Protect the super "carbon pool" and pure "oxygen bar"

Original text of the Opinions:

Strengthen the protection and restoration of grasslands, forests and wetlands. Increase support for forest ecological conservation, grassland ecological protection and restoration, wetland protection and restoration, soil and water conservation, and restoration of degraded forests and grasslands in the Daxing'an Mountains. Strictly implement the grass-livestock balance and the system of prohibiting grazing and fallow grazing, promote grassland recuperation, and prevent overgrazing. Strictly implement the system of banning and protecting native deserts and native vegetation, and implement a winter no-tillage and stubble retention system in the main wind-blown sand mouths, sand source areas and sand and dust path areas. Support Inner Mongolia to independently carry out grassland insurance pilots. National parks such as Helan Mountain and Daqing Mountain have been established, and the National Key Laboratory of Grassland Conservation Ecology has been cultivated and constructed. Support Inner Mongolia in building a national ecological civilization pilot zone.

Grasslands, forests and wetlands play a fundamental and strategic role in national ecological security. As the largest and most complete ecological function area in northern China, Inner Mongolia has always put ecological protection at the forefront, creating a super "carbon pool" and a pure "oxygen bar" for the people of the whole country.

In October 2023, the "Opinions of the State Council on Promoting the High-quality Development of Inner Mongolia and Striving to Write a New Chapter of Chinese-style Modernization" was released, deploying seven main tasks, the first task is to coordinate the management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands and sands, build an important ecological security barrier in the north, and put "strengthening the protection and restoration of grasslands, forests and wetlands" in a prominent position.

Inner Mongolia seized the new opportunity, shouldered the new responsibility, resolutely guarded the green, the blue, and the pure, and forged ahead bravely in the journey of building the Great Green Wall of the northern Xinjiang of the motherland.

Interpretation——

How to protect and restore grasslands, forests and wetlands?

According to the results of the "three adjustments" of national land, Inner Mongolia has a grassland area of 815 million mu, ranking second in the country, and a forest area of 357 million mu, ranking first in the country. As an important ecosystem and natural resource in Inner Mongolia, the protection and restoration of these forests and grasslands plays a pivotal strategic role in maintaining national ecological security, border stability, ethnic unity, promoting sustainable economic and social development, and increasing the income of farmers and herdsmen.

"These tasks put forward in the "Opinions" are the most practical goals and tasks for the construction of ecological civilization in Inner Mongolia, and are highly consistent with the country's strategic positioning of Inner Mongolia to build an important ecological security barrier in northern China. It can be said that strengthening the protection and restoration of grassland, forest and wetland is an important starting point and path for Inner Mongolia to build an important ecological security barrier in northern China. Chen Yongquan, a member of the party group and deputy director of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of the Autonomous Region, said.

In the face of such an important work, what should Inner Mongolia do?

"We will unswervingly implement the basic grassland protection system. Chen Yongquan said that in 2023, Inner Mongolia will adjust and demarcate 730 million mu of basic grassland, forming a "map" of basic grassland in the whole region, and the next step is to focus on protection, comprehensive restoration, and rational utilization. It is necessary to continue to implement the system of banning grazing and balancing grass and livestock, so that the grasslands can recuperate. The Autonomous Region has formulated and promulgated the Implementation Plan for Solving the Problem of Overgrazing in the Grassland, carried out pilot projects for the supervision of grassland grids, and improved the level of supervision of the problem of overgrazing in the grassland.

In terms of forest protection and restoration, Hai Long, deputy director and researcher of the Institute of Genetics and Breeding of the Inner Mongolia Academy of Forestry, believes that as the largest natural forest area in Inner Mongolia, the ecological location of the Daxinganling Mountains is extremely important, and this green must be protected. It is necessary to continue to consolidate the achievements of completely stopping the commercial logging of natural forests, strengthen the management and protection of natural forests and public welfare forests, protect the ecological environment of permafrost, and increase the efforts to care and restore low-quality, inefficient, degraded natural forests and plantations, so as to improve the quality of forests. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of soil and water conservation forests in the Nenjiang River Basin and the Ergun River Basin, prevent and control soil erosion, strictly protect wetland resources, and comprehensively improve the regional water conservation capacity.

