The 4th issue of Qiushi magazine in 2022 published the article "Shouldering the Historical Mission of Building a Beautiful China in the New Era" signed by Sun Jinlong, Secretary of the Party Group of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the full text was shared as follows:
Shoulder the new era to build a beautiful China
Historical mission
Sun Jinlong, Secretary of the Party Group of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment
At the important historical moment of the 100th anniversary of the founding of our party and at the important historical juncture of marching toward the goal of the second centenary struggle, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was successfully convened, and the adoption of the "Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party's Centennial Struggle" (hereinafter referred to as the "Resolution") is just in time and of great significance. The "Resolution" emphasizes that the construction of ecological civilization is a fundamental plan related to the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, and it is necessary to adhere to the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, and coordinate to promote the prosperity of the people, the strength of the country and the beauty of China. We must deeply understand the rich connotation, spiritual essence and practical requirements of the Resolution, draw wisdom and strength from the party's struggle process, fully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, vigorously strengthen ecological environmental protection, and earnestly shoulder the historical mission of building a beautiful China in the new era.
First, ecological environmental protection is an important chapter in the party's century-old glorious history
The struggle of the party and the people over the past hundred years has written the most magnificent epic in the history of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. The "Resolution" comprehensively summarizes the great achievements created by the party leading the people in the past one hundred years, summarizes the great achievements made by the party in leading the people in the new era from 13 aspects and in different fields, focuses on summarizing the original ideas, transformative practices, breakthrough progress and landmark achievements since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Party, and reveals the great significance of the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Ecological environmental protection is an important chapter in the party's century-old glorious history. Looking back at history, our party has always adhered to the original mission, continuously deepened its understanding of the basic laws of man and nature, led the people to make unremitting explorations in correctly handling the relationship between population and resources, economic development and environmental protection, and promoted the cause of ecological environmental protection from scratch, continuous growth, and brilliant achievements.
In the 1950s, Comrade Mao Zedong instructed that "we must repair the Huai River", and New China opened the prelude to the control of the Huai River, and also began the work of eradicating the floods of major rivers and rivers, and the project of harnessing the Haihe River, the flood diversion project of the Jingjiang River, the guanting reservoir project and the yellow river control project were fully launched; in the same period, Comrade Mao Zedong issued a great call to "green the motherland". In 1956, the State Council approved the establishment of the first nature reserve on the mainland, the Dinghushan Nature Reserve. In 1972, when the mainland sent a delegation to attend the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Comrade Zhou Enlai, after listening to the report on the situation of the meeting, instructed that environmental issues should no longer be left unchecked and should be put on the agenda of the state. In August 1973, the first National Environmental Protection Conference was held, which determined the 32-character environmental protection work policy of "comprehensive planning, rational layout, comprehensive utilization, turning harm into profit, relying on the masses, everyone's hands, protecting the environment, and benefiting the people".
From the late 1970s to the 1980s, environmental protection was written into the Constitution, and the First Single Law on Ecological and Environmental Protection in New China, the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China (trial implementation), was promulgated and implemented. The Second National Conference on Environmental Protection in 1983 established environmental protection as a basic national policy. In 1989, the Third National Environmental Protection Conference proposed "eight management systems" such as environmental impact assessment. In the 1990s, the mainland established sustainable development as a national strategy. Implement the cross-century green project plan, declare war on environmental pollution and ecological damage, start major pollution control projects such as the Three Rivers (Huaihe, Haihe, Liaohe), and three lakes (Dianchi, Taihu, and Chaohu), and continue to promote major ecological protection projects such as the "Three Norths" shelter forest system and natural forest protection. In the new century, the Party Central Committee has put forward the scientific concept of development, built a resource-saving and environment-friendly society, incorporated the total amount of major pollutant emissions and the proportion of energy consumption per unit of GDP into the binding indicators of economic and social development, and the cause of ecological environmental protection has been continuously innovated in scientific development.
Entering the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has grasped the construction of ecological civilization with unprecedented strength and placed the construction of ecological civilization in an important position in the overall situation of the work of the party and the country. In the overall layout of the "five-in-one", the construction of ecological civilization is one of them; in the basic strategy of adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, adhering to the harmonious coexistence between man and nature is one of them; in the new development concept, green is one of them; in the three major battles, pollution prevention and control is one of the battles; and in the goal of building a socialist modern power by the middle of this century, Beautiful China is one of them. Under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee and under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, the consciousness and initiative of the whole party and the whole country to promote green development have been significantly enhanced, major steps have been taken in the construction of a beautiful China, and historical, turning and overall changes have taken place in the protection of the ecological environment on the mainland. It is mainly reflected in the "three unprecedented".
The measures are unprecedented. From the ideological, legal, system, organization, work style of the comprehensive force, all-round, all-regional, the whole process to strengthen the ecological environmental protection, promote the delineation of ecological protection red line, environmental quality bottom line, resource utilization line, to carry out a series of fundamental, pioneering and long-term work. Organize the implementation of the main functional area strategy, establish and improve the property rights system of natural resource assets, the system of land and space development and protection, the evaluation and assessment system of the goal of ecological civilization construction and the system of accountability, the ecological compensation system, the river and lake chief system, the forest chief system, the environmental protection "party and government share the responsibility" and "one post double responsibility" and other systems, and the institutional system of the "four beams and eight pillars" nature of ecological civilization has basically taken shape. More than 30 laws related to ecological environment and resource protection have been formulated and revised, and the ecological environment legal system has become increasingly perfect, and the environmental protection law revised in 2014 has been called the "strictest environmental protection law in history".
