The tide of Ludao is full of sails - remembering the practice of Xiamen in the construction of a beautiful China

It has been rated as an international garden city, a sub-provincial city, and a national ecological civilization construction demonstration zone...... Xiamen City, Fujian Province, holds the ecological "gold" signboard.

From 2012 to 2022, the city's GDP grew at an average annual rate of 7.5%, and in 2023, the total scale of the four pillar industrial clusters of electronic information, machinery and equipment, trade and logistics, and financial services exceeded 2 trillion yuan...... Xiamen's economic development achievements are outstanding.

Pan Shijian, former vice chairman of the Xiamen CPPCC, said: "The advantages of ecological environment are a plus point for Xiamen to attract talents and enterprises to settle down. ”

Over the years, Xiamen has deeply practiced Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, followed the concepts of law-based governance, scientific governance, source governance, systematic governance, and collaborative governance, carried out a series of fruitful ecological civilization practices such as the rectification of outstanding environmental problems and the protection of marine ecology, realized the integration of lake governance, sea governance, river governance, island governance, mountain governance, and city governance, promoted high-quality development with high-level protection, and created a "Xiamen model" for the construction of a beautiful China.

After years of unremitting efforts, Yundang Lake has changed from a stinky lake to a "city living room". Photo by Wu Wei

Thought Leadership——

Firmly establish the concept of green development, improve the environment, and attract the Golden Phoenix

Xiamen, which stands at the forefront of reform and opening up, takes the construction of a modern and international garden city with economic prosperity, social civilization, reasonable layout and beautiful environment as its goal, and strengthening ecological and environmental governance is an important part of it.

As early as the 80s of the last century, Xiamen City incorporated the strengthening of ecological and environmental protection into the top-level design of economic and social development, and handled the relationship between protection and development.

During his work in Xiamen, Comrade Xi Jinping took the lead in compiling the "Xiamen Economic and Social Development Strategy from 1985 to 2000". This is the first 15-year strategic plan for economic and social development prepared by China's local government. For the first time, it included "ecological and environmental issues" as a special chapter in the regional economic and social development plan, which was the first of its kind in the country. "Creating a good ecological environment and building a beautiful, clean and civilized harbor scenic city" became one of the six strategic goals of Xiamen's economic and social development at that time.

In the west of Xiamen Island, there is a beautiful "city living room" - Yundang Lake. However, in the early 80s of the last century, due to excessive reclamation and pollution, Yundang Lake was once notorious for "stinking", with sewage flowing sideways, mosquitoes and flies breeding, and garbage everywhere, and residents by the lake often did not dare to open their windows.

In 1988, Comrade Xi Jinping, then member of the Standing Committee of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, took the lead in launching the first tough battle of pollution control in Xiamen - the comprehensive treatment of Yundang Lake, and clearly put forward the 20-character policy of "governing the lake according to law, intercepting and treating pollution, dredging and building banks, invigorating water bodies, and beautifying the environment". At that time, Xiamen City made it clear that "the municipal finance will allocate 10 million yuan every year this year and next year", which was equivalent to 1/10 of the city's capital construction expenditure at that time. The strength and determination are evident.

After years of unremitting governance, the once "stinky water lake" has become a "green lung of the city". Starting from the comprehensive treatment of Yundang Lake, Xiamen creatively solved the water environment management problems faced by coastal cities in the early stage of urbanization and industrialization in the early stage of reform and opening up, and opened a new chapter in ecological environment governance. As a result, Xiamen has gradually embarked on the road of coordinated development of environment and economy, the urban ecological environment is becoming more and more beautiful, and the economic development has continuously reached a new level.

At the beginning of this year, the Huli section of Tong'an Bay (Wuyuan Bay) in Xiamen City was selected as the first batch of excellent cases of beautiful bays in Fujian Province.

When the news came, Pan Shijian was full of emotion. As the former commander-in-chief of the general headquarters for the development and construction of the Wuyuanwan area, he clearly remembers that at the beginning of this century, it was still a black and smelly "rotten tide beach". Due to the construction of embankments, salt farming, and garbage everywhere, the water in Wuyuan Bay is seriously polluted, and the coastline of Outer Bay has been eroded for a long time, and it was once called "an uninhabitable place". In 2003, the city's per capita GDP was only 39.4% of the city's average.

