中国园林·刊首语(2023-12) | 王向荣：保护地的意义
《中国园林》
Vol. 39 2023-12｜336
本期主题：国家公园与自然保护地
保护地的意义
The Significance of Protected Areas
几年前，我曾到访尼泊尔奇特旺国家公园(Chitwan National Park)。这里是一个野生动物的世界，冲积洪泛平原上茂密的森林、水草丰美的湿地及延绵的河流为珍稀的单角犀牛和孟加拉虎，以及野鹿、羚羊、猿猴、豹、野象、野猪、蛇、鳄鱼和数百种鸟类提供了适宜的栖息地(图1)。这里曾经是专供尼泊尔贵族狩猎的禁苑，然而到了20世纪50年代，由于奇特旺周边地区的疟疾传播被彻底控制，大量没有土地的农民便纷纷涌入该地区，他们毁林辟田，破坏了野生动物栖息地，导致物种数量急剧减少。尼泊尔政府意识到如果没有得力的保护措施，栖息在这里的犀牛和孟加拉虎终将灭绝，于是在1973年建立了奇特旺国家公园，将22000名农民从公园里迁出。一系列措施使得奇特旺的野生动植物栖息地得到了有效恢复和保护，物种的数量持续回升，1984年奇特旺登上了联合国教科文组织世界遗产名录。尽管生活在公园外围村庄中的农民的生存与公园的保护之间不时会产生一些矛盾，但是他们仍然可以从国家公园的旅游中受益。村庄中有旅馆、餐馆、酒吧、旅行社、纪念品商铺等。村民可以从旅游接待、商品出售、大象租金中获得经济回报，作为导游的村民都接受了良好的培训。可见为了拯救珍稀濒危物种，不仅要禁止捕杀和滥采受保护的动植物，更重要的是要保护它们的生活环境，设立自然保护区是一种必要手段。奇特旺国家公园的建立，使得这里成为世界生物多样性最为丰富的区域之一，也成为物种保护的杰出范例(图2、3)。
△图1 奇特旺的自然环境为野生动物提供了适宜的栖息地
△图2 游客在奇特旺国家公园外的村庄中，村里有旅馆、餐馆、酒吧、旅行社和纪念品商铺等
△图3 骑象进入奇特旺国家公园是近距离观察犀牛的最为安全的途径，公园外的村民也可以从旅游接待中受益
我们的地球是一个共生的世界，包括人类在内的所有生灵是地球上共同的居住者，在互相依存、相互作用中不断进化，世界万物都是对自然适应的结果。约5万年前，人类才逐渐进化为地球上最聪明的物种，慢慢形成了自己的文明，在逐渐扩张自己领地的同时，也在不断地打破原有的自然平衡。很长时间以来，人类仅仅将自然作为猎取资源的对象，不合理或无节制地对自然环境的干预导致其他物种栖息地的破坏，一些动植物面临着严峻的生存压力。当人类意识到自然是万物生命的源泉和生存的环境，只有保护好其他生物及其栖息条件，才能从根本上维护好我们自己的家园，自然保护地便应运而生。
但保护地的意义并不仅仅局限于物种和栖息地的保护。
在不久前于日本京都举办的“第十八届中日韩风景园林学术研讨会”上，我和日本、韩国的另外2位主旨报告演讲人一起，围绕各自报告的内容及会议的主题“新一代亚洲风景园林：传统与创新”进行了更深层的圆桌讨论，主持人提出的其中一个问题是“(从风景园林的角度看)每个国家的身份和优势强项是什么？”
我的回答延续了我主旨报告的内容。在我看来，中国那些奇特的地貌、珍稀的物种、审美价值极高的山水环境，以及中国人依据土地条件和气候特征进行生产和生活、历经数千年在大地上塑造的人与自然和谐共生的文化景观，都是中国国家身份的重要体现。这些自然风景与文化景观不仅是人们生存的环境，还记录了国土上自然演变与社会进步的历史，更影响了中国文化的形成和发展过程，塑造了中国人的性格，并成为人们的精神寄托。保护中国国土独特的自然与文化景观，就是在物质空间和文化精神上维护着中国人的身份认同(图4、5)。
△图4 赛里木湖国家级风景名胜区，中国那些奇特的地貌、审美价值极高的山水环境都是国家身份的重要体现
△图5 珠峰及喜马拉雅山脉，保护中国国土独特的自然景观，就是在物质空间和文化精神上维护着中国人的身份认同
任何国家独特的自然与文化遗产都对本国具有特殊的意义。如同中国独特的自然山川与农耕景观、挪威的峡湾、芬兰的湖泊、瑞士和奥地利等阿尔卑斯山地国家的雪峰、荷兰的圩田、英国的牧场、伊朗的盐丘、东非大地的稀树草原、巴西的雨林等都是国家身份的象征。而对于美国人来说，国土重要的特质之一则是荒野(图6~8)。
△图6 布道石及挪威的峡湾
△图7 瑞士采尔玛特城及马特洪峰
△图8 英格兰霍华德庄园牧场
当欧洲殖民者首次登陆美洲大陆时，他们眼中看到的是无尽的荒野，那里储存着丰富的资源，包括各种矿产、木材和野生动物。面对似乎无人管护的土地，殖民者自认为拥有绝对的权力，开始对各类资源肆意挥霍和掠夺性开发。原始森林被砍伐，野生物种相继灭绝，水土流失日益严重，曾经生机勃勃的荒野迅速减少。但另一方面，身份认同却一直困扰着这些殖民者。与他们的祖居地欧洲相比，美国没有古希腊和古罗马的文化遗迹，没有中世纪的城堡和大教堂，新大陆的文化价值是什么？美国人从西进运动中不断发现的壮美风景中逐渐找到了本土文化的象征。他们意识到，美国国土正是因为存在大范围的荒野而与欧洲大陆完全不同，然而这种与众不同的特质却在国家发展中逐渐消逝。这激发了美国各界对荒野这种具有美国烙印的本土景观的保护意识。于是，各类政府和机构开始积极倡导荒野保护，通过颁布相关的土地利用法律和规划政策以限制对荒野的开发。国家公园便在此背景下孕育而生，以保护美国国土上具有高度美学价值、历史价值和国家代表性的自然遗产，并在有效保护和管理的前提下供人参观游览。保护这些独特的风景对缔造美国人民的民族身份认同起到了重要作用(图9、10)。
△图9 黄石国家公园，美国的国土因为有大范围的荒野而与欧洲大陆完全不同
△图10 大峡谷国家公园，美国人从壮美的风景中逐渐找到了本土文化的象征
