China's commitment to developing the world's largest national park system is both ambitious and transformative, said Tanya Steele, CEO of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) United Kingdom, at the opening ceremony of the Third National Park Forum in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Tuesday.

Steele, also a rotating member of the WWF Network Executive Team, emphasized that China's national park system is more than a conservation initiative.

"China's national park system is more than a conservation project. It plays a wider role in China's broader vision of an ecological civilization," she said.

She noted that the system underpins China's commitment to environmental leadership as an ambitious, science-based effort expected to showcase how well-managed protected areas can drive global environmental progress, including advancing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and its "30x30" target.

Adopted under China's presidency in 2022, the framework calls for at least 30 percent of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems to be effectively restored by 2030.

"China's national parks are more than protected areas. They offer opportunities for learning and exchange on conservation practice," Steele added, stressing that national parks demonstrate how conservation and sustainable development can complement, rather than conflict with, each other.

"This is the opportunity before us to shape a future where national parks are not only about preserving ecosystems, but about reimagining how people and nature can thrive side by side," she said.

Jonathan Austin, New Zealand's Ambassador to China, also praised China's leadership in ecological conservation, highlighting both the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal framework and the country's pledge to expand its national parks to cover 10 percent of its land area.

"National parks, as one of the most powerful tools to safeguard nature, are central to achieving the global goal for nature set out in the framework — to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030," Austin said. "New Zealand is pleased to work alongside China and other nations in this global effort. Together, through cooperation, innovation, and shared purpose, we can secure a future where nature thrives — and where our national parks continue to inspire, protect, and sustain life for generations to come".