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Sustainable development through a rights-based approach to conserve protected areas in China

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Abstract

Protected areas are the world’s most effective tool for biodiversity conservation. However, neglecting human rights can affect the conservation of protected areas. A rights-based approach to conservation meets the need to better balance human rights protection and protected areas conservation and can make an important contribution to sustainable development. Protected areas in China, with a total surface of 1,562,257 km2, play a vital role in the world. The protected areas with a high biodiversity value are usually located in the western part of China, which mostly are economically poorer areas. The conflicts between conserving protected areas and protecting human rights of local people and communities seem to be inevitable in China. Hence, deciding how to adopt a rights-based approach to conserve protected areas becomes an important issue. However, there is a distinct lack of literature paying attention to this issue. With the aim of adopting a rights-based approach to conserve protected areas in China, this paper tries to fill this gap in three parts. Firstly, the existing legal instruments in China referring to the right to information and the right to participation are briefly analyzed. Secondly, it explains concisely why a rights-based approach can help to solve the conflicts as well as its advantages and challenges, especially with respect to the Chinese situation. Thirdly, it explores how to adopt a rights-based approach to protected areas conservation, in order to solve the conflicts in China.

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Notes

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their important advice on improving the original version of the paper. The manuscript is a part of the Ph.D. research of the Miao He under supervision of Professor An Cliquet (promoter) and Professor Frank Maes (co-promoter). The China Scholarship Council and the co-funding from the Research Fund of Ghent University have kindly supported this research.

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  1. Department of Public International Law, Law Faculty, Ghent University, Universiteitstraat 4, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Miao He

  2. Department of Public International Law, Law Faculty, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    An Cliquet

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He, M., Cliquet, A. Sustainable development through a rights-based approach to conserve protected areas in China. China-EU Law J 3, 143–163 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12689-013-0031-7

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