Expert interpretation of comprehensively strengthening the ecological environment protection of the Yellow River Basin to promote high-quality development of the whole basin

Recently, with the approval of the leading group for promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, four departments including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Plan for Ecological Environmental Protection in the Yellow River Basin" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan")
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The "Planning" is a timetable and roadmap for thoroughly implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech and instructions, and striving to improve the quality of the ecological environment in the Yellow River Basin in the new era.
Action guide
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1.
It is of great significance to strengthen the ecological environment protection of the Yellow River Basin under the new situation

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has proposed that protecting the Yellow River is a long-term plan related to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin is a major national strategy
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General Secretary Xi Jinping has always been very concerned about the ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin.
In recent years, the General Secretary has traveled all over the 9 provinces and regions in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and has repeatedly put forward clear requirements and important instructions for the ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin
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On October 22, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a symposium on in-depth promotion of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin in Jinan, and issued the call of "unremitting struggle for the Yellow River to benefit the Chinese nation forever" from a new strategic height
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The "Plan" is a special plan to implement the "1+N+X" requirements of the "Planning Outline for Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development in the Yellow River Basin", which plays an important role in promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin
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There is an urgent need to solve outstanding ecological and environmental problems and improve the quality of the ecological environment in the provinces of the Yellow River Basin
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Governing the Yellow River is a major event in governing the country and rejuvenating the country.
After generations of arduous exploration and unremitting efforts, great achievements have been made in the governance of the Yellow River and the economic and social development of the Yellow River Basin
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At the same time, the Yellow River Basin still faces prominent ecological and environmental problems.
The water quality of the watershed and the air quality of various provinces and regions are lower than the national average, especially the Fenwei Plain is seriously polluted; the degree of soil pollution in the basin and the environmental risks of tailings ponds are relatively high
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It is necessary to effectively solve the outstanding environmental problems of the basin and improve the quality of the ecological environment in the basin, and do a good job of "three overall plans", that is, to coordinate the comprehensive management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand, systematic management, source management, and overall planning of water resources, water environment and Water ecology, make overall plans for ecological environmental protection and green and low-carbon transformation of the Yellow River Basin, and comprehensively improve the level of ecological and environmental protection in the basin
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There is an urgent need to alleviate the contradiction of water resources and promote sustainable development
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With 2% of the country's water resources, the Yellow River undertakes the important tasks of people's livelihood and industrial and agricultural production in the provinces and regions along the Yellow River.
It is the lifeline of Northwest and North China
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At the same time, the Yellow River is extremely short of water resources.
The development and utilization rate of water resources in the basin is as high as 80%
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It is necessary to comprehensively implement the "four waters and four determinations", accelerate the formation of green production and life>
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There is an urgent need to improve the quality of ecosystems and build a national ecological security barrier
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The Yellow River is a natural ecological corridor connecting the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Loess Plateau, the North China Plain and the Bohai Sea.
It is an important ecological security barrier related to the survival and development of the Chinese nation
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At the same time, the ecosystem of the Yellow River Basin is fragile, and once damaged, it will be extremely difficult to restore
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It is necessary to build a national ecological security barrier as the main goal, build an ecological protection pattern in the Yellow River Basin, take measures to protect and restore important ecosystems according to local conditions, strengthen ecological protection supervision, and improve the quality and stability of ecosystems
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There is an urgent need to accelerate the transformation of development methods and promote high-quality development
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The Yellow River Basin is an important economic zone in China, with coal reserves accounting for more than half of the country, and strong strength in chemicals, raw materials and basic industries
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In 2020, the output of raw coal, coke, raw salt, caustic soda, soda ash, agricultural fertilizer, and crude steel industrial products in the 9 provinces and regions along the Yellow River will account for 80%, 58%, 44%, 52%, 52%, 51% and 26% of the national output respectively.

