many animals and plants are extinct because of human activities. the nature reserve is the most effective way to protect natural resources and wildlife. in this paper, i reviewed policies to protect nature reserves in canada and china. although the two countries developed the concept of nature reserves relatively early in their history, legislation that is meaningful concerning the environment is recent, and there remain some problems in managing nature reserves, especially with respect to compliance with the law among local communities. in both countries, there is still a need to learn more about nature reserves, traditional ecological knowledge, and ways to make nature reserves more effective in the future.