain biodiversity conservation
Yancheng reserve plays an important role in china. The government also understood the
importance of this bio reserve for maintaining biodiversity and listed this reserve as a national
nature reserve in 1992 (Yancheng).
Anhui Alligator Reserve
Alligator sinensis is a species of alligator that is only found in china. In the year 1979, it
was found that only few of these alligators are present in the wild, hence, to protect these
alligators, inside the Anhui province the Anhui alligator farm was developed (UNESCO.ORG).
Further, the local public and the government of Anhui province expanded the reserves focus
from alligator to maintaining a surrounding sustainable for alligator breeding and development
(1982) (Zhao et al.). Later in 1988, the Chinese government listed it as a national reserve and

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afterwards, the Anhui Alligator Reserve and the Anhui Alligator sinensis breeding research
center started working together as an organization. This increases the importance of the reserve
in Anhui province and the government stared probing funds to continue the research for the
development of this bio-reserve (UNESCO.ORG).
Sichuan wolong national nature reserve
The Sichuan wolong national nature reserve is situated in the Sichuan province and it was
established in 1963 with 20,000 hectares. This place is a home of around 4000 different species
including the highly endangered giant pandas (Sichuan wolong national nature reserve).
Furthermore, other animals including snow leopards, red pandas, white lipped dear and snow
monkeys are also found in this protected land (Liu e al.). The importance of this national park
can be properly determined from the fact that more than 200,000 visitors visited this ark before
the devastating earthquake of 2008. The most important association this park had in the year
1980, when the China Conservation and Research Center collaborated with this national park to
research on extinction of giant pandas and created strategies to protect this endangered species
(Sichuan wolong national nature reserve).
Canada
Wood Buffalo National Park
This is the largest national park in Canada, located in the Northeastern Alberta and
Northwest Territories. This national park was established in 1922 to protect the world’s largest
herd of free roaming wood bison. The importance of this national park can be understood from
the fact that UNESCO has declared it as World Heritage Site in 2013 (Wood Buffalo National
Park). Further the Royal Astronomical Society has also designated it as Canada’s newest and

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world’s largest dark sky preserve. This designation was given to the national park as it not only
protected bison but also protected the night ecology and provided protection to bats, nighthawks
and owls. Most importantly, the visitors are able to see northern lights that made them curious
about the place (Reimer et al.).
Jasper National Park
The jasper national park, established in 1907, is the largest national park in the Canadian
Rockies and a part of UNESCO'S Canadian Rocky Mountain Park’s World Heritage Site. This is
the second largest dry sky preserve in the world as the designation was provided by the Royal
Astronomical Society of Canada in 2011 (Jasper National Park). This led people to understand
the fact that protecting night sky is important and for the purpose, the government took initiative
to educate, the citizens using special programs throughout the fall and winter months to highlight
the importance of the Dark Sky status (Chavardès, Raphaël and Lori).
Race Rock Ecological Reserve of Canada
This ecological reserve was established by British Columbia parks ministry in the eastern
entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the Salish Sea. Primarily it was a marine science project
for the students of Pearson College under the supervision of their teachers Garry Fletcher and
Marks McAvity in the year 1978 (Race Rock Ecological Reserve ). However, as per its
biodiversity and ecological importance, it was included as a nature reserve in 1980 and by the
end of 1998, the Canadian government included it as a marine protected area (Augustine, Skye
and Dearden).

20COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
Literature review
Critical discussion of china’s nature reserve related policies
Despite of being one of the biggest biologically diverse nation in the world, the Chinese
ecology has faced tremendous loss of biodiversity. The primary reason behind this are China’s
huge population and the concentration of the government to obtain economic success (Zheng,
Heran and Shixiong). The government has used different approaches to conserve the
biodiversity however those approaches were centralized and did not includ local participation
and hence a lack of coordination between national administrators and local communities for the
benefit from forest resources was observed that made these approaches inappropriate and
inefficient. Zheng and Cao described the challenges and loopholes in the Chinese legislation
regarding the conservation and protection of biodiversity (Li et al.).
The first national law of Chinese government to protect the biodiversity was developed in
1956 and named as Natural Forest Nature Reserve Construction. However after the formation of
the people’s republic of china, the government itself ran programs related to exploitation of
natural resources, to earn economic and sustainable development that led people with the
opportunity that they burned forest and exploited each diverse land for the benefit of the
economy (He et al.). As the china progresses to UN environmental conference 1972, a cultural
revolution occurred in the country, that lead to formation of some temporary regulations
regarding forest conservation. As the government started facing problems related to
environmental conservation, they started making laws and regulations effectively. However the
centralized approach led to temporary success and a list of permanent loss. The recently created
nature reserves did not have any strict bureaucrat for scrutiny or critical evaluation and hence,
maximum of the governmental environmental projects failed (Li et al.). Furthermore according