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At the same time, the industrial structure of the provinces and regions along the Yellow River is generally heavy, and in some areas, "one coal dominates" and "one oil dominates", and new development momentum is insufficient
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It is necessary to promote green and low-carbon transformation as an important starting point, implement regional management and control of the ecological environment, accelerate the optimization of industrial layout and structural adjustment, promote the comprehensive green transformation of the industry, and promote the high-quality development of the river basin
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2.
"Three Persistence" is the Main Line of Ecological Environmental Protection in the Yellow River Basin

The "Plan" is rich in content, prominent in key points, and has strong systematicness, integrity and operability.
It is an important basis for guiding the formulation and implementation of relevant planning schemes, policy measures and construction projects in the provinces and regions along the Yellow River
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The first is to insist that the city is determined by water, the land is determined by water, people are determined by water, and production is determined by water
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The biggest contradiction in the Yellow River Basin is the shortage of water resources
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In the Yellow River Basin, "how many soups and how many buns are there", water resources should be taken as the biggest rigid constraint, and unreasonable demand for water should be resolutely suppressed
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The "Plan" adheres to the "four waters and four determinations", formulates the requirements for the environmental carrying capacity of water resources according to local conditions, promotes the economic and social development of the river basin, the urban space, and the industrial structure layout to adapt to the carrying capacity of the resources and the environment, and comprehensively forms a green production and life>
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The second is to insist on solving the outstanding ecological and environmental problems of the provinces in the basin
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The ecological environment problems in the Yellow River Basin are prominent, and the environmental pollution is deeply accumulated
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The "Plan" adheres to the problem orientation.
Through in-depth fighting of pollution prevention and control, it focuses on outstanding ecological and environmental problems in the Yellow River Basin, and promotes coordinated pollution control in industry, agriculture, urban and rural life, and mining areas.
Repair, and continue to promote the improvement of the ecological environment quality of the Yellow River Basin
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The third is to insist on using a systematic solution to solve the problem of regional coordination
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The biggest problem in the Yellow River Basin is ecological fragility
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The Yellow River ecosystem is an organic whole, and the system concept should be integrated into the whole process of ecological protection and high-quality development
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The "Plan" adheres to the organic whole of the mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand systems, coordinates the upstream and downstream, left and right banks, and main and tributaries of the river basin, fully considers the differences between the upper, middle and lower reaches, and adapts measures to local conditions.
protection
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3.
Comprehensively promote the four major categories of key tasks

