The administrative division principle of "mountains and rivers form convenience" artificially splits the continuous habitat, leading to habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation has a negative edge effect, which requires a higher cost to maintain biodiversity, resulting in inefficient financial investment in nature conservation. The implementation of cross-regional natural conservation is an effective way to solve the above problems. This study introduces the edge effect theory of conservation biology, traces the theoretical basis for the spatial spillover effect of cross-regional natural conservation on nature conservation investment, and constructs a spatial econometric theoretical model of the factors affecting the level of nature conservation investment. Taking nature reserves in 31 provincial-level regions as samples, the empirical test results of the model show that the investment level of nature conservation has a positive spatial dependence among different administrative regions, and cross-regional natural conservation is the dominant factor leading to the spatial effect of the investment level of nature conservation, and the greater the intensity of cross-regional natural conservation, the lower the investment level of financial funds in contiguous areas. Finally, the study puts forward the following suggestions: establish cross-regional natural conservation institutions and coordination mechanisms for nature reserves at the provincial and national levels, and fully open the optimization and integration of cross administrative protected areas in terms of boundary scope and protection focus. The management organization of joint protected areas should strengthen the overall use of financial funds, set up special protection funds for focus species, and promote the coordinated solution of habitat fragmentation by more efficient financial investment.

Rational spatial structure is a precondition of good governance of natural protected area system, and scientific spatial relationship among protected area units is the basis of spatial structure. The Great Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is a model for dealing with multiple spatial relations in protected area clusters. Based on the 9-Intersection Model (9-IM) in topology theory, the relationship between two protected areas is further simplified into three types, namely interdependent, overlapped and nested. Therefore, the complex relationship among different protected areas within a protected area cluster can be predigested into spatial relationship between two protected areas. After the construction of core unit, main unit, system supplement and landscape scale planning, the boundary overlapping relationship of GYE protected area units is gradually resolved and the spatial relationship of external interdependence and internal nesting is established successively, the symbiosis of land use circle layer and the spatial interdependence in landscape scale are formed on a larger scale. The protected area cluster has formed a spatial structure with national parks as the core, national forests as the main body, and other types of protected areas as the supplements. The formation process of spatial structure contains the thinking of "foundation-approach-goal": (1) solving land ownership problem is the material basis of protected area cluster space control; (2) adaptive government governance is the realization way of protected area cluster development; (3) sustainable resource protection and utilization is the goal of protected area cluster construction. For the optimization and integration of protected areas in China, the space control approach shall focus on the spatial relationship of protected area units and spatial structure of protected area clusters; top-down and bottom-up shall be applied as a combination in the governmental governance for natural protected area system construction.

Scientific zoning is an important step for national parks to maintain the integrity and stability of natural ecosystem and achieve multi-objective integrated management, which is conducive to the efficient management and protection of natural resources. As a new mode of national park practice in China, "controlled zoning and functional zoning" aims to realize the hierarchical transmission from unified management and control of land space to classified management and protection of park resources, and make up for the deficiency of the controlled zoning, such as extensive planning and management. By analyzing the national park zoning experience in China, the two-level zoning model has three characteristics "consistency, difference and resilience". There are complex and diverse problems in the spatial relationship between the two types of zoning in the practice of two-level zoning model of national parks in China. After combing the connotation and management and control requirements of the two types, we find that they have three characteristics of consistency, difference and elasticity. Based on the three characteristics of the two-level zoning model, this paper establishes an evaluation index system of ecological importance, ecological sensitivity, recreation suitability and community development suitability. Selecting Shennongjia National Park system pilot area as the study area, we proposed the technical process of demarcation of the two-level zoning model. Considering the comprehensive analysis and evaluation results, the controlled zoning of Shennongjia National Park can be divided into core protected area and general controlled area; the functional zoning of the park can be divided into strict protection area, ecological conservation area, traditional using area and recreational area. In order to coordinate the relationship between ecological protection, community and recreational utilization, this paper further expounds the zoning demarcation and planning strategy of the area where the contradiction between man and land is prominent. This method of the two-level zoning provides reference for the demarcation of the secondary zoning of national parks.

Chinese national park communities are normally highly dependent on environmental resources, while national park resource protection policies restrict community resource use, leading to a long-term conflict between national park management and community development. Adaptive management theory is employed in this paper to reduce the conflict between conservation and development and improve the social-ecosystem resilience of national park communities. Based on the "Pressure-State-Response" model, the grounded theory method is adopted to forward the adaptive collaborative governance framework of national park communities with semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with the stakeholders of Sanjiangyuan National Park. The results show that as a dynamic social-ecological system, the adaptive factors of national park communities include social, economic, ecological and institutional ones, with the adaptive subjects divided into individual and community. It is believed that the core of adaptive governance lies in the autonomy of the whole process of community participation and the synergy of multiple subjects, emphasizing the participation of multiple subjects and the integration of overall interests. To address the problems of sectoral-or-regional oriented interest, single source of compensation, insufficient funds and low level of community participation, this paper proposes an adaptive and collaborative governance path to promote the development of national park communities by improving the collaborative and interactive governance mechanism, guiding social capital investment and social security, and promoting the endogenous development capacity of communities, in the hope to enhance the social-ecological system resilience of Sanjiangyuan National Park and promote the coordinated development of national park communities.

The operational mechanism of separation of decision-making, implementation and regulation power is an important element of the national park administrative system. It is particularly important for China's nature reserves, which have the complex relationship between people and land. And the nature reserves have long been "ruled by nine dragons", which means multiple protected areas have been established in the same space and managed by deferent administrations. In this paper, we focus on national parks, the leading nature reserves in China, to analyze the necessity and feasible model of administrative decentralization system. As we all know that the national parks are independent units with multiple elements and high interrelationship. For their management, they are taken as independent natural resource assets management unit, and they are managed under the principle of "ecological conservation first". Based on these and functional decentralization theory, we study the theoretical framework and operation mode of the separation between daily management and ecological regulation functions. Combined with the principles of national park system reform, we think it necessary to centralize the power in daily management, and to decentralize in decision-making and regulation. This can successfully avoid the drawbacks of total centralization. At the division of responsibilities at the micro level, the responsibilities of the forestland and grassland department as the main manager, and the ecological environment department as the main regulator, are determined. Each specific national park is under the daily management of the national park management agency within its space scope, and the ecological environment department regulates the administrative actions. Furthermore, we have discussed the division of responsibilities in two key areas: quality monitoring of ecological environment, and the law-enforcement of resources and environment. The administrative agency is responsible for ecological and environmental monitoring within national parks, and the monitoring is under the norms and relevant standards formulated by the regulation department. In the area of integrated enforcement, as the main body responsible for national park conservation, the management agencies perform the responsibility of comprehensive law-enforcement of resources and environment, which is part of daily management, within the scope of national parks; and the enforcement performed by the eco-environment department is under the regulation category, whose subjects are national park management agencies and relevant local governments.