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to the green evolution act, the Chinese government focused completely on afforestation for the
removal of desserts and planted exotic pioneer trees in the northern region desert of china which
is a natural desert. The government forgot the scientific fact that those trees are unable to grow in
a region which does not provide their natural habitat for growth (Xu et al.).
Further, there are several internal and external challenges of the government and officials
also made the legislation weaker to control such nature reserves in China. The previous
regulation regarding natural reserves in china stated that Government will only be responsible for
the sustainable management of the natural reserves in china and all other departments
surrounding the reserve such as forestry, agriculture, land and water resources will be governed
by the team of nature resource (Watson et al.). However the government has changed the
provision and now it will look for all the details and manage each process solely and hence all
the natural reserves started protesting the step as conflict and overlap of responsibility enhanced.
Furthermore, there are several other factors such as transferring responsibilities to local
governments, law related to forest tenured reforms, extensive usage of natural resources and
entrance of tourisms in places where endangered species habitat is present provides the details of
loopholes of Chinese legislation regarding nature reserves in china (Zheng, Heran, and
Shixiong).
Critical discussion of Canada’s nature reserve related policies
As majority of the Canadian surface is covered with forests and biologically diverse area,
the entire Canadian economy and socio economic, social and international relations depends on
the forest and from the resources of forest (Nepstad et al.). Hence, the government focused on
different frameworks for formation of legislations and policies. The prime aim of these policies

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are to understand the actual value of every natural resources and depending on the use of it
modifying policies so that public can acquire to changeable laws effectively (Brukas, Vilis and
Ola). Prior to creating or modification of each legislation, the officials used to recognize the
problem and proposed a solution to the problem further they asked the concerned authority to
choose one solution and evaluated to solution by monitoring the effects. This process was one of
the brilliant move by the Canadian government as no legislation is perfect hence modification or
upgradation with the help of public representatives enforces trust among the population
(Beaudoin et al).
However the lack in Canadian system was not related to legislation but was related to the
planning, framework and implementation of interventions for natural reserves. The forest
management team of Canada was not being able to perform correctly as they were unable to
undertake an approach that will provide all the details about the land owner’s priority and short
and long-term requirements economic needs and trade of economic and environmental resources.
This was important as maximum of Canadian forests are public property (Hicke et al.). Further it
was determined by researchers that the national fisheries act, forestry act, plant protection act
were not properly scrutinized despite of having an improved governmental body that upgraded
each law. In recent times, the industries and local bodies are being accused of utilizing the forest
resources for their own development illegally. Furthermore, the government did not focus on
climate change and its consequences while preparing laws and legislations (Beaudoin et al.).
Therefore, maximum of the endangered animals progressed to the verge of extinction.
Neglecting climate also became major issue for the development. Finally, the Canadian
governments act regarding isolation and natural habitat became failure as the locations where all
these national parks were situated, population started growing and all the protection related acts

23COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
were failed as local population started invading those protected areas (Brukas, Vilis and Ola).
Hence, due to the large population and feasible wildlife preservation acts, the Canadian
government has started losing its reach in maintaining forest reserves and for reinforcement of
the legislations proper scrutiny and upgradation of acts are necessary. Extensive public
participation and forest management practices should also be included for the effectiveness of
the policies (Nepstad et al.).
Method and material
The studied area of this report was regarding the Canadian as well as Chinese natural
reserves. Therefore the study focused different natural reserves of both the countries. The
assignment used different official websites and documents available over internet for the
analysis, critical appraisal of the legislations and discussion. The table below shows the official
websites from where the details about the six nature reserves of the china and Canada
respectively were taken.
China
Yancheng Red-Crowned
Crane Nature Reserve
http://gamebirds.me/2015/12/31/yancheng-the-crane-paradise-of-
china/
Anhui Alligator Reserve http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/106/
Sichuan wolong national
nature reserve
https://www.pandasinternational.org/panda-reserves/new-
wolong-panda-center/
Canada
Wood Buffalo National
Park
http://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/nt/woodbuffalo/index
Jasper National Park http://www.jaspernationalpark.com/
Race Rock Ecological
Reserve of Canada
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/eco_reserve/racerocks_er.html

24COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
Furthermore, after collecting information regarding all these natural reserves, the project
collected informations regarding legislations of china and Canada to protect its natural reserves
and selected all the legislations related to natural reserves in the discussion (Johansson et al.).
Afterwards, for the comparison between these two acts, the regulations of both the countries
reserve related acts were described. Furthermore, a literature review was included so that the
analysis becomes critical and the positive and negative points of both these countries laws and
policies can be highlighted. For the comparison purpose, the methods were used such as
hardware or analysis of the physical format of the legislations and software or analysis of the
content of the legislations Ratio). Hence, using both these approaches the primary objective of
this assignment was to find out the effect of government produced legislations on common
people, their businesses, society, environment and development. Further, comparison between
their policies let the assignment with a clear idea that norms related to forest and nature reserves
also affected the society, socio=economic status of communities and economy of the country as
maximum portion of both these countries are forest and local population uses forest resources to
fulfill their fundamental needs (Johansson et al.).
Results and recommendations
After comparing both the country’s laws and policies regarding it was found that, both
the country lacks in regulation and upgradation of their policies related to forest reserves
(Nachmany et al.). As China once used its forests as resources and exploited them for the
economic development by permitting its citizens to utilize them for their own benefit,
modification of such norm will take strict scrutiny and harsh implementation of strict laws.
Hence the government should reinforce their legislations with appointing honest and trustworthy
bureaucrats in those natural reserves (Cashore, Benjamin and Michael). The official can use

25COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
government policies and awareness programs to make the local population understand the
effectiveness of such reserves in their life. Another shortcoming of Chinese and Canadian
legislation was regarding sustainable management and using inappropriate processes for the
afforestation in areas of northern china desserts. Instead of pine trees, the government should use
local desert forest for the green movement in that area, so that those plants can acquire the
environment easily. Furthermore, the government should strictly modify the legislation related to
animal transportation as there are many instances where the different organizations are found in
illegal delivery of rare and endangered animals (Cashore, Benjamin and Michael). Furthermore,
the local rural communities sometimes hunt wild animals for their food, hence, those locals
should also be excluded from the forest vicinity so that wild animals can grow in their natural
habitat (Nachmany et al.).
Further, there is a set of recommendations that should be followed by both the
governments so that clarity, transparency and consistency can be brought in the forest reserve
legislations.
1. Both the government should focus on making policies prior to laws. It is
important as a clear and coherent policy helps to develop a clear approach and
implementation process and using legislations as an instrument, the policies are
implemented properly. For example, Ecuador used such policy for the
development of their forest related laws (Hicke et al.).
2. The governments should focus on promoting clarity and understanding. This will
help to include the populations in the governmental policy. Government’s
awareness program, proper distribution authorities among national state and local

26COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
authority and providing each of the official with a draft of the legislation and
seeking their feedback will help the government to successfully upgrade and
implement forest related acts (He et al.).
3. Participatory law making can be used as alternative for strict laws. allowing each
stakeholder, starting from government and its officials to local public to
contribute in law-making will help to create a transparent that will easily
acknowledged by the public (Beaudoin et al.).
4. The government should make sure that the laws they are implementing has
enough space for incorporation of all the stakeholders so that the laws and
regulations can be applied to a wide array of population.
5. Furthermore the law should be realistic, easy to grasp and understand by the
officials and stakeholders so that they can approach the local population for their
contribution in the development of forest reserves(Liu et al.).
6. The government should focus on consistent development and upgradation of
policies so that newer challenges put accessed by internal and external factors or
climate can be addressed.
7. The government should focus on decentralization of authorities so that local
government and authorities can also take art in the protection of the nature
reserves. Further the government should use modify land acts, public property
acts, trade regulations so that industries and businesses around these nature
reserves can be regulated (Xu et al.).

27COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
Conclusion
As the world is approaching success and development, exploitation of nature and its
resources has started showing side effects. Therefore, the world has become protective for nature
and its resources. The UN has involved nature and its reserves as one of the sustainable
development goals for 2020. However, two important nations of world, china and Canada had
started thinking about nature and its resources protection since the last century. China and
Canada both have largest section of forests within their circumference and hence, they have
utilized those areas for their growth and development. This assignment involved 6 nature
reserves from Canada and China and discussed their specifications and type of policies applied in
those forest reserves. As the prime aim of this assignment was to compare the rules, regulations
and laws related to forest reserves of China and Canada, all the laws and their purpose was
provided in the assignment. However, from the literature review, it was found that, all the
policies in both these countries are not properly regulated and scrutinized, due to which people
started utilizing those resources for the benefit for their industry or businesses. Therefore, the
assignment provided a set of recommendations application of which will provide the
governments with opportunity to develop their legislations and incorporate new sections so that
effective utilization of legislations can be done.

28COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES FOREST POLICIES
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