Ecological protection compensation requires motivation from the system and requires long-term effectiveness
"The eel that disappeared for more than 20 years is back!" Not long ago, in the Chishui River, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences once again monitored the figure of the rare fish eel. In addition to eel, red lip loach and others have also reappeared in the Chishui River in recent years. Behind this, it benefits from the implementation of the ecological protection system.
The Chishui River is a tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and flows through the four cities of Zhaotong, Bijie, Zunyi and Luzhou in the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. Due to overfishing and direct drainage of sewage, the ecology of the Chishui River was once seriously damaged. Take the Kuzhu River, a secondary tributary in the upper reaches of the Chishui River, as an example. Villagers in some villages along the river had no awareness of protecting the river before and dumped garbage into the river for a long time. In addition, environmental protection policies, law enforcement and supervision scales, and capital investment are inconsistent in various places, resulting in a situation where rivers are divided into rivers and the upper, middle and lower reaches are "pressed", which has affected the effectiveness of the protection of the Chishui River.
In 2018, the three provinces signed a compensation agreement to establish a cross-provincial horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanism. In 2021, the Standing Committees of the Provincial People's Congress of the three provinces simultaneously reviewed and approved the decision on strengthening joint protection of the Chishui River Basin and their respective Chishui River Basin protection regulations. Various systems have worked together, and coordinated protection and joint law enforcement have become the norm, achieving the effect of "1+1+1>3". One river is "Chishui", the green mountains on both sides of the river, and the three provinces are jointly protected. The Chishui River is clearer year by year, confirming the truth that "protecting the ecological environment must rely on the system and the rule of law."
The system governs the fundamentals and the long-term.XiJinpingThe general secretary emphasized: "It is necessary to establish and improve a scientific assessment and evaluation system oriented by green development, improve the ecological protection compensation system and the ecological product value realization mechanism, and truly benefit protectors and contributors." The "Ecological Protection Compensation Regulations" extract some good experiences and good practices in the past through systems and fix them in the form of administrative regulations. It marks that ecological protection compensation work has entered a new stage of legalization, which is conducive to allowing ecological protection entities to take advantage of "reassurance" and make every effort to protect the green mountains and clear waters.
To build ecological civilization, we should rely on the system to drive and long-term. In Xiamen, Fujian Province, the transformation of Zaoshan Lake from a "smelly water lake" to an "urban green lung" and "urban living room" is inseparable from the "Measures for the Management of the Zaoshan Lake Area in Xiamen City" and "Measures for the Protection of the Zaoshan Lake Area in Xiamen Special Economic Zone" and other institutional mechanisms. In Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, the Yangtze River coastline on Qiaolin Street in Pukou District was once so choked that people couldn't open their eyes. Carrying out special rectification actions, formulating and implementing the "Measures for the Protection of the Yangtze River Shoreline in Nanjing City" and "Regulations on the Protection of the Yangtze River Shoreline in Nanjing City" have given rise to the transformation from "production shoreline" to "ecological shoreline." The Changjinghuang High-speed Railway crosses Poyang Lake, the breeding ground of finless porpoises in the Yangtze River. During the construction process, each construction unit strictly implements the environmental impact assessment system. All mud, muck and sewage are transported out of the country. People can also see finless porpoises playing on the construction site.
Ecological and environmental protection is a tough and protracted battle. To allow protectors and contributors to obtain tangible benefits, we still need the continuous improvement of the system and the mutual cooperation and organic aggregation of various systems. At present, 28 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) have carried out pilot projects for the paid use and trading of emission rights. As of the end of 2023, the cumulative transaction volume is approximately 32 billion yuan. At this stage, central financial investment is still the most important source of funding for ecological protection compensation. To expand the value realization methods of ecological products, we must deepen the reform of the ecological protection compensation system, give full play to the role of market mechanisms in ecological protection compensation, improve trading mechanisms such as carbon emission rights, emission rights, water rights, and carbon sink rights and interests, and use the marketization of resource and environmental factors. The allocation system better encourages various entities to perform their ecological protection responsibilities.
The vitality of the system lies in execution. At present, the "four beams and eight pillars" of my country's ecological civilization system have been established, and we will work together to implement it, continue to explore bravely, and better transform the advantages of the system into ecological and environmental governance effectiveness, which will surely further polish the green waters and green mountains. The background color will enhance the quality of the mountains and silver mountains.
This article is the second of a series of comments on the People's Daily's "Ecological Protection Compensation Regulations"