设立保护地的理由有很多，但我以为最重要的2点是保护地球上的万物生灵和我们的身份认同。尼泊尔奇特旺的经验告诉我们，人类高强度的活动会对自然环境带来巨大的破坏，但只要人类退出这片土地，受损的生态系统就会修复，栖息地就能重建，物种也会得到有效保护；美国荒野保护的经历告诉我们，如果不对人的活动区域和干预强度进行限制的话，荒野终将在世界上消失，珍贵的自然遗产也会遭到破坏。所以我们不能一味地向大自然索取，更不能人为控制和干预地球上每一寸土地，而要将人类的影响限制在合适的范围之内，将其他区域留给自然，设立自然保护地，有效地保护有代表性的自然生态系统、物种多样性区域，特别是珍稀濒危野生动植物种群，为物种提供适宜的栖息和繁殖条件，让它们能健康持续地生存和繁衍，从而维持生态系统的稳定性。同时我们要保护具有特殊意义的自然遗迹、典型的文化景观，维护我们的身份认同。在此基础上，在保护与利用之间找到平衡点，为地方经济发展、公众的自然教育和旅游观光提供良好的机会，并为科学研究创造良好的条件。
注：文中所有图片均由王向荣拍摄。
A few years ago, I visited Chitwan National Park in Nepal. It is a world of wildlife, with dense forests on alluvial floodplains, well-watered wetlands and long rivers providing suitable habitat for the rare single-horned rhinoceros and Bengal tigers, as well as deer, antelope, apes, leopards, wild elephants, wild boar, snakes, crocodiles, and hundreds of species of birds. The area was once a forbidden hunting ground for Nepalese aristocrats, but in the 1950s, when the spread of malaria in the area around Chitwan was brought under control, a large number of landless peasants moved into the area, destroying wildlife habitats and leading to a drastic decline in species numbers by destroying forests and fields. Realizing that the rhinos and Bengal tigers that inhabited the area would eventually become extinct without proper protection, the Nepalese government established Chitwan National Park in 1973 and relocated 22,000 farmers from the park. A series of measures enabled the effective restoration and protection of Chitwan's wildlife habitats, and species populations continued to rebound, making Chitwan included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984. Farmers living in villages on the outskirts of the park benefit from tourism in the national park, although there are occasional tensions between their survival and the park's protection. There are hotels, restaurants, bars, travel agencies, and souvenir stores in the villages. The villagers receive financial returns from tourism, merchandise sales, elephant rentals, and are well trained as tour guides. It can be seen that in order to save the rare and endangered species, not only to prohibit the hunting and indiscriminate extraction of protected plants and animals, but also, more importantly, to protect their living environment, the establishment of nature reserves is a necessary means. The establishment of Chitwan National Park has made it one of the richest biodiversity areas in the world and an outstanding example of species conservation.
Our planet is a symbiotic world, and all living beings, including humans, are co-inhabitants of the planet, evolving in interdependence and interaction, and everything in the world is the result of adaptation to nature. It was only about 50,000 years ago that human beings gradually evolved into the most intelligent species on the earth, slowly forming their own civilization, and gradually expanding their territory while constantly breaking the original natural balance. For a long time, human beings have only used nature as an object for hunting resources, and their irrational or uncontrolled intervention in the natural environment has led to the destruction of the habitats of other species, and some plants and animals are facing severe pressure for survival. When human beings realize that nature is the source of all life and the environment for survival, and that only by protecting other organisms and their habitats can we fundamentally safeguard our own homes, nature reserves came into being.
But the significance of protected areas is not limited to the protection of species and habitats.
At the 18th China-Japan-Korea Symposium on Landscape Architecture recently held in Kyoto, Japan, I, together with two other keynote speakers from Japan and South Korea, focused on the content of our respective reports and the theme of the conference, "Next Generation of Landscape from Asia: Traditions and Innovations", for a deeper roundtable discussion. One of the questions posed by the moderator was "What is the identity and strength of each country (from the perspective of landscape architecture)?"
My answer continued the content of my keynote presentation. In my opinion, China's peculiar landforms, rare species, landscape environments with high aesthetic values, and cultural landscapes that have been shaped over thousands of years by the Chinese people based on the land conditions and climatic characteristics of their production and life, and the harmonious coexistence of human beings and nature on the earth, are all important manifestations of China’s national identity. These natural landscapes and cultural landscapes are not only the environment for people's survival, but also record the history of natural evolution and social progress on the land, and have influenced the formation and development of Chinese culture, shaped the character of the Chinese people, and become the spiritual support of the people. Protecting the unique natural and cultural landscapes of China's territorial land is to safeguard the identity of the Chinese people in terms of material space and culture and spirit.
The unique natural and cultural heritage of any country is of special significance to that country. Like China's unique natural mountains and farming landscapes, Norway's fjords, Finland's lakes, the snow-capped peaks of Alpine countries such as Switzerland and Austria, the polder fields of the Netherlands, Britain's pastures, Iran's salt dunes, the savannahs of East Africa's land, and the rainforests of Brazil are all symbols of national identity. For Americans, one of the important qualities of their homeland is wilderness.
When European colonizers first landed on the American continent, they saw in their eyes an endless wilderness that stored a wealth of resources, including a variety of minerals, timber, and wildlife. Faced with a seemingly uncared land, the colonists thought they had absolute power and began to squander and plunder all kinds of resources. Primary forests were cut down, wild species became extinct one after another, soil erosion became more and more serious, and the once-vibrant wilderness rapidly diminished. But on the other hand, identity has always haunted these colonizers. Compared to their ancestral home in Europe, the United States had no cultural relics of ancient Greece and Rome, no medieval castles or cathedrals, so what were the cultural values of the New World? Americans gradually found symbols of their native culture in the magnificent landscapes they continued to discover during their westward movement. They realized that the American land was completely different from the European continent precisely because of the existence of extensive wilderness, yet this distinctive quality was gradually fading in the development of the country. This inspired the American community to protect wilderness as a native landscape with an American imprint. As a result, various governments and organizations began to actively advocate for wilderness protection, and enacted relevant land use laws and planning policies to limit the development of wilderness. National parks were created to protect America's natural heritage of high aesthetic, historical, and national significance, and to provide access to them under effective protection and management. The protection of these unique landscapes has been instrumental in forging the national identity of the American people.
There are many reasons for establishing protected areas, but I think the two most important are the protection of all living things on the earth and our identity. The experience of Nepal's Chitwan tells us that high intensity human activities can cause great damage to the natural environment, but as long as humans withdraw from the land, damaged ecosystems will be repaired, habitats will be rebuilt, and species will be effectively protected; and the experience of American wilderness preservation tells us that, if there is no limit to the area of human activity and the intensity of human intervention, the wilderness will disappear from the world, and precious natural heritage will also be destroyed. Therefore, we can't just keep asking for nature, let alone artificially controlling and interfering with every inch of the earth. Instead, we should limit human influence to a suitable range, leave other areas to nature, set up nature reserves, effectively protect representative natural ecosystems, areas of species diversity, and especially rare and endangered wildlife and plant populations, and provide species with suitable conditions for their habitats and reproduction, so that they can survive and reproduce in a healthy and sustainable manner, thus maintaining the stability of the ecosystem. At the same time, we need to protect natural relics and typical cultural landscapes of special significance to maintain our identity. On this basis, we should find a balance between conservation and utilization, to provide good opportunities for local economic development, and nature education and tourism for the public, and create good conditions for scientific research.
本刊主编：王向荣 教授
Prof. Dr.-Ing. WANG Xiangrong
Chief Editor
引文格式
王向荣.保护地的意义[J].中国园林，2023，39(12)：2-3.
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排版 | 李旻
校对 | 王媛媛
审核 | 金荷仙