Vladivostok hosted meetings on the construction of the new National Park of Tiger and Leopard (NPTL) in the People’s Republic of China. The events involved experts from China’s State Forestry Administration, the Forestry Bureau of the Heilongjiang Province, the Forestry Department of the Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, Khanka Lake National Nature Reserve, as well as senior Land of the Leopard National Park officials.   

The new 1.5 million hectare National Park of Tiger and Leopard will be located in the Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces bordering on Land of the Leopard National Park in the east. The plans for the national park’s territory were approved in July, and the entire national park is to be completed in 2020.

The new trans-border national park will protect and study the Far Eastern leopard population and the southwestern population of the Amur tiger. It is also necessary to adapt the local residents’ life and activity at the protected nature territory to new conditions. “It is vitally important to maintain harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Apart from restoring the habitat of rare animals, we will need to incentivise local residents to change their lifestyle and production modes,” Tang Xiaoping, head of the NPTL working group, said.

There are also plans to set up a photo monitoring network and to create a new mechanism for managing the national park. For these purposes, Land of the Leopard experts are cooperating vigorously with the working group engaged in establishing the new park and they are also sharing their experience of managing a protected nature territory.