(Yicai Global) Oct. 13 -- China has established its first group of five national parks, including the Giant Panda National Park, after six years of preparation.

The parks, including the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park and Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, are all located in key ecological safety regions, with a total area of ​​230,000 square kilometers, Yicai Global learned from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration during the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity yesterday.

Since 2015, China has launched pilots of 10 national parks. In January 2020, the NFGA said that the largest of them, the Three-River-Source National Park, will be formally established once the test is over.

The five chosen parks are in 10 provinces and administrative regions, including Sichuan and the Xizang Autonomous Region, and cover nearly 30 percent of the country's key wildlife species.

The Giant Panda National Park, with an area of 22,000 sqm, is divided between Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. It covers at least 70 percent of wild pandas in China, according to the NFGA.

The nascent field requires new frameworks. The NFGA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly established a research institute last June, aiming to provide scientific and management support for the upcoming national parks.

Kicked off in Kunming on Oct. 11, the five-day biodiversity conference has invited nearly 200 domestic and international parties to discuss wildlife conservation.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi