Firmly Defend the Ecological Protection Red Line (Green Home) Ecological | National | Red Line

Tibetan antelope in Xizang Qiangtang National Nature Reserve.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Fan

Guanting Reservoir National Wetland Park in Huailai County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province.

Photo by Sun Huijun

In Dayao Mountains National Nature Reserve of Guangxi, forest rangers patrol the mountain and observe at the silver cedar protection station.

Gao Rujin Photography

In Huailai County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, the Guanting Reservoir is shimmering with water and birds fluttering in the air.

Guarding the Guanting Reservoir, Huailai strictly implements the ecological protection red line system. "The ecological protection red line of Guanting Reservoir must not be touched in order to build a functional area for water conservation in the capital and an ecological environment support zone," said the relevant person in charge of Huailai County.

On the vast geographical map of our country, the national ecological protection red line has been delineated, and each red line protects areas with important ecological functions and fragile ecology. As an important institutional innovation in China's ecological and environmental protection, the ecological protection red line system provides a new model for ecological and environmental protection, laying the foundation for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation and contributing to the Chinese plan for global ecological protection.

The ecological protection red line covers 95% of rare and endangered species and their habitats

In Huailai County, an ecological protection red line of over 600 square kilometers has been established, accounting for over 30% of the county's total area. The important local ecosystems have been effectively protected.

Not only Huailai, but also the ecological protection red lines established throughout the country provide the strictest protection for important natural ecosystems. Since 2017, the former Ministry of Environmental Protection and the National Development and Reform Commission have organized the national ecological protection red line delineation work. After the institutional reform of the State Council, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment guided various regions to carry out the delineation of ecological protection red lines.

"The national ecological protection red line has been delineated and released." At a routine press conference recently held by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Wang Zhibin, Director of the Natural Ecological Protection Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced that the land area covered by the land ecological protection red line is not less than 3 million square kilometers, and the marine ecological protection red line is not less than 150000 square kilometers. The results have been included in the National Land Space Planning Outline.

Ecological protection red lines are mainly distributed in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, Tianshan Mountains, the Inner Mongolian Plateau, Great and Small Xing'an Mountains, Qinling Mountains, the Nanling Mountain Mountains, as well as the Yellow River basin, Yangtze River basin, coastal zone and other important ecological security barriers and areas, covering forests, grasslands, deserts, wetlands, mangroves and other important ecosystems, covering 95% of rare and endangered species and their habitats, and playing an important role in maintaining national ecological security.

Why do we need to set ecological protection red lines? Wang Zhibin explained that China has established a nature reserve system with a large coverage area and diverse types. The ecological protection red line covers various levels and types of nature reserves, and also includes important ecological function areas and sensitive and fragile ecological environment areas in the protection scope, while also taking into account important ecological corridors. The ecological protection red line pays more attention to optimizing the development and protection pattern of national land and maintaining national and regional ecological security, implementing control through national land spatial planning, and implementing a positive list for human activity access. Nature reserves are the core ecological space, with a greater emphasis on rarity; The ecological protection red line is a key ecological space that emphasizes safety more.

It is reported that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will continue to strengthen the unified supervision of ecological protection and restoration in two important areas, namely natural reserves and ecological protection red lines. Through monitoring and evaluation, and strengthening the investigation and punishment of ecological damage issues, the two will promote the synergistic role of the two in ensuring the diversity, sustainability, and stability of the ecosystem, so as to better maintain biodiversity and ensure national and regional ecological security.

Strengthening unified supervision in ecological protection and restoration

If the red line is drawn well, it is even more important to guard it well.

At present, 19 provinces in China have established provincial-level ecological protection red line supervision platforms or have regulatory capabilities. Some provinces have carried out encrypted remote sensing monitoring of human activities on ecological protection red lines, and have enabled mobile verification systems and mobile supervision mobile apps. Various regions are continuously improving and refining regulatory supporting policies and standards. Guizhou, Zhejiang and other regions have issued detailed regulations on ecological protection red line control, and Shandong has introduced ecological protection red line ecological environment supervision measures. At the same time, by making good use of the results of supervision and inspection, Sichuan has made the ecological protection red line a hard indicator in the assessment and acceptance of provincial-level ecological counties, implementing a one vote veto, and incorporating it into the effectiveness assessment of provincial-level pollution prevention and control battles and the assessment of ecological environment protection party and government shared responsibility goals, forcing the implementation of responsibilities

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources jointly promote the delineation and evaluation adjustment of the red line, strengthen unified supervision in ecological protection and restoration, and firmly uphold the ecological protection red line.

"We rely on the national ecological protection red line supervision platform, focus on key human activities, and transfer suspected problem clues extracted from remote sensing monitoring to relevant provincial ecological and environmental departments and river basin supervision and management bureaus for on-site verification. We hold consultations with local authorities to supervise the investigation and rectification of problems," said Zhou Haili, Director of the Ecological Protection Red Line Supervision Department of the Natural Ecological Protection Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

At present, the National Ecological Protection Red Line Supervision Platform has been put into operation. The platform comprehensively utilizes more than 30 domestic and foreign satellite resources, focuses on ecological protection red line ecological environment supervision, and has discovered more than 30000 human activity patterns, providing more than 2000 clues to ecological damage issues for major tasks such as central ecological and environmental inspection. It has basically achieved full coverage of important ecological spaces such as nature reserves and ecological protection red lines.

"In the process of work, we found that there are still some problems within the ecological protection red line, such as occupying ecological space, damaging surface vegetation, and affecting ecological functions, such as illegal mining and sand mining and other mineral resource development and construction activities, incomplete road construction procedures, or construction exceeding the approval scope." Zhou Haili said that most of the problems have been rectified.

Zhou Haili stated that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will deepen the construction of the ecological protection supervision system, promote the implementation of the "Ecological Protection Red Line Ecological Environment Supervision Measures", continuously increase regulatory efforts, promote the evaluation of protection effectiveness, and safeguard the bottom line of national ecological security.

Increase support for areas with high coverage of ecological protection red lines

Shawan Village, Shangqing Town, Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province, is located on the banks of the Luxi River. Tall wild chestnut trees bloom with flowers and bees flock together.

The villager who was harvesting honey practiced growing roots and said, "I raised over 90 boxes of bees last year and collected over 2400 kilograms of honey. Our village is located in the Chinese Autumn Duck Nature Reserve, and the quality of honey is guaranteed, selling very well."

"The Chinese Autumn Salted Duck has become an ecological brand in the village, helping us increase our income and become prosperous." Wu Jianbo, Secretary of the Party Branch of Shawan Village, said that there are more than 400 households in Shawan Village, and now more than 130 households are beekeepers. Last year, they produced more than 50000 kilograms of honey and earned nearly 3 million yuan in income.

In 2007, the Chinese sand duck was first discovered on the banks of the Luxi River in Shawan Village, where over 1800 hectares of the Chinese sand duck nature reserve were established. Shawan Village has been designated as a protected area and has been included in the ecological protection red line. Strict protection measures have been implemented within the red line, prohibiting development, hunting, and logging, effectively protecting a good ecological environment.

The ecological protection red line not only protects the ecological environment, but also takes into account the interests of the people. The local government actively develops public welfare posts, strengthens subsidies for ecological public welfare forests within the red line, and ensures the production and living of villagers. In addition to beekeeping, Lian Changgen also engages in village public welfare affairs, earning over 3000 yuan per month. The family enjoys annual subsidies for public welfare forests. "In January of this year, the government issued last year's public welfare forest subsidy, and the elderly couple had over 3000 yuan." Lian Changgen said, "I used to worry that if we don't cut down trees, we won't have income. Now, if we don't cut down trees, our income has increased, and our lives are better.".

The ecological protection red line is not an uninhabited area, nor is it a "vacuum zone" for development. "Within the red line, limited human activities are allowed while ensuring no damage to ecological functions," said Wang Zhibin.

Wang Zhibin stated that on the one hand, it is necessary to ensure the production and living of indigenous residents and other legitimate rights and interests within the red line; On the other hand, under the premise of meeting relevant requirements, infrastructure construction, moderate visits and tourism activities are allowed within the red line, which better supports the sustainable development of the local economy and society while maintaining the national ecological security bottom line.

At present, China has established a relatively mature ecological protection compensation policy to compensate ecological product suppliers, covering key ecological functional areas and ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, and deserts, involving some ecological protection red lines. In September 2021, the General Office of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Ecological Protection Compensation System", further clarifying the introduction of ecological protection red lines as relevant transfer payment allocation factors, and increasing support for areas with high coverage of ecological protection red lines.