The Yangtze River Protection Law of the People's Republic of China took effect on March 1, 2021. The economic and social development of the Yangtze River basin must adhere to the principle of prioritizing ecological conservation, boosting green development, stepping up environmental protection, and stopping overdevelopment, according to Article 3 of the law,
The Yangtze River basin's economic and social development must adhere to the principle of prioritizing ecological conservation, boosting green development, stepping up environmental protection, and stopping overdevelopment. (iChongqing file photo)
At the Two Sessions in 2020, the Chongqing Delegation put forward the proposal of "supporting Chongqing to build an ecological priority and green development demonstration area in the Three Gorges Reservoir area of the Yangtze River Economic Belt."
As a year has passed, China's first special law on watershed protection came into force. It provides a guarantee of the rule of law for the Yangtze River's perpetual vitality and will certainly promote high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Registration of natural resource ownerships
Located in the Yangtze River basin's hinterland, the Three Gorges Reservoir area is the main control node for ecological, environmental protection, and restoration, an important eco-security shield in the upper reaches of the river and the largest strategic reservoir for freshwater resources in China.
The area is of great significance to implement the Yangtze River Economic Belt development strategy by cooperating in promoting environmental protection and green development of the Three Gorges Reservoir area.
Promoting ecological protection and green development of the Three Gorges Reservoir area is essential. ((iChongqing file photo)
According to the reply letter from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to the suggestion of the Chongqing Delegation, the leading group office for promoting the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt organized Chongqing and Hubei to prepare their respective implementation plans for the green development in the Three Gorges area.
The objectives set following the Outline of the Yangtze River Economic Belt Development Plan issued by the State Council determined the specific measures in ecological and environmental protection, infrastructure construction, industrial system building, urban and rural population transfer, and public service enhancement.
On June 29, 2020, the leading group office for promoting the Yangtze River Economic Belt development issued the Implementation Plan for Green Development in Chongqing Three Gorges Area.
"At present, the Three Gorges Reservoir area should focus on the implementation of the above-mentioned outline and implementation plan. According to the actual work of promoting green development demonstration in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, we will decide whether to set up a new demonstration area," stated in the reply letter.
The letter shows that the NDRC will actively support and guide the Three Gorges Reservoir area to explore and establish a value realization mechanism for ecological products and strengthen innovation practice in natural resource asset accounting, ecological value measurement, ecological value application, and other links.
Additionally, the NDRC will help the area explore a government-led, market-oriented, sustainable path for realizing the value of ecological products with the participation of enterprises and all sectors of society. It will be a new path prioritizing ecological conservation and boosting green development.
Meanwhile, based on the Implementation Plan for the Reform of the Property Rights System of Natural Resource Assets in Chongqing issued in 2020, Chongqing is going to establish a unified mechanism for the confirmation and registration of natural resource ownership in a bid to improve the institutions of relevant work with specific rules, regulations, and standards.
It aims to gradually achieve full coverage of the confirmation and registration of natural resource ownerships, with the focus on promoting the relevant work in nature reserves, nature parks, and other protected natural areas, as well as key state-owned forest areas, wetlands, rivers, and other important ecological spaces.
Establishment of national parks
Chongqing Development and Reform Commission introduced that the city will coordinate the governance of the ecosystem, including mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, farmland, and grassland, in the urban clusters of the Three Gorges Reservoir area in northeast Chongqing, and explore a new model of ecological development in world-class large river basins.
Specifically, the city will first build beautiful shorelines, cover the mountains with thick forests along the lucid Yangtze River, and then create landscapes of mountains, rivers, and towns.
The Three Gorges Reservoir area's urban clusters have great potential to transform ecological resources into advantages for development. To give full play to this potential, the clusters will focus on promoting the development of characteristic competitive industries and vigorously building an ecological economy system with industrial ecologicalization and ecological industrialization as the main part.
Taking the ecological, cultural tourism, and big health industry as an example, the city will take the Three Gorges golden tourism triangle as the key area to build a core belt for golden tourism and plan to build world-class selected scenic spots and tourism routes. Besides, it is slated to launch some featured regional products and brands to strengthen the world-class quality cultural tourism brand of the Three Gorges.
Furthermore, it is also great to know that the Spatial Layout Plan of National Parks has given full consideration to the Three Gorges area. Next, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration will actively promote national parks in batches when the condition permits, including supporting the construction of national parks in the Three Gorges area.
Solicited the public for opinions
The Central Government's Implementation Plan for Promoting Ecological Protection and Restoration of the Yangtze River Economic Belt was jointly issued by four departments, including the Ministry of Finance.
According to the reply letter of the NDRC, for the suggestion of "supporting the piloting of a multi-level ecological compensation mechanism" made by the Chongqing Delegation, the plan specified that the central government would earmark 18 billion yuan (about 2.78 billion U.S. dollars) from 2018 to 2020.
This is for rewarding neighboring provinces in the basin and their cities and counties to establish a horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanism.
In 2020, the central government's transfer payment to Chongqing's key ecological functional areas reached 2,518 million yuan. The transfer payment scope of key ecological function areas is mainly determined according to the territorial spatial planning.
In the future, the Ministry of Finance will cooperate with the Ministry of Natural Resources to revise the territorial spatial planning, incorporate the revised new counties and prefecture-level cities into the transfer payment scope of key ecological functional areas, and increase transfer payments to Chongqing.