When Bai Chengshou started his career at the Nature and Ecology Conservation Department of the Environmental Protection Ministry in 1997, he had no idea that he was about to witness one of the fastest developing periods in China's nature reserve protection history.

"The flood that hit southern China in 1998 sounded an alarm for the government about what kind of damage the disruption of the ecological balance could bring. Since then, nature reserves nationwide have seen great advances in terms of investment scale and area expansion," said Bai, deputy head of the Nature and Ecology Conservation Department.

Taking local people's benefits into account when managing the reserves, a concept that was gradually recognized by the government, was equally important said Bai, who talked to China Daily about the development of the country's nature reserves, based on his more than 15 years of experience in the field.