The "Planning" anchors the requirements of the goal of a happy Yellow River, and proposes that through two phases of efforts in 2030 and 2035, by the middle of this century, the ecological security pattern of the Yellow River Basin will be fully formed, and the scene of vigor and harmony between people and water will be reproduced, and the Yellow River will be happy.
The goal is fully realized, and it will play an important supporting role in building China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful
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Around the realization of the 2030 goals, the "Plan" proposes seven key tasks in four major categories
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The first is the task of promoting the upgrading of green industries
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The "Plan" proposes to optimize the spatial layout and promote the green development of the industry, requires scientific formulation of water resources and environmental bearing requirements, and promotes the zoning control of the ecological environment according to local conditions; promotes the green transformation and upgrading of industries, carries out clean production transformation in key industries, and promotes the green development of enterprise parks; actively Promote the green exploration and exploitation of mineral resources, and promote the comprehensive utilization of mineral resources
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The above tasks include source control, industrial adjustment, green transformation and upgrading, etc.
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The second is to focus on the task of solving outstanding ecological and environmental problems
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In terms of water environment, the "Plan" proposes to promote the overall planning of the three waters, manage and restore the water ecological environment, and requires the implementation of dual control of total water consumption and intensity of water resources, scientific allocation of water resources in the whole basin, implementation of in-depth water conservation and water control, and promotion of sewage recycling.
Utilize; comprehensively deepen industrial, urban, agricultural and rural pollution control, strengthen the investigation and remediation of sewage outfalls into rivers; maintain important water ecosystems in main and tributaries, seal and protect the water ecosystems in river source areas, and restore damaged river and lake water ecosystems; Actions for poor compliance, comprehensive rectification of black and odorous water bodies in urban and rural areas
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In terms of atmospheric environment, the "Plan" proposes to strengthen regional cooperation, strengthen the joint prevention and control of air pollution transmission channels in urban areas, and promote the comprehensive compliance of urban air quality by classification; strengthen the comprehensive management of volatile organic compounds in key industries, steadily and steadily promote the transformation of clean heating in winter, and strengthen Mobile source emission control; promote carbon dioxide emissions to peak in an orderly manner, achieve synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, control greenhouse gas emissions, and implement climate change adaptation actions
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In terms of soil environment, the "Plan" proposes to strengthen control and restoration, prevent and control soil and groundwater pollution, carry out soil and groundwater pollution investigation, assessment and monitoring, strengthen corporate soil environmental supervision, strengthen collaborative prevention and control of soil and groundwater pollution, and effectively implement the classification management system for cultivated land
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The above tasks are not only the focus of ecological environmental protection in the Yellow River Basin, but also an important support for the continuous improvement of the national ecological environment
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The third is the task of effectively ensuring the safety of the ecological environment
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In terms of maintaining the stability of the ecosystem, the "Plan" proposes to adhere to the priority of ecology and implement system protection and restoration, and requires the establishment of a "one belt, five regions and multiple points" ecological protection pattern and a natural reserve system; Water supply area, build a green ecological corridor of the Yellow River, strengthen the protection and restoration of wetlands in the Yellow River delta, and strengthen biodiversity protection; promote sand and desertification control in key areas, innovate the soil erosion control model in the Loess Plateau, and orderly promote comprehensive ecological control in downstream floodplains ; Deepen the "Green Shield" nature reserve and strengthen supervision, and establish a supervision and law enforcement mechanism for ecological damage
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In terms of preventing environmental risks, the "Plan" proposes to strengthen source control and effectively prevent major environmental risks.
It requires strengthening the prevention and control of environmental risks in industrial enterprises and parks, strengthening the prevention and control of environmental pollution in tailings ponds, and strengthening environmental supervision of toxic and hazardous substances; Risk investigation, strengthen the monitoring and early warning of ecological and environmental risks in the river basin, improve the emergency response capability of the river basin environment, and strengthen the risk management and control of secondary environmental events; promote the construction of "waste-free cities" in an orderly manner, improve the level of solid waste resource utilization, and make up for hazardous waste and medical treatment.
Waste collection and disposal shortcomings
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The above tasks, from the perspective of building a security pattern and strictly controlling environmental risks, ensure the ecological security of the Yellow River Basin
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Fourth, the task of continuously improving modern environmental governance capabilities
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The "Plan" proposes to build a governance system and improve the level of governance.
It requires improving laws, regulations and standards, improving the comprehensive law enforcement system for the ecological environment, and promoting the linkage of law enforcement and justice in the river basin; innovating the environmental governance model, promoting the establishment of a mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products, and actively promoting green financial innovation; Deepen the reform of “delegating power, delegating power, delegating power, delegating power and serving” in the field of ecological environment, improving the assessment and accountability system, fully implementing the pollutant discharge permit system, improving the environmental governance credit system, and establishing a regional coordinated protection mechanism; Monitor regulatory capacity
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The above tasks and the comprehensive construction of a modern environmental governance system are important guarantees for achieving high-level protection of the ecological environment in the Yellow River Basin
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Fourth, take multiple measures to ensure the implementation of tasks

The "14th Five-Year Plan" is a critical period for promoting the ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin.
In order to ensure that various tasks are implemented and effective, the "Planning" proposes to adhere to the centralized and unified leadership of the party, perform the main responsibility, improve the work promotion mechanism, and form a joint participation of the whole society in the Yellow River.
The pattern of large-scale protection and governance of the ecological environment of the river basin
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The first is to strengthen organizational leadership, especially to implement the working mechanism of central coordination, provincial overall responsibility, and city and county implementation, and gradually establish and improve the inter-provincial and urban ecological and environmental protection intergovernmental joint meeting system and scheduling coordination and major project promotion mechanism
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The second is to strengthen the implementation of responsibilities.
While introducing plans and measures, refining goals and tasks, and implementing them one by one, it is necessary to strengthen the implementation guidance, scheduling and evaluation of the "Plan"
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The third is to promote diversified investment.
The goals, tasks, measures and major projects determined in the "Plan" should be incorporated into the relevant planning and investment plans of various regions, and the "Plan" project funds should be more inclined to ensure that the elements are guaranteed, and the investment and financing mechanism should be innovated.
The guiding role of government investment is to fully mobilize financial institutions, market players and social forces to actively participate in the ecological protection and governance of the Yellow River
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The fourth is to strengthen publicity and guidance, guide social organizations and the public to participate in environmental governance, and give full play to the functions of ecological civilization publicity, education and social services
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Authors: Wang Jinnan (Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Dean of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment), Zhao Yue (Deputy Director of the Institute of Water Ecological Environment Planning, Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment)