Full Text: Integrated Reform Plan for Promoting Ecological Progress (7)

18. Improving the system for the strictest possible management of water resources

To give priority to saving water, achieve harmony between development and water conservation, carry out systemic governance, and ensure that both government and market play their respective roles, the system for controlling total water usage will be improved to ensure water security. Efforts will be accelerated to formulate water allocation plans for major river basins, strengthen coordination between provincial-level governments, and improve the system of targets for control of total water usage at the provincial, municipal, and county levels. Effective mechanisms will be established to ensure economical and intensive water usage. More work will be done to adjust the way water resources are used and improve their allocation. The system for evaluating the impact of plans and construction projects on water resources will be improved. Efforts will be made to draw principally on pricing and taxation to gradually establish systems for controlling and instituting quota-based management of the volume of water used in irrigation, and for controlling and instituting quota-based management of the planned water usage of high-water-consuming industrial enterprises. In regions seriously affected by water scarcity, water quotas will be used as a threshold for market entry and the development of high-water-consuming projects will be strictly controlled. The protection and environmental restoration of areas producing aquatic products will be strengthened, their aqua culture will be controlled, and mechanisms will be established for the protection of aquatic plant and animal life. Regulation of water functional zones will be improved and systems for promoting the utilization of alternative water resources will be established.

19. Establishing a system for total energy consumption management and energy conservation

High priority will be given to energy conservation, the control of energy intensity will be strengthened, and the responsibility system and the system of incentives for meeting energy conservation targets will be improved. Improvements will be made to the energy statistics system. The management system for energy conservation by major energy-consuming organizations will be improved, and a mechanism for making voluntary pledges on energy conservation will be implemented on an explorative basis. The system of energy conservation standards will be improved to make timely updates to energy efficiency standards for energy-consuming products, limits on energy consumption for energy-intensive industries, and energy efficiency standards for buildings. A reasonable target will be established for total national energy consumption and broken down and assigned to the provincial-level and major energy-consuming organizations. The mechanism for promoting the use of energy-saving, low-carbon products, technologies, and equipment will be improved and lists of technologies will be issued at regular intervals. Supervision over energy conservation will be strengthened. Stronger support will be provided for the development of renewable energy sources, and subsidies for all fossil fuels will be phased out. A system for controlling total national carbon emissions and a mechanism for breaking down the responsibility for implementation will be gradually established. A mechanism for effectively increasing forest, grassland, wetland, and ocean carbon sinks will be set up. China's involvement in international cooperation on responding to climate change will be strengthened. (mo