An aerial drone photo taken on July 30, 2025 shows the sea of cloud during sunrise at Xuefeng Mountain national forest park in Huaihua City, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) -- A decade into China's national park reform initiative, the country has made significant strides in restoring flagship wildlife populations and bolstering ecological stability, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

At a press conference held on Thursday, Sun Hongyan, an official with the administration, said the national park system has shifted from single-element conservation to integrated management of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts.

Sun added that building a national park system is a complex and multifaceted undertaking, and that reforms involve restructuring the management system of nature reserves and innovating policies on natural resource management, land use, ecological compensation and community development.

According to the administration, wildlife populations have rebounded across several national parks.

The Giant Panda National Park has reconnected fragmented habitats, boosting the wild panda population from about 1,100 in the 1980s to nearly 1,900 today.

In Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, restored migration corridors have helped Amur tiger and leopard numbers rise to around 70 and 80, respectively.

In Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, the rainforest ecosystem has gradually recovered, with the wild population of the critically endangered Hainan gibbon increasing from 35 to 42, making it the only gibbon species worldwide showing sustained growth.

Sun said that going forward, relevant authorities will further strengthen systematic governance, implement the optimization plan for nature reserves and the spatial layout plan for national parks, take a prudent approach to establishing new parks, and launch major projects for integrated ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation.