(Adopted at the 4th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on November 8, 1988; amended for the first time according to the Decision on Amending Wildlife Conservation Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 11th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on August 28, 2004; amended for the second time according to the Decision on Amending Certain Laws adopted at the 10th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress on August 27, 2009; revised for the first time at the 21st Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on July 2, 2016; amended for the third time according to the Decision on Amending Wildlife Conservation Law of the People's Republic of China and Other Fourteen Laws adopted at the 6th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on October 26, 2018; and revised for the second time at the 38th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on December 30, 2022)
 
Table of Contents

Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Conservation of Wildlife and Their Habitats
Chapter III Wildlife Administration
Chapter IV Legal Liability
Chapter V Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purposes of conserving wildlife, saving precious and endangered species of wildlife, maintaining biodiversity and ecological balance, advancing ecological civilization development, and promoting the harmonious co-existence between humanity and nature.

Article 2 This Law applies to the conservation of wildlife and relevant activities within the territory and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China. 

For purposes of this Law, "wildlife under conservation" means precious and endangered terrestrial and aquatic wildlife and terrestrial wildlife of significant ecological, scientific, or social value.

"Wildlife and their products" means whole animals (including spawn and eggs), parts, and derivatives of wildlife.

The conservation of aquatic wildlife other than the precious and endangered aquatic wildlife shall be governed by provisions of the Fisheries Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws.

Article 3 The wildlife resources are owned by the state.

The state safeguards the lawful rights and interests of organizations and individuals engaged in wildlife conservation and related activities, such as scientific research on and artificial breeding of wildlife, in accordance with the law.

Article 4 The state strengthens the protection and restoration of significant ecosystems, applies the principles of conservation first, regulated utilization, and strict supervision to wildlife-related activities, encourages and supports scientific research on and application of wildlife, and enhances green development with the philosophy of ecological civilization.

Article 5 The state conserves wildlife and their habitats. People's governments at or above the county level shall formulate relevant plans and measures for the conservation of wildlife and their habitats, and include the funding for wildlife conservation into their budgets.

The state encourages citizens, legal persons, and other organizations to participate in wildlife conservation activities and support public welfare endeavors for wildlife conservation through donation, sponsorship, volunteer service, or other means in accordance with the law.

For purposes of this Law, "wildlife habitat" means the major areas where the wild population of wildlife lives and breeds.

Article 6 All organizations and individuals have the obligation to conserve wildlife and their habitats. It is prohibited to illegally hunt, capture, transport, or trade in wildlife or destruct wildlife habitats.

The general public shall enhance their awareness of conserving wildlife and safeguarding public health and safety, prevent the spread of infectious diseases transmitted from wildlife, refrain from illegally consuming wildlife as food, and embrace a civilized and healthy lifestyle.

All organizations and individuals have the right to report violations of this Law, and the competent wildlife conservation departments and other relevant departments of the people's government at or above the county level shall, upon receipt of the report, handle the violation in a timely manner in accordance with the law.

Article 7 The competent department of forestry and grassland and the competent department of fisheries under the State Council shall take charge of the conservation of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife nationwide respectively.

Local people's governments at or above the county level take charge of wildlife conservation within their respective administrative regions, and their competent departments of forestry and grassland and competent departments of fisheries shall be responsible for the conservation work of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife within their administrative regions respectively.

Relevant departments of local people's governments at or above the county level shall take charge of the wildlife conservation-related work in accordance with the division of duties.

Article 8 The people's governments at all levels shall intensify their efforts in public outreach, education, and science popularization about wildlife conservation, encourage and support public outreach of wildlife conservation laws and regulations, ecological conservation, and related knowledge initiated by primary-level people's organizations for self-governance, social organizations, enterprises and public institutions, and volunteers, organize training in laws, regulations and professional knowledge for relevant practitioners, and disclose information on wildlife conservation and administration in accordance with the law.

The administrative department of education and schools shall provide students with education on wildlife conservation.

News media shall strengthen publicity of wildlife conservation laws and regulations and conservation knowledge, and carry out oversight of illegal acts through public opinion in accordance with the law.

Article 9 Organizations and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in wildlife conservation or scientific research shall be commended and awarded by people's governments at or above the county level in accordance with the relevant regulations of the state.

Chapter II Conservation of Wildlife and Their Habitats

Article 10 The state adopts category-based and grade-based conservation of wildlife.

The precious and endangered wildlife are under state priority conservation. Wildlife under state priority conservation is classified into two grades: wildlife under Grade I conservation, and wildlife under Grade II conservation.

The List of Wildlife under State Priority Conservation, formulated on the basis of scientific demonstration and assessment organized by the competent wildlife conservation departments under the State Council, shall be reported to the State Council for approval and promulgation.

The List of Terrestrial Wildlife of Significant Ecological, Scientific or Social Value is formulated and promulgated by the competent wildlife conservation department under the State Council after consulting the departments of agriculture and rural areas, natural resources, science and technology, ecology and environment, health, and other relevant departments under the State Council and organizing scientific demonstration and assessment.

Wildlife under local priority conservation refers to wildlife under priority conservation by provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the Central Government other than those under state priority conservation. The lists of wildlife under local priority conservation shall be formulated and promulgated by the governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government after organizing scientific demonstration and assessment and consulting the competent wildlife conservation departments under the State Council.

The lists provided for in this Article shall be subject to scientific demonstration and assessment every five years, and be adjusted according to the said demonstration and assessment, or may be adjusted in a timely manner according to the actual needs of wildlife conservation.

Article 11 The competent wildlife conservation departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the application of information technology, organize or commission relevant scientific research institutes to conduct surveys, monitoring and assessments of wildlife and their habitats on a regular basis, and establish and improve the files of wildlife and their habitats.