At that time, there were two plans for the remediation of Wuyuan Bay. One is to widen the seawall, fill in the tidal flats, and create land for sale. The other is to remove the seawall and restore the old appearance of the bay.

"Back then, many cities were reclaiming land from the sea, which was a common practice. Moreover, it is very expensive to remove the embankment, so many people recommend filling it up. Pan Shijian said, but Xiamen kept in mind the entrustment of "becoming the vanguard of the construction of an 'ecological province'", listened to the opinions of experts and the public, and resolutely chose the second plan to accelerate the ecological restoration and comprehensive development of the area.

Scientific ideas open up new space for development. Today, the ecosystem of Wuyuan Bay Area is stable, the environmental quality is good, the air quality of the coastal waters has always been maintained at an excellent level, and the water quality of the coastal waters has been maintained above Class II.

Ecological advantages have injected momentum into economic development. Wuyuan Bay has become one of the most active sailing and yacht industry clusters in China, and has developed a modern service industry represented by marine cultural tourism and ecological health care, gathering more than 300 corporate headquarters, and the ecological advantage has become a development advantage.

Looking back on the past, Wang Da, member of the Standing Committee of the Huli District Party Committee and deputy head of Xiamen City, said that if the "rotten tide beach" was filled in and sold in that year, the development benefits and development quality obtained would be much lower than what we have obtained now, "We are continuing to benefit from the decisions made back then." ”

Adhering to the priority of ecology and green development has also ushered in new development opportunities for the military camp village in the alpine village.

Starting from the foot of the mountain, after turning 211 bends, the military camp village located at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters is presented to people. In the early years, there was no electricity in the village, and tea could only be made by burning firewood, and a large number of trees on the mountain were cut down, and people lived a hard life on the barren mountain.

The development concept of "wearing a hat on the mountain and developing under the mountain" and the advice of "a variety of tea, planting fruits, and don't forget the greening of forests" have made this place embark on the road of ecological development. The electricity is connected, the mountains are green, and the tourism industry has developed, which is also "relying on the mountains to eat the mountains", but it has a different development connotation.

Su Yinban, a young entrepreneur who returned to his hometown, said: "I used to think that only by going out of the mountains could I get rich. Now, Takayama has become our backer to get rich. ”

From Yundang Lake to Maluan Bay, Xinglin Bay and Tong'an Bay, from the city to the countryside, from the top of the mountain to the ocean, Xiamen has changed the old appearance through ecological restoration and comprehensive renovation, creating a "golden business card" of the city, which has greatly improved the living environment of the surrounding people and significantly promoted economic development. Xiamen has taken advantage of the environment to gradually expand the headquarters economy and create an information technology industry system with "core-screen-end-software-intelligence-network", which vividly proves that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and protecting the environment is protecting productivity.

Some people have questioned that although Xiamen's practical experience is good, it is difficult to replicate because Xiamen has a strong economic foundation and is not comparable to other cities.

In this regard, Pan Shijian bluntly said: "This is a misunderstanding. In the early years, much of the conservation work was carried out under very difficult conditions. Lack of financial resources can be carried out step by step, but it cannot be put on hold. Between short-term economic development and ecological environmental protection, we focus on protection. ”

Yu Hai, deputy director of Xi Jinping's Ecological Civilization Thought Research Center, said that in the eighties and nineties of the last century, Xiamen's economic and social development was still in its infancy, and it was not financially abundant. "But it is precisely the realization that 'only by improving the environment can we attract the Golden Phoenix', which has brought a steady stream of comprehensive benefits to the present. ”

Good governance –

High appearance comes from natural creation, continuous tackling, and good at "embroidery".

A city of spring and half a city of flowers, thousands of waves embrace the sea. Embracing the blue sea and silver beach, the beauty of Xiamen is beautiful in nature, and it is more beautiful in the acquired good governance. Over the years, Xiamen has insisted that Qingshan will not relax, overcome difficulties with firm determination and powerful measures, and write a unique green answer sheet.

