A second GONGO is the Chinese National Committee for Man and the
Biosphere (MAB), established in the mid-1980s to implement China’s
membership in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) MAB program. Of China’s more than 2000
protected areas, 26 have met the UNESCO criteria for inclusion in the global
network, which qualifies them for government support and opens
opportunities through exchanges to learn about the operations of nature
reserves in other countries. In recent years, the small staff (a secretary general
and five staff) has conducted annual studies of China’s protected areas
(PAs) to determine their effectiveness in preserving species and habitats.^43
They have facilitated exchanges of PA personnel with other countries, and
have also engaged in environmental education. The organization falls under
the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), but is applying for joint affiliation
with the China Science Association.^44 Its Director, a scientist who specialized
in Chinese grasslands before assuming work in the GONGO, is considered one
of China’s authorities on protected areas.
A third example of a GONGO is the China Environmental Protection
Foundation (CEPF), formed in 1993. The CEPF was the first non-profit NGO
foundation pursuing environmental protection in China. Its founding Director
is Qu Geping, former Administrator of the National Environmental Policy
Administration (NEPA) and Director of the Natural Resource Conservation
Committee of the National People’s Congress. Qu won the UN’s US$100000
environmental prize in 1992 for his leadership in environmental protection
work. He donated the entire award to CEPF’s establishment.^45
A major activity of CEPF is environmental education, and in 2005 it granted
its first five China Wildlife Conservation Awards to organizations and
individuals who made outstanding contributions to species and ecosystem
protection. One awardee, Zhang Chunshan, a farmer from Lijiang in Yunnan
Province, was recognized for his investigations into illegal stripping of
Chinese yew bark and reporting it to government authorities.^46 The CEPF
partnered with the INGO WildAid in selecting awardees and publicizing their
contributions.
Both the Chinese National Committee for Man and the Biosphere and CEPF
have considerable autonomy from state control, a feature of some GONGOs
that suggests they may evolve into important elements of civil society. A
recent report by Wu contends:
‘The GONGO sector in China is quite diverse in terms of political independence
and strength, but they are distinctive from the government and NGOs in that they
straddle and sometimes bridge the world of government agencies and NGOs.’^47As the CEPF example shows, they have access to the international
environmental community through partnerships with INGOs in China.
ENGOs, civil society and biodiversity conservation 175