Anhui held a meeting to expose its shortcomings, yesterday
"In today's meeting, we must have the courage to investigate and address issues, and take the initiative to expose shortcomings."
The person who said this is Han Jun, the Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee. And "this meeting" refers to the Anhui Provincial Ecological Environment Protection Conference held on the morning of August 29th, attended by the main leaders of the provincial, municipal, and county party committees, governments, and relevant departments.
As a province with abundant ecological resources, Anhui has achieved remarkable results in ecological environment protection in recent years. In Han Jun's words, Anhui "strengthens the construction of ecological civilization and environmental protection throughout the province, throughout the entire process, and in all aspects, with unprecedented determination, intensity, and effectiveness."
There are four "significant results":
Firstly, significant achievements have been made in environmental pollution prevention and control. The air environment quality has reached its best level since continuous monitoring records, with 86.1% of the national examination section having excellent water quality, and the overall soil environment condition is stable.
Secondly, significant achievements have been made in ecosystem protection and restoration. The forest coverage has increased to 30.22%, contributing one-third of the forest area in the Yangtze River Delta to the "Anhui Green" region; Continuous improvement of biodiversity.
The third is that the green transformation of the development mode has achieved significant results. The output value of strategic emerging industries in the province has increased by 3.5 times, carbon emission intensity has decreased by 21.3%, and energy consumption per unit of GDP has decreased by 31%. With an average annual energy consumption growth rate of 4.1%, it has supported an average annual economic growth of 7.9%.
The fourth is that the reform of the ecological environment governance system and mechanism has achieved significant results. The forest chief system and Xin'anjiang ecological protection compensation have become national models, taking the lead in carrying out provincial-level ecological and environmental protection inspections, and establishing a reward and punishment system for rectifying prominent ecological and environmental problems.
What complements the sets of data and innovations is that the land of Jianghuai is rejuvenated everywhere: the water quality of Chaohu has achieved a historic improvement and is becoming the "best place" for the people; The largest mining pit in East China has transformed into a geological and cultural park; Wild finless porpoises roam the Anhui River
Despite achieving impressive results, Anhui is clearly unwilling to accept it.
A special segment was arranged at the meeting, where a warning video on the ecological environment of the Yangtze River Economic Belt for the first and second quarters of 2023, shot and produced by the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, was broadcasted on the spot. The film is 47 minutes long, and the content is shot by the Office of the Regional Ecological Environment Protection Supervision Commissioner of the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment through undercover investigations, exposing 64 ecological environment issues involving 16 cities and 61 counties.
The problem is very specific and the visuals are very realistic. The reporter observed on site and also felt the breadth of the inspection scope, the meticulousness of the investigation and undercover investigations, and the great degree of exposure. No wonder some local officials admit that seeing the issues exposed in the warning film are related to the local area, they feel like they are on pins and needles.
Shooting ecological environment warning films is an institutional arrangement in Anhui, which began in 2019. Starting from 2022, we will shoot and produce one issue every quarter, which will be broadcasted at the conference to supervise rectification.
Han Jun frankly stated at the meeting that Anhui is still in a critical period of pressure accumulation and heavy burden, and is in a period of tackling ecological protection debts and solving prominent ecological and environmental problems. The task of promoting green and low-carbon transformation of economic and social development and working together to build a leading area for beautiful China in the Yangtze River Delta is arduous.
For example, structural issues. Han Jun bluntly pointed out that Anhui's industrial structure is biased, with six high energy consuming industries such as coal-fired power and steel consuming 88% of energy; The energy structure leans towards coal, with coal consumption accounting for 66.2% of energy consumption; The transportation structure leans towards highways, with highway freight volume accounting for 62.4%; There is significant resource pressure and limited environmental capacity, with per capita water resources and forest area only accounting for 60.3% and 43.6% of the national average, respectively; The industrialization and urbanization of the whole province have not been completed yet.
Looking at industrialization and urbanization, in recent years, the added value of Anhui's manufacturing industry has exceeded one trillion yuan, and the urbanization rate has exceeded 60%. It is not difficult to predict that with the continuous promotion of industrialization and urbanization, energy demand will continue to maintain rigid growth, and the pressure to ensure supply and reduce carbon emissions will not be small.
Another challenge is the rigid increase in pollution and the limited capacity of the environment. For example, in the provincial capital of Hefei, there are three new 300000 jobs added each year -300000 insured college students, 300000 market entities, and 300000 motor vehicles, which inevitably bring about an increase in pollution; There are also challenges with high expectations and low tolerance. According to reports, last year, the province received over 120000 complaints from the public about catering fumes, foul odors, and noise disturbance. Among them, there are factors that contribute to the increasing demands of the people for the environment.
Shortcomings include both new challenges faced after development and persistent diseases that have not been eradicated.
Han Jun used the issues exposed in the warning film as an example. "Although these problems often occur in individual enterprises, they also reflect that there are still blind spots, misconceptions, and blind spots in some areas of ecological environment protection. At a deeper level, it indicates that some cadres still have blind spots, misconceptions, and blind spots in their thinking." He bluntly said, "If we relax a little, ecological environment problems will strongly rebound."
Proactively exposing shortcomings means declaring war on the chronic disease of malaria, further improving countermeasures, and cracking down on tactics. "With the determination of a strong warrior, we will not waver, let go, or let go, and make every effort to build an ecological province with beautiful mountains and rivers."
It is reported that around the construction of an ecologically strong province, Anhui will focus on six aspects of work in the future: first, deepen the battle against pollution prevention and control. The second is to accelerate the promotion of green and low-carbon transformation. The third is to systematically promote ecological protection and restoration. The fourth is to steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The fifth is to deepen the rectification of prominent ecological and environmental issues. Sixth, we will solidly promote the construction of the security system.
Top level design, top grid promotion, clear goals, and clear paths... To achieve the established goals and build an "ecological strong province", making the sky bluer, the ground greener, and the water clearer, the Jianghuai River and the earth more colorful, Anhui can be expected to wait.