This is an answer sheet for scientific governance.

Xiamen's bay has undergone a transformation from disorderly development, serious environmental pollution and ecological damage to the beautiful butterfly of today's blue waters. Hong Huasheng, a professor at Xiamen University and former deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Fujian Provincial People's Congress, said: "I am a witness, a participant, and a beneficiary. ”

Technology supports decision-making. In 1996, Xiamen took the lead in establishing a municipal marine expert group in the country. In the 28 years since, the expert group has provided intellectual support for Xiamen's decision-making on optimizing marine management and promoting the development of marine economy. Hong Huasheng is the leader of the expert group.

What is still fresh in Hong Huasheng's memory is the Gaoji seawall demolition and bridge construction project, which is known as the top priority of the "Xiamen Marine Ecological Function Restoration Project". At that time, the project needed to determine the size of the seawall opening in order to enhance the bay's water exchange capacity, improve hydrodynamic conditions, and control investment costs. After repeated calculations and physical model tests, the experts determined the length of the seawall opening to be 800 meters. This project not only accelerated the implementation of Xiamen's "cross-island development" strategy, but also retained a part of the seawall, allowing future generations to remember and carry forward the "seawall spirit" of the people of Xiamen 60 or 70 years ago who moved mountains and reclaimed the sea and built the first cross-sea passage in China.

Technology empowers and improves efficiency. With the help of universities and institutes, Xiamen organizes technical research and method research, and uses big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other means to continuously improve the systematic, scientific and accurate environmental governance. For example, Xiamen University has built a three-dimensional observation system of "sea, land and air integration" marine ecology relying on scientific research ships, marine environmental monitoring stations and the "Xiamen Science and Technology No. 1" satellite launched in recent years, which can make real-time and refined observation of key ecological and environmental elements in the regional ocean. Xiamen has also built a smart environmental protection platform, a smart marine sanitation platform and a monitoring and early warning and forecasting system for marine drifting garbage, which can predict and forecast the drift trajectory and distribution area of marine drifting garbage on a daily basis and provide intelligent information for salvage and cleanup.

This is an answer sheet for source management.

The problems of the marine ecological environment are reflected in the sea, and the roots are on the land. The control of the ocean is inseparable from the source control of land-based pollution. Taking the improvement of the water quality of Yundang Lake as an example, Xiamen has successively shut down and relocated 125 polluting enterprises, built 16 sewage lifting pumping stations and 1 seawater pumping station, and completed the comprehensive interception of sewage from 36 drainage ditches, 27 large drainage ditches and dozens of rainwater outlets around the lake area in stages.

At the same time, Xiamen continues to promote the transformation of "sewage interception and treatment" to the front-end and refinement, and comprehensively promotes river basin treatment, urban and rural sewage treatment, and sea discharge port remediation. In 2022, the city's sewage collection rate will increase to 87.6%, exceeding the national average by 17 percentage points, realizing that the stormwater discharge outlet will be "no drainage on sunny days and no sewage on rainy days".

The source brings clear water. In 2023, the proportion of excellent water quality in the national and provincial control sections of Xiamen's major river basins will remain at 100%, and the proportion of excellent water quality in the state-controlled points in the coastal waters will reach 86.2%, an increase of 6.95 percentage points over 2020.

 This is an answer to the question of system governance.

Land and sea are co-ordinated, and mountains and seas help each other. With the military camp village, Dongxixi and Tong'an Bay as pilots, Xiamen has coordinated the construction of beautiful villages, beautiful rivers and lakes, and beautiful bays, with water as the axis, connecting the dots into lines, and drawing lines into patches to ensure that a stream of clear water flows into Tong'an Bay, and initially built a general pattern of protection and governance from the top of the mountain to the ocean.

From the management of lakes, seas and rivers to the management of islands, mountains and cities, Xiamen has integrated the promotion of ecological and environmental protection. Nearly 60% of the city's land area has been classified into the ecological control line, and the air quality ranks among the top in the country, and the country's first low-value recyclables sorting center and the country's first comprehensive bonded zone to achieve zero carbon emissions have been built...... Xiamen has become a vivid example of Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization.