The surveys, monitoring and assessments of wildlife and their habitats shall cover:

(1) distribution areas, population of species and structure of wildlife;

(2) areas and ecological status of wildlife habitats;

(3) primary threats to wildlife and their habitats; and

(4) other aspects requiring surveys, monitoring, and assessments such as the status of the artificial breeding of wildlife.

Article 12 The competent wildlife conservation departments under the State Council shall, in conjunction with other relevant departments under the State Council, determine and issue the List of Critical Habitats of Wildlife on the basis of surveys, monitoring, and assessments on the status of wildlife and their habitats.

People's governments at or above the provincial level shall, in accordance with the law, designate critical habitats of wildlife as protected natural areas, such as national parks and nature reserves, to conserve, restore and improve the living environments of wildlife. Where the establishment of protected natural areas is not feasible, people's governments at or above the county level may adopt such measures as determining no-hunting (or no-fishing) zones and closed seasons.

Within protected natural areas, the introduction of alien species, creation of monoculture plantations, excessive use of pesticides or other human activities that may disrupt or harm the life and reproduction of wildlife are strictly prohibited or restricted.

The protected natural areas shall be designated and administered according to provisions of relevant laws and regulations, and the competent wildlife conservation departments shall strengthen the conservation of wildlife and their habitats in accordance with the law.

Article 13 People's governments at or above the county level and their relevant departments, during relevant development and utilization planning, shall take into full consideration the needs of conservation of wildlife and their habitats, analyze, predict and assess potential overall impacts that the implementation of the plans may have on conservation of wildlife and their habitats, and avoid or reduce adverse consequences resulting from the implementation of the plans.

It is prohibited to construct projects that are not allowed to be constructed by laws and regulations within protected natural areas. The selection of sites or routes for such construction projects as airports, railways, highways, water conservancy facilities, hydropower plants, wind power facilities, photovoltaic power generation facilities, cofferdam, and sea reclamation projects shall avoid protected natural areas, as well as critical habitats and migratory routes of wildlife. Where avoidance is unfeasible, wildlife corridors, fish ladders and other conservation facilities shall be constructed to eliminate or reduce adverse impacts on wildlife.

Where construction projects under planning may exert impacts on protected natural areas, as well as other critical habitats and migratory routes of wildlife, the department in charge of review and approval of environmental impact assessment documents shall, in the course of review and approval, consult the competent wildlife conservation departments under the State Council where wildlife under state priority conservation are involved, or, where wildlife under local priority conservation are involved, shall consult the competent wildlife conservation departments of the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government.

Article 14 The competent wildlife conservation departments at all levels shall monitor environmental impacts on wildlife. Where environmental impacts cause harms to wildlife, investigations shall be conducted and measures shall be taken to address the issues in a timely manner in conjunction with relevant departments.

Article 15 Where wildlife under state priority conservation and terrestrial wildlife of significant ecological, scientific or social value, or wildlife under local priority conservation are threatened by natural disasters, significant environmental pollution accidents, or other emergencies, the local people's governments shall take measures to rescue these species in a timely manner.

The state enhances its capacity for sheltering and rescuing wildlife. The competent wildlife conservation departments of people's governments at or above the county level shall organize the sheltering or rescue of wildlife in accordance with relevant regulations of the state, and strengthen the regulation and guidance of social organizations involved in wildlife sheltering and rescue activities.

The sheltering and rescue organizations shall establish dedicated sheltering and rescue sites with appropriate professional and technical personnel, rescue tools, equipment, and medicines, based on the actual needs of wildlife sheltering and rescue.

It is prohibited to engage in the trading of wildlife and their products in the name of sheltering and rescuing wildlife.

Article 16 The surveillance of and quarantine for wildlife-borne diseases, and the prevention and control of animal infectious diseases related to zoonoses shall be governed by the provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Animal Disease Control and other relevant laws and regulations.

Article 17 The state strengthens its efforts to conserve genetic resources of wildlife and enhance conservation by rescuing endangered wildlife.

The competent wildlife conservation departments under the State Council shall, in conjunction with other relevant departments under the State Council, formulate plans for the conservation and utilization of genetic resources of wildlife, establish national gene banks of genetic resources of wildlife, and provide priority conservation to the genetic resources of precious and endangered wildlife originally from China.

Article 18 The relevant local people's governments shall build isolation and protection facilities and install safety warning signs, among other measures, according to the actual circumstances and needs, to prevent potential dangers and damage due to wildlife.

The competent wildlife conservation departments of the people's governments at or above the county level may, through surveys, monitoring, and assessments of wildlife and their habitats, take such population control measures as ex-situ conservation, hunting and capturing for species whose populations exceed their environmental capacity, to guarantee personal and property safety, ecological safety, and agricultural production. Wildlife hunted for the purpose of population control shall be handled and comprehensively utilized in accordance with the relevant regulations of the state. Specific measures for population control shall be formulated by the competent wildlife conservation departments under the State Council in conjunction with other relevant departments under the State Council.

Article 19 The local people's governments shall provide compensation for casualties and crop or other property losses resulting from wildlife conservation efforts required by this Law. The specific measures for compensation shall be formulated by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. Relevant local people's governments may encourage insurance institutions to provide insurance service to compensate for damage and losses due to wildlife.

The local people's governments shall be subsidized by the central finance in terms of the funds for preventing and controlling the harm caused by wildlife under state priority conservation and other terrestrial wildlife prone to cause severe harms, and for making compensation therefor. Specific measures shall be formulated by the finance department under the State Council in conjunction with the competent wildlife conservation departments under the State Council.

Anyone who takes measures which cause damage to wildlife in emergency where wildlife endangers personal safety shall bear no legal liability in accordance with the law.