Improve ecological compensation and protect lucid waters and lush mountains

Ecological protection compensation refers to the incentive institutional arrangement for units and individuals who carry out ecological protection in accordance with regulations or agreements through financial vertical compensation, inter-regional horizontal compensation, market mechanism compensation, etc. As an important part of the ecological civilization system, the ecological protection compensation system has the role of reasonably balancing the interests of ecological protectors and ecological beneficiaries, and is a key institutional guarantee for mobilizing the enthusiasm of all parties to participate in ecological protection. Recently, the "Regulations on Ecological Protection Compensation" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") was announced to the public and will come into force on June 1, marking a new era of the construction of the rule of law in China's ecological protection.

China's exploration of the ecological protection compensation system first began in 1999 with the implementation of the project of returning farmland to forests, and the corresponding practice formed a forest ecological protection compensation model. Subsequently, the types and objects of ecological protection compensation began to expand to various important ecological environment elements such as grasslands, water flows, wetlands, deserts and oceans, and simultaneously formed a cross-regional ecological protection compensation mechanism. The practice of ecological protection compensation continues to advance in depth, but in reality, it still faces problems such as limited compensation scope, vague compensation cycle, and poor institutional mechanism for benign interaction between ecological protectors and beneficiaries. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,practiceNear-flatThe Party Central Committee with comrades as the core regards the establishment and improvement of the ecological protection compensation mechanism as an important measure to build an ecological civilization, and makes overall plans and comprehensively promotes the reform of the ecological protection compensation system and related fields, and the ecological protection compensation work has entered a period of accelerated advancement. As China's first regulation specifically targeting ecological protection compensation, the promulgation of the Regulations marks a new chapter in the rule of law in China's ecological protection compensation, which will better play the role of the rule of law in consolidating the foundation, stabilizing expectations and benefiting the long-term.

From a strategic point of view, the promulgation of the Regulations is conducive to building a national ecological security barrier and promoting regional coordinated and sustainable development. The various forms and methods of ecological protection compensation stipulated in the "Regulations" will play a role in improving the stability and sustainability of the diversity of ecosystems such as mountains, grasslands, forests and lakes, and building a national ecological security barrier. The cross-regional, cross-basin and other forms of national fiscal transfer payments stipulated in the Regulations are essentially a process of reallocation of spatial resources through the circulation of funds from more developed areas to important ecological protection areas, providing more solid institutional support for promoting regional coordinated and sustainable development and building a beautiful China.

From the perspective of implementation, the promulgation of the "Regulations" is conducive to consolidating mature practical experience and stabilizing the expectations of all parties in ecological protection. After a long period of exploration, China has formed many mature experiences in the field of ecological protection compensation, and the practical experience and policy choices that have been verified in practice and effective have been fixed and strengthened at the level of administrative regulations, forming institutional norms, which will play a positive role in stabilizing the expectations of the government, enterprises and the people, and promoting the construction of ecological civilization to a new level. For example, since 2012, Xin'an River has piloted the country's first cross-provincial ecological protection compensation mechanism, and the two provinces of Anhui and Zhejiang have adhered to the concept of "cost sharing and benefit sharing", implemented their respective ecological protection compensation responsibilities and obligations through agreements, and promoted the benign interaction between river basin protection and development with ecological protection compensation as a link, so as to realize "one river of clean water co-protection, co-governance and sharing", and the beneficial experience accumulated in the pilot has played an important demonstration and leading role.

From a practical point of view, the promulgation of the Regulations is conducive to the integration of "ecological-economic-social" benefits of ecological protection compensation. Traditional ecological and environmental policies pay more attention to ecological benefits and relatively ignore economic and social benefits, which makes ecological protection compensation unsustainable. The timely release of the Regulations provides more precise and sustainable policy guidance for the practice of ecological protection compensation. For example, the Hubei "Moso bamboo carbon sequestration afforestation" model realized in the form of carbon market trading is established on the basis of exploring the tripartite collaborative ecological protection compensation mechanism of "government guidance, institutional participation, and farmers' benefit", aiming to form a virtuous circle of protecting the ecological environment, increasing people's income, and promoting green development. According to the "Regulations", market-oriented and diversified compensation methods such as counterpart cooperation, industrial transfer, and joint construction of parks can be adopted to promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth with institutional guarantees.

Ecological protection compensation is a complex system project, involving various subjects, departments and regions. The implementation of the "Regulations" will bring about a series of changes.

For the government, the first is to clarify its powers and responsibilities. The "Regulations" clarify the scope of application, compensation methods, funding channels and rights and responsibilities of ecological protection compensation, provide a legal basis for further promoting ecological protection compensation, and enhance the standardization and authority of relevant policies and measures. The second is to increase quality and efficiency. It can enable relevant departments to invest funds in a more planned and efficient manner, establish a stable investment mechanism for ecological compensation funds, and will also drive governments at all levels to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the use of horizontal and vertical compensation funds, and truly "use money on the cutting edge".

In terms of the market, the first is to expand potential. From the perspective of the source of compensation funds, market forces urgently need to be exploited and tapped. In the future, ecological protection compensation will usher in more development opportunities in diversified ways such as industrial support, talent support and preferential loans. The second is to promote promotion. According to the "Regulations", the link interaction between the central and local governments will be more frequent and rich in the future, and with the help of the joint conference consultation mechanism, the mature and effective practical experience can be strengthened in multiple ways such as demonstration cases, forming a "pilot-demonstration-promotion" mechanism.

For the public, the first is to gather the main body. According to the requirements of the "Regulations", by clarifying the method and scope of ecological protection compensation, enterprises, public welfare organizations and other social forces can be encouraged to participate in ecological protection, and a trading mechanism for multiple social entities can be established to stimulate the enthusiasm of all sectors of society to participate in ecological protection. The second is financial benefits. In the future, there will be more ecological protection areas that integrate ecological, economic and social benefits, drive the sustainable development of local industries with the value of innovative ecological products, and simultaneously enhance the sense of gain and happiness of ecological protection subjects. More importantly, the promulgation of the "Regulations" will further strengthen the publicity of ecological protection compensation policies and implementation effects, help enhance the public's understanding of the importance of ecological civilization construction and ecological protection compensation, and cultivate a good atmosphere of "everyone cares for the environment and everyone protects the ecology" in the whole society.

Luo Yinchen is a researcher at the Chongqing Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and the executive dean of the Green Development Research Institute of Chongqing University of Finance and Economics. Wen Chuanhao is a special researcher at the Yunnan Provincial Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and a professor at the School of Economics of Yunnan University