When you look up, it's a fresh blue, and when you look around, it's a pleasant green. Xiamen perfectly integrates urban construction into the natural landscape pattern, and realizes the integration and symbiosis of "mountain, sea, industry, city and people".

This is an answer sheet for the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.

The city is on the sea, the sea is in the city, and in Xiamen Island, every inch of land is gold. However, in the central city, there is a quiet "blank space" - high-rise buildings are lined up, wedged into about 3 hectares of natural space. It is overgrown with vegetation and everything is in its natural state, and a rock wall more than ten meters high is covered with caves the size of eggs.

"These caves are home to the chestnut-throated bee-eater, a migratory bird. Cai Libo, director of the Protected Area Affairs Center of the Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning, said.

Many years ago, a group of picky national second-class protected animals chestnut-throated bee-eaters "fell in love" here and nested here. After the Xiamen Bird Watching Association found out, it immediately reported it to the Xiamen Municipal Government. After expert demonstration and other links, Xiamen Wuyuan Bay Chestnut-throated Bee-eater Municipal Nature Reserve was officially established, and the golden plot of closed management has become the residence of the chestnut-throated bee-eater.

The masters of the city are not only humans, but also animals and plants.

In 1997, Xiamen established the country's first Chinese White Dolphin Nature Reserve. In the waters of Xiamen, the population of Chinese white dolphins has increased from 60 in the early 90s to more than 80 today. Xiamen has become the only city in the country where you can see Chinese white dolphins in urban areas.

At the end of the 80s of last century, Xiamen vigorously supported the research of mangrove afforestation technology. After almost disappearing for more than 20 years, nearly 85 hectares of mangrove forests have "reappeared" in the waters of Xiatanwei in Xiamen.

From birds to dolphins, from animals to plants, each creature has written a vivid footnote for Xiamen to build a modern society of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

The historical experience of the Communist Party of China over the past century has pointed out that the times are the ones who produce the papers, we are the ones who answer the papers, and the people are the ones who read the papers.

So, what is Xiamen's answer score?

In 2023, the public's satisfaction with the ecological environment in Xiamen reached 91.3%, ranking first in the province.

Institutional Innovation——

Promote governance in accordance with the law and coordinated governance, and establish rules and regulations to cohesion, so as to achieve long-term success

On the eve of the Spring Festival this year, Xiamen won another award. In the 2023 evaluation of the responsibility letter for ecological and environmental protection goals of party and government leaders in Fujian Province, Xiamen ranked first in the province and won the first place for four consecutive years.

The construction of ecological civilization is a systematic project, which requires continuous efforts in order to achieve results. How to maintain strategic focus, do long-term success, and draw a blueprint to the end?

Xiamen adheres to the strictest system and the strictest rule of law to protect the ecological environment, maintain normalized external pressure, and stimulate the endogenous power of the whole society to jointly care for the ecological environment.

At the beginning of each year, the main leaders of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government will sign a letter of responsibility for the construction of ecological civilization with the main leaders of the District Party Committee and the District Government, so as to realize the "same responsibility of the party and the government, and two responsibilities of one post", promote the transmission of responsibility and pressure, and ensure the completion of the annual goal.

"The evaluation and assessment of the construction of ecological civilization in Xiamen has achieved three 'full coverage'. Hu Jun, deputy director of the Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, said. First, the assessment content is fully covered. Since 2014, Xiamen has begun to explore the assessment of ecological and environmental protection work, and has taken the lead in implementing the "three-in-one" assessment of ecological civilization construction, ecological environmental protection target responsibility and pollution prevention and control effectiveness in the country, so as to achieve full coverage of key objectives and tasks. Second, the assessment objects are fully covered. The assessment objects cover the whole industry and all fields of ecological civilization construction, involving 6 administrative regions, 2 management committees, 31 municipal units, 11 provincial and ministerial units in Xiamen, 9 municipal headquarters and 13 municipal state-owned enterprises, and adhere to a "baton" to command to the end. The third is the full coverage of the assessment cycle, that is, the implementation of annual evaluation and assessment and five-year comprehensive assessment, highlighting the sense of gain of the masses.

