China Legal Protection Of Wetlands

Like forest and ocean, wetland is deeply related to the survival and development of human beings, and is considered to be the most diverse eco-system and the most important living environment of human beings, which are of unique ecological, social and economical value. For a longtime, people are not aware of the value of the wetland, and made irrational development and exploration which lead to the serious damage of wetland resources, faced with eco-crisis.This article is divided into four parts excluding the introduction and the conclusion.The introduction part generalizes the status quo of wetland and legal protection in China, and illustrates the motivation and purpose of the research of legal protection for wetland.The first part generalizes the theoretical basis of wetland protection, that is, the ethics of ecology macrocosm, sustainable development and legal basis.The second part by introducing the three historical stages, analyzes the problem of wetland protection in China, which are ambiguous definition of wetland resource, the lack of legislation for wetland protection, the divergence of provisions of wetland protection, the lack of coordination and the embroilment of managerial department and some regulations that are not good to wetland protection. At the meantime, this part further analyze the problem existing in the wetland protection, such as the allocation of landownership, the relationship between the government and the market in wetland protection.The third part introduces the international protection of wetland, especially the principle and main legal obligations of the contracting states in the Wetland Convention, the wetland protection in United States and its states, and finally the nature reserve, public purchase and wetland management in Great Britain, meanwhile, generalizes the wetland protection system in Netherlands, Japan, and India. After that, on the comparison among international protection of wetland, arrived at the conclusion of wetland protection in China, that is, maintain openness and protection, balance the public interest and individual interest, realize the policy targets through market measures, focus on the coordination between regulations and departments, reinforce the public supervising.The fourth part makes research in the feasibility and need of special legislation of wetland protection in China, and conceive relevant legislation and system for the protection. By drafting special wetland protection laws to establish the compensated use, programming, licensing and environmental impact assessing system and public participation system, we can explore, use and protect wetland properly. At the meantime, this part ponder on the compensation system of wetland in China.