"To effectively protect wetland resources, it is necessary to compile and issue the "Wetland Conservation Plan" as soon as possible, and further improve the evaluation and accounting index system of wetland resource assets with Inner Mongolia characteristics. Chen Yongquan said.

Inner Mongolia is a large forest and grass region, and it is also a large area of forest and grass germplasm resources. The protection and restoration of grassland, forest and wetlands are inseparable from germplasm resources. "Although the existing forest and grass seedlings in the whole region can basically meet the needs of the 'Three Norths' project and the existing projects, there is a relative lack of cold-tolerant, drought-tolerant, salinity-alkali tolerant, high-yield and high-quality varieties in the whole region, and the structural shortage of grass seeds for shrubs and ecological construction has not been fundamentally solved. Yan Jie, deputy director of the Forestry and Grassland Seedling Station of the Autonomous Region, said. He suggested that we should start by improving the supply capacity of forest and grass seedlings and improving the protection and utilization capacity of forest and grass germplasm resources, accelerate the high-quality development of forest and grass seedlings, and solve the structural shortage of grass seeds for shrubs and ecological construction.

Protection is for better development, and the realization of the value of natural resources is a new topic and a new task at present. Chen Yongquan believes that it is necessary to further promote the pilot work of the entrustment and agency mechanism for the ownership of forest, grassland and wetland resource assets owned by the whole people, improve the management methods of paid use, concession and damage compensation of forest, grassland and wetland resources, and effectively promote the preservation and appreciation of natural resource assets.

Action –

Let each project be implemented

《意见》发布后，各地积极行动，抢抓机遇争取项目及资金，同时对照《意见》把具体政策落实落细，Let each project be implemented，切实把关怀厚爱转化为推动地区高质量发展的实际行动。

After the release of the "Opinions", the Baotou Forestry and Grassland Bureau seized the opportunity to connect with relevant departments, and this year has won 834 million yuan of funds for various forestry and grass projects in the country and autonomous regions, of which 520 million yuan has been put in place. Among them, the central government invested 293 million yuan and 22.11 million yuan in the comprehensive ecological management project at the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain in Baotou City, and the construction project of the extremely high fire risk area in the grassland of Baotou City have been approved by the state and the autonomous region, and are waiting for the allocation of funds. Dang Xiaohong, deputy director of the Baotou Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said.

While striving for projects and funds, the Baotou Forestry and Grassland Bureau comprehensively sorted out the specific implementation measures of the "Opinions". In the next step, Baotou City should carry out the national grassland protection and development comprehensive reform pilot area - grass-livestock balance demonstration pilot and grassland scientific restoration and governance system pilot construction, so as to effectively promote grassland recuperation. Strengthen the protection and restoration of important wetlands such as the Baotou Yellow River National Wetland Park and the Baotou Kundulun River National Wetland Park, and effectively improve the wetland protection rate. Promote the three-year action plan for improving the quality and efficiency of greening on the southern slope of Daqing Mountain, and improve the ecological benefits of the southern slope of Daqing Mountain in terms of water conservation, soil and water conservation, wind prevention and sand fixation.

The "Opinions" emphasize that the strict implementation of the grass-livestock balance and the prohibition of grazing and grazing system, promote grassland recuperation, and prevent overgrazing. In the next step, we will resolutely implement the requirements of the "Opinions", accurately implement the work of banning grazing and resting grazing, and help build an important ecological security barrier in northern China. Feng Wei, chief of the Forest and Grassland Resources Protection Section of the Hohhot Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said.

In order to protect forest and grass resources, Hohhot City has supplemented the demarcation of no-grazing areas, and the area of no-grazing areas has increased from 9,235,180 mu to 9,924,515 mu. At the same time, we should strengthen the supervision of illegal grazing, and use the smart forest and grass ecological big data platform to capture and photograph the illegal grazing behavior of grasslands in key forest areas, and control them from the source.

80,000 square kilometers of grassland, 130,000 square kilometers of forests, more than 3,000 rivers, more than 500 lakes... The rich ecological "family background" determines the important ecological status and responsibility of Hulunbuir.