"Assessment is both a spur and an incentive. Wang Da said that on the one hand, the assessment encourages all parties to take the initiative to compete for the top position, if the assessment ranking is low, "the face will definitely not be hanging"; on the other hand, the assessment is also a comprehensive physical examination of the construction of ecological civilization and ecological environmental protection in the region, to help check and fill in the gaps.

Sun Samei, the former deputy director of the Xiamen Environmental Monitoring Center Station, who participated in the scoring as a review expert, recalled that it is common for the deputy heads of each district to have personnel adjustments, "but some deputy district heads have just taken office, and they can cherish the ecological and environmental work of the district in the year-end evaluation and defense, which also reflects the importance of the district." ”

To protect the ecological environment, we must rely on institutions and the rule of law. For a long time, Xiamen has insisted on putting the construction of ecological civilization into the track of institutionalization and rule of law. In the practice of governing according to law, Xiamen has set a number of "firsts".

In 1994, after Xiamen obtained the legislative power of the Special Economic Zone, the first substantive local regulation enacted was the Xiamen Environmental Protection Regulations.

In 2003, Xiamen set up the country's first comprehensive maritime law enforcement team with an administrative establishment and organized various sea-related departments to carry out joint maritime law enforcement.

In 2018, the Ecological and Environmental Trial Division of Tong'an Court was officially established, becoming the first ecological and environmental trial division of a grassroots court with cross-regional centralized jurisdiction in Fujian Province. Since then, relying on the Xiamen Agricultural and Marine Carbon Sequestration Trading Platform, the country's first ecological judicial public welfare carbon account has been established.

From legislation to law enforcement and justice, from environmental governance to low-carbon construction, Xiamen continues to build a solid legal system for the construction of ecological civilization.

"Xiamen's practice provides an important reference for improving the construction of the rule of law for ecological civilization. Yu Hai said, "Adhering to the rule of law and relying on the system to promote the construction of ecological civilization is an important experience of Xiamen's successful practice." This point has important reference significance for other regions to deepen the construction of ecological civilization and write a local chapter in the construction of a beautiful China in the new era and new journey. ” 

Promoting ecological and environmental protection requires all departments to perform their duties together and the whole society to participate. Xiamen continues to innovate the collaborative governance mechanism, clenching its fingers into a fist, and solving the problem of "Kowloon water control".

The departmental coordination mechanism allows all departments to work together. Xiamen has played the role of the "Leading Group for Ecological Civilization Construction" and the "Leading Group for Accelerating the Construction of National Ecological Civilization Construction Pilot Zone", established a comprehensive marine coordination mechanism, comprehensively coordinated the use of sea conflicts by fishery, shipping, environment, ports and other relevant departments, and built a "three-in-one" ecological and environmental law enforcement and judicial cooperation system of prevention, governance and punishment.

The regional linkage mechanism allows multiple regions to work together. Xiamen Municipality has taken the lead in establishing a joint prevention and control mechanism for ecological and environmental protection in the Southwest Fujian Coordinated Development Zone, and implemented the Jiulongjiang-Xiamen Bay pollutant discharge control project and the comprehensive treatment project in the upper reaches of the Jiulong River Basin.

Carefully move the pen to achieve great beauty, do not forget the original intention to always. Generations of builders in Xiamen have firmly established the determination of "success does not have to be in me, success must have me", gnawed down a piece of "hard bones", the quality of the ecological environment has been significantly improved, and the construction of ecological civilization has achieved fruitful results, and a "high-quality innovation and entrepreneurship city" and "high-value ecological garden city" have gone from ideal to reality.

The wind comes from the sea, and the tide swells and the egrets fly. On the new journey of building a beautiful China, Xiamen is sailing high, riding the wind and waves, and moving forward bravely towards the goal of building a "high-quality benchmark, high-value model, modern frontier, and international hub".