Full Text: Integrated Reform Plan For Promoting Ecological Progress (11)

32. Improving the ecological compensation system

Explorations will be made into establishing a diversified compensation mechanism, transfer payments to major ecological functional zones will be increased step by step, and the incentive mechanism that links ecological protection performance with fund allocation will be improved. Measures will be drawn up for implementing a mechanism, principally for local compensation, and supported by additional funds from the central budget, by which local governments compensate each other for ecological or environmental damage and ecological conservation efforts. Local governments are encouraged to launch ecological compensation trials. Efforts will continue in carrying out the ecological compensation pilot initiative for the Xin' an River ecosystem. Help will be given to carry out trans-regional ecological compensation pilot initiatives in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei water source conservation area, in areas along the Jiuzhou River in Guangxi and Guangdong, and in areas along the Ting and Han rivers in Fujian and Guangdong. Explorations will be made into carrying out pilot ecological compensation initiatives in the Yangtze River basin- an environmentally sensitive region.

33. Improving the mechanism for utilizing ecological protection and restoration funds

Given the need for systematic governance of mountains, forests, farmland, rivers, and lakes, the measures for utilizing and managing relevant funds will be improved and existing policies and channels will be integrated. At the same time as efforts are being made to comprehensively improve the conditions of rivers throughout their entire drainage basins,more funds will be spent on the protection and restoration of national ecological-security shields, such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecological shield, the Loess Plateau-Sichuan-Yunnan ecological shield, the northeast China forest belt, the northern China desertification-prevention belt, and the southern China mountainous belt.

34. Creating a recuperation system for farmland, grasslands, rivers, and lakes

A recuperation plan will be formulated for farmland, grassland, rivers, and lakes, adjusting the use of farmland in areas where there is heavy pollution or where groundwater has been over-extracted. Basic agricultural activity from land sloped greater than 25 degrees, which is not suitable for, and the ecosystem of which is harmed by, cultivation, will be gradually excluded from classification as basic cropland. A permanent mechanism will be formulated to consolidate progress in returning farmland to forest and grassland and converting grazing land back into grassland. Pilot projects will be launched to return cultivated land to lakes and wetlands. Efforts will be made to move forward with the pilot initiative for the restoration of heavy-metal contaminated soil in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan region, as well as the pilot project to comprehensively deal with the over-extraction of groundwater in northern China.

VII. Establishing an Effective System for Environmental Governance

35. Improving the pollutant emissions permit system

A unified and fair business emissions permit system covering all fixed pollution sources will be established quickly nationwide. Emissions permits will be issued in accordance with the law. Emission of pollutants without a permit or in violation of a permit will be prohibited.

36. Establishing a mechanism for cooperation within a region in pollution prevention and control

Cooperative mechanisms for joint prevention and control of air pollution will be improved in major areas such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta. Regional cooperation mechanisms will be established in other areas, taking into consideration their geographical features, levels of pollution, distribution of urban space, and patterns of pollutant transmission. Trials for creating new administrative systems for environmental protection will be held in some areas, using unified plans, standards, environmental evaluations, monitoring, and law enforcement. Trials will also be launched for the establishment of environmental regulators and administrative law enforcement agencies for river basins. A variety of cooperative mechanisms for protecting the water environments of river basins as well as early-warning systems for risk control will be put in place with the participation of the relevant provincial-level water-related departments within each river basin. An integrated mechanism for pollution prevention and control both on land and at sea and a control system governing the total quantity of pollutants discharged into key marine areas will be set up. The mechanism for responding to environmental emergencies will be improved and China' s capacity for dealing with environmental emergencies of varying degrees of severity and involving different pollutants will be strengthened. (mo