Article

Scaling Up Mainstreaming Biodiversity through National Park Reforms in China

^a Institutes of Science and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
^b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China
^c School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
^d Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
^e Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
^f China International Engineering Consulting Corporation, Ecological Technical Research Institute (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Beijing 100049, China

^* Correspondence may be addressed to ZHANG Huizhi at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and HUANG Baorong at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

Biodiversity mainstreaming remains among the most persistent gaps in global environmental governance. China’s national park reforms provide a large-scale empirical test of mainstreaming in practice. By unifying fragmented protected areas, consolidating governance mandates, aligning cross-sector policies, and formalizing inclusive stewardship, the reforms have delivered measurable gains in flagship species recovery, ecosystem service resilience, and community participation. Yet its transformative potential is constrained by limited penetration into non-conservation sectors, uneven adaptive capacity, and incomplete social integration. We distill three transferable principles—coherence, consolidation, and co-production—and outline instruments to embed biodiversity imperatives beyond protected areas into infrastructure, agriculture, and regional planning. Achieving the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework will require moving beyond isolated conservation enclaves toward integrated policy ecologies that can durably reconcile biodiversity outcomes with equitable human well-being.