After the release of the "Opinions", the main leaders of the Hulunbuir Municipal Party Committee led a team to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration for docking and consultation and formed a memorandum of discussion. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration has included all 14 banner urban areas in Hulunbuir City into the construction scope of the "Three Norths" Phase VI Project, and plans to strive for funds of 2.825 billion yuan and a total construction area of 7.6682 million mu. Strive to include forest fire prevention emergency road projects in the scope of national bond fund support, apply for 5 fire prevention road construction projects in forest areas, plan to build 2,859.84 kilometers of fire prevention roads, and renovate 649.30 kilometers, so as to comprehensively improve the comprehensive prevention and control capacity of forest and grassland fires. At the same time, we will actively strive for funding projects in the autonomous region, strengthen the construction of a smart perception system for biodiversity in nature reserves, and explore the establishment of a grid patrol management mechanism for wetlands.

The "Opinions" put forward the establishment of national parks such as Helan Mountain and Daqing Mountain, which is a major development opportunity for Helan Mountain and Daqing Mountain. According to the relevant person in charge of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of the Autonomous Region, our region has started the creation of two national parks, and in the next step, it will continue to revise and improve the creation plan according to the requirements of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, and actively promote the completion of various tasks such as background investigation, scope zoning, system construction, protection and restoration in accordance with the relevant requirements of the "Guidelines for the Establishment of National Parks", and gradually build a nature reserve system with national parks as the main body in our region.

Objectives –

Complete the task of land greening in an all-round way

党的十八大以来，内蒙古累计造林、治理草原、防沙治沙面积都是全国第一。今年，国土绿化又有了清晰的目标任务。“初步计划10年间完成人工种草4698万亩、草原改良2776万亩、草原围栏4601万亩，Complete the task of land greening in an all-round way，筑牢我国北方重要生态安全屏障。”陈永泉说。

Grasslands are important ecological resources and means of production, and in the event of a disaster, not only the ecology will be damaged, but farmers and herdsmen will also suffer losses. Since 2021, Inner Mongolia has carried out grassland insurance pilots in 13 banner counties in 8 league cities. From 2022 to 2023, the pilot insured area of grassland insurance will be nearly 30 million mu, and more than 4,000 yuan will be invested in premiums. By the end of November, more than 12,000 herdsmen had received more than 1,600 yuan in compensation. The Forestry and Grassland Bureau of the Autonomous Region actively connects with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, is committed to promoting the implementation of grassland insurance in the whole region, and explores the establishment of an insurance security system to protect the grassland ecology, prevent grassland disasters and promote post-disaster recovery, and strive to achieve the goal of 'effective protection of grassland, continuous improvement of ecology, and benefit for herdsmen'. The relevant staff of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of the Autonomous Region said.

Forest and grass germplasm resources are important strategic resources to ensure national species security, grain and oil security, and ecological security, and play a pivotal role in the construction of ecological civilization system and ecological protection function. "In the next step, the seedling station will be committed to improving the supply capacity of forest and grass seedlings, focusing on the breeding of sheep grass, ice grass, alfalfa, oats, etc., and strive to build a grass seed breeding base of 560,000 mu by 2025, with a seed production capacity of 10 million kilograms, effectively solving the 'stuck neck' problem that restricts the development of the grass seed industry, and realizing the self-sufficiency of the main grass seeds. At the same time, it is necessary to further improve the protection and utilization capacity of forest and grass germplasm resources, accelerate the construction of the Inner Mongolia branch of the National Forest and Grass Germplasm Resources Facility Preservation Bank, and strive to achieve trial operation in June 2024. Yan Jie said.

The construction of a national forest and grass germplasm resources facility preservation bank can be used to preserve forest and grass germplasm resources for a long time, safely and effectively. It is understood that after the completion of the project, 800,000 copies of forest and grass germplasm resources and 60,000 plant specimens can be preserved, and it will become the largest and most technologically advanced forest and grass germplasm resources facility preservation bank and national grass germplasm resources preservation center in the country.

Ecology is the most inclusive livelihood and well-being, and transforming ecological advantages into economic advantages and development advantages is the meaning of ecological civilization construction. Hailong suggested that it is necessary to increase scientific and technological innovation, cooperate with scientific research institutes and colleges and universities inside and outside the region, extensively carry out key technological research in the fields of sand prevention and control, sustainable management of forests and grasslands, and forest and grass carbon sinks, and explore the transformation of the "two mountains" and the path and policy mechanism of realizing the value of ecological products, so that more ordinary people can participate in ecological protection and restoration projects.