Deploy strategic goals and tasks to build a beautiful China in an all-round way
A few days ago, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China" was issued. The opinions are ambitious, have clear themes and rich contents, and make systematic plans and overall arrangements for comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China, which is an action guide for bringing together the strength of the whole party and the whole country to strive to achieve the grand goals and tasks of building a beautiful China.
1. Maintain strategic focus and consistently promote the construction of a beautiful China
In 2012, the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward "Beautiful China" for the first time as the governing concept and goal, clarified "strive to build a beautiful China and realize the sustainable development of the Chinese nation", and deployed four major tasks to vigorously promote the construction of ecological civilization, such as optimizing the development pattern of land space. In 2017, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) clarified the two-stage goal of building a beautiful China by 2035 and by the middle of this century, and put forward four major tasks to accelerate the reform of the ecological civilization system and build a beautiful China, such as promoting green development. In 2022, the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) clarified the basic path for building a beautiful China where man and nature coexist in harmony, and deployed four tasks, including accelerating the green transformation of the development mode. In July 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, making important arrangements for comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China in the new journey.
From the 18th, 19th, and 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, the Party Central Committee has consistently made strategic arrangements for the construction of a beautiful China, and has put forward different tasks and requirements with different stages of development and different problems, which fully reflects the strategic determination of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core for the construction of a beautiful China.
2. Firmly continue to work hard and paint a picture of the goal of building a beautiful China
The connotation of Beautiful China is that green production and lifestyle have been widely formed, carbon emissions have stabilized and decreased after peaking, and the ecological environment has fundamentally improved. At present, the focus of ecological environmental protection has shifted from conventional pollution control of air, water and soil to climate change, marine environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, and more attention has been paid to ensuring the health of human beings and ecosystems.
The opinions are in line with the requirements of the construction of a beautiful China, highlighting systematic planning, scientific implementation, and step-by-step advancement, and clarifying the macro goals of three stages: the construction of a beautiful China by 2027, the goal of a beautiful China will be basically achieved by 2035, and the comprehensive completion of a beautiful China by the middle of this century. At the same time, quantitative targets have been put forward in terms of optimizing the pattern of land and space development and protection, promoting green and low-carbon development in key areas as a whole, and continuing to fight the battle to defend blue sky, clear water and pure land. For example, by 2035, the concentration of fine particulate matter in the country should be reduced to less than 25 micrograms per cubic meter, and the proportion of land area in nature reserves should not be less than 18% of the land area.
3. Clarify the construction route and realize the quality and color of the construction of a beautiful China
The opinions clearly put forward a series of implementation roadmaps for the construction of a beautiful China.
From different levels, major regional strategies are the key areas of China's economy, industry and population agglomeration, and the main battlefield of the construction of a beautiful China; cities are an important carrier for the implementation of new urbanization, the promotion of green and low-carbon development, and the construction of a beautiful China; and the rural ecological environment is a prominent shortcoming of the construction of a beautiful China, and there is still a big gap between the expectations of the people. To this end, the opinions put forward to focus on five major regional strategies such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, strengthen green development cooperation, create a green development highland, and build a beautiful China pilot zone; In addition, the opinions require the promotion of the experience of Zhejiang's "Ten Million Project" according to local conditions, the overall promotion of rural ecological revitalization and the improvement of the rural living environment, the solid promotion of the rural toilet revolution, the effective treatment of rural domestic sewage, garbage and black and odorous water bodies, and the construction of beautiful villages.
From the perspective of factors, the fundamental improvement of the ecological environment such as air, water and ocean is the key symbol of the basic realization of the goal of building a beautiful China. In the face of the basic situation that the quality of the ecological environment is stable and improving, but the foundation is not yet solid, the opinions put forward the need to further promote the prevention and control of environmental pollution and continue to improve the quality of the ecological environment. First, it is necessary to take key areas such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surroundings as the main battlefield, take fine particulate matter control as the main line, strengthen regional joint prevention and control, and take comprehensive measures to accelerate the elimination of heavily polluted weather and protect the beautiful blue sky. The second is to coordinate the management of water resources, water environment and water ecology, further promote the protection and management of major rivers and important lakes such as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, promote the investigation and rectification of sewage outlets into rivers and seas, basically eliminate black and odorous water bodies in urban and rural areas, strengthen the protection and restoration of water conservation areas and ecological buffer zones, and build beautiful rivers and lakes. The third is to adhere to the overall planning of land and sea and the linkage of rivers and seas, and continue to promote the comprehensive management of key sea areas. With the bay as the basic unit, the "one bay, one policy" will jointly promote the prevention and control of pollution in coastal waters, ecological protection and restoration, and coastal and beach environmental improvement, so as to build a beautiful bay. In addition, forests, grasslands, deserts and other natural ecosystems are important ecological foundations for the construction of a beautiful China, and the opinions have deployed tasks such as building a solid natural ecological barrier, implementing the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands and sands, and strengthening the conservation of biodiversity, striving to show the vitality of beautiful mountains and rivers.
4. Strengthen positive incentives and stimulate the vitality of the construction of a beautiful China
The opinions deploy the task requirements around the incentive mechanism for the construction of a beautiful China from three levels, and strive to fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of all parties to jointly build and share a beautiful China, and form a good social atmosphere in which everyone participates and everyone shares.
Highlight the incentives of local reform and innovation, propose to create a demonstration model for the construction of a beautiful China, encourage all regions to give full play to their own characteristics, and write a provincial chapter in the construction of a beautiful China. For example, we will further promote the demonstration construction of ecological civilization, promote the construction of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" practice and innovation bases, improve the value realization mechanism of ecological products, promote the innovation of eco-environment-oriented development models and investment and financing models, and promote comprehensive ecological compensation.
Highlight the incentives for the green development of enterprises, emphasize the need to promote the integration of resources and environmental elements into the overall plan of market-oriented allocation reform, deepen the reform of the environmental information disclosure system in accordance with the law, deepen the performance classification of key industries in heavily polluted weather, implement the performance classification of sewage treatment and discharge levels of enterprises in key industries, support eligible enterprises to issue green bonds, and steadily promote climate investment and financing innovation.
Highlight the incentives for extensive citizen participation, and propose to explore the establishment of public participation mechanisms such as "carbon inclusiveness", encourage grassroots units such as parks, enterprises, communities, and schools to carry out green, clean, and zero-carbon leading actions, and promote the construction of ecological and environmental volunteer service systems.
5. Implement national actions to promote the construction of a beautiful China, joint construction and sharing
The opinions deploy specific tasks for carrying out the national action of building a beautiful China from three levels.
The first is to propose to cultivate and promote ecological culture. The opinions put forward the need to improve the ecological cultural system based on ecological values and cultivate mainstream values.
The second is to put forward the practice of green and low-carbon lifestyle. In terms of clothing, food, housing, transportation, and travel, we advocate a simple and moderate, green and low-carbon, civilized and healthy lifestyle and consumption pattern.
The third is to propose the establishment of a pluralistic participatory action system. We will continue to carry out a series of activities called "Beautiful China, I am an Actor", give full play to the role of industry associations and chambers of commerce as a bridge and mass organizations, and improve the public ecological environment supervision and reporting and feedback mechanisms.
We should focus on the important goals, major tasks and major reform measures of the opinions, adhere to and strengthen the overall leadership of the party, and make every effort to promote the implementation of the opinions, so as to promote the construction of a beautiful China, accelerate the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and make new and greater contributions to the construction of a strong country and national rejuvenation.
(The author is President of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment)
