Abstract:

The national park selection criteria and national park selection process are the core of National Parks Selection System which is a complete institutional arrangements combining various elements and segments. As the foundation of National Park construction, it not only conveys the core philosophy of National Park, but also is the priority of the establishment of National Park. The Canadian National Park Selection Mechanism is an important achievement of the scientific approach and government governance toward the National Park in Canada. It t is very unique and scientific and has been highly recognized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Under the guidance of systematology, the Canadian national park selection mechanism was analyzed with various methods, such as documentary study, comparative method and map overlay technique. The results show that: 1) the national park system plan which was completed in 1971 was established based on the characteristics of natural regions. And the system plan divided Canada into 39 natural regions according to biota, special natural features, topography, and climate. Each natural region is then surveyed for potential national park sites. 2) The national park units were selected based on their ecological representations. This refers to the need for the potential National Park to represent, or sample, the full variety of biodiversity of different biological realms and biological scales. When selecting potential park areas, the following factors should be considered: significant cultural heritage features or landscape; ecological integrity of the area’s ecosystems; an area which is relatively undisturbed or unaffected, being in the natural state or could return to the state; feasibility of establishing a National Park; agreement of the new National Park could be reached. 3) The selection criteria were integrated into the system plan. This selection process was government-led with participation of all walks of life. Every year the evolving process was presented by the dynamic characterization based on change in land use. The selection criteria, the selection process and the evolving process all constitute the dynamic feedback mechanism. This selection mechanism is beneficial for reaching a consensus, forming resultant force and accelerating the construction of National Parks and extending the protection objects. Since China is going to establish a national park system, lots of planning and management practices first put into use in Canada could be borrowed and used to tackle the problems faced during the process of National Park selection. Overall system plan and specific criteria should be combined as the final selection standard, so as to end segmentation of natural elements caused by various governance. With the process of government-led and participation of all walks from our society, the passive situation faced by the central government could be improved and the national will and scientific feature could be better represented. The frequently update of the National Parks lists could contribute to the progress of National Park construction dynamically and reflect the relatively constant vision and system plan. The study is of great scientific significance for China and could be used for reference. It is conducive to guide the sustaining development of the national park system construction in China.

Key words: Canada, National Park, selection mechanism, characteristics of natural regions, ecological representation, system plan