The intensity is unprecedented. Take green development as an important part of the new development concept, and promote the formation of a spatial pattern, industrial structure, production mode and way of life that conserves resources and protects the environment. Establish a strict control system, realize an ecological protection red line to control important ecological spaces, and ensure that ecological functions are not reduced, areas are not reduced, and nature is not changed. Optimize the pattern of land space development and protection, establish a natural protected area system with national parks as the main body, continue to carry out large-scale land greening actions, strengthen the ecological protection and systematic governance of major rivers and important lakes, wetlands and coastal zones, increase the protection and restoration of ecosystems, and strengthen biodiversity conservation. Take the quality of the ecological environment can only be better and cannot be deteriorated as the bottom line, strive to win the battle against pollution, deeply implement the three major action plans for the prevention and control of air, water and soil pollution, fight a good battle to defend blue sky, clear water and pure land, carry out the improvement of the rural living environment, and completely ban the import of "foreign garbage". Carry out the central ecological environmental protection supervision, resolutely investigate and deal with a number of major typical cases of damage to the ecological environment, and solve a number of outstanding environmental problems that the people have strongly complained about. Actively participate in global environmental and climate governance, make a solemn commitment to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, successfully hold the first phase of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and promote the establishment of the "Belt and Road" international alliance for green development, reflecting the responsibility of responsible major countries.
The results have been unprecedented. The phased goals and tasks of the pollution prevention and control battle have been successfully completed, the quality of the ecological environment has been significantly improved, and the blue sky and white clouds and clear water green banks around the people have increased significantly. Between 2016 and 2020, the proportion of days with good air quality in cities at the mainland level and above increased by 5.8 percentage points to 87%,; the proportion of excellent sections of surface water quality increased by 17.4 percentage points to 83.4 percent; and the safe utilization rate of polluted arable land and the safe utilization rate of polluted plots in China both exceeded 90%. In 2020, the proportion of coal consumption in the mainland will decrease to 56.8%, the proportion of clean energy in energy consumption will reach 24.3%, and the installed capacity of photovoltaic and wind energy and power generation will rank first in the world。 By the end of 2020, carbon dioxide emissions per unit of mainland GDP will be reduced by about 48.4% compared with 2005, exceeding the target of 40%-45%. The forest coverage rate and forest stock have maintained "double growth" for 30 consecutive years, with the area of natural protected areas accounting for 18% of the country's land area, and the area of ecological protection redlines initially delineated accounts for more than 25% of the land area. The 2021 Yunnan elephant journey north and back fully demonstrates the achievements of biodiversity conservation in the mainland. The achievements of the mainland's ecological environmental protection have been widely recognized by the international community, and it has become an important participant, contributor and leader in the construction of global ecological civilization. Saihanba Forest Farm has successfully turned the desert sandy land into a vibrant mangy forest farm, and Zhejiang has vigorously implemented the "Thousand Villages Demonstration, Ten Thousand Villages Rectification" project to build beautiful villages, all of which have won the United Nations "Champions of the Earth Award".
Second, the historical experience and enlightenment of the Party's leadership over ecological environmental protection work
The "Resolution" comprehensively summarizes and summarizes the historical experience of the party's struggle over the past century, and profoundly explains the fundamental reasons why the party and the people were able to succeed in the past and how the party and the people can continue to succeed in the future. These valuable historical experiences have been fully reflected in the exploration process of the party's leadership over ecological environmental protection work, providing important enlightenment for promoting the construction of a beautiful China in the new era.
Always adhere to the leadership of the party and be a loyal practitioner of the "two safeguards". The Communist Party of China is the core force leading our cause. From "two civilizations" to "trinity", "four-in-one", and then to today's "five-in-one", the construction of ecological civilization has continued to develop and progress under the leadership of the party. Especially since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has vigorously promoted theoretical, practical and institutional innovations in ecological civilization, and made a series of major strategic deployments. Wherever General Secretary Xi Jinping goes, he talks about the concerns and instructions for the construction of ecological civilization and ecological environmental protection, repeatedly emphasizes that green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains, adheres to ecological priority and green development, builds a modernization in which man and nature coexist in harmony, and builds a beautiful China with blue sky, green earth and clear water. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the historic achievements in the construction of ecological civilization on the mainland have fundamentally depended on the pilot helm of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, and the truth power of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. We must stand at the height of supporting the "two establishments" and practicing the "two safeguards", enhance the sense of responsibility and mission of doing a good job in ecological environmental protection, bear in mind the "great power of the country", and implement the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee on the construction of ecological civilization and ecological environmental protection to the letter.
Always adhere to the supremacy of the people, and be an unremitting strivers to meet the needs of the people's beautiful ecological environment. From the implementation of the mainland's first pollution control project after the water pollution incident in the Guanting Reservoir in Beijing in 1972, to the comprehensive prevention and control of water pollution in the "Three Rivers" and "Three Lakes" in the 1990s, to the vigorous promotion of the reduction of the total amount of major pollutants in the early 21st century, the mainland's pollution prevention and control efforts continued to increase, and efforts were made to create a good production and living environment for the people. In particular, since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have resolutely declared war on pollution, comprehensively promoted the defense of blue sky, clear water and pure land, solved a large number of outstanding environmental problems related to people's livelihood, continuously enhanced the people's sense of happiness and security in the ecological environment, and planted a green background and quality color for building a well-off society in an all-round way. At present, the inflection point of the mainland's ecological environment from quantitative change to qualitative change has not yet arrived, and there is still a big gap between the ecological environment and the people's expectations for a better life and the goal of building a beautiful China. We must bear in mind that adhering to a good ecological environment is the most inclusive people's livelihood and well-being, deeply fight the battle against pollution, continue to improve the quality of the ecological environment, provide more high-quality ecological products, and continuously meet the growing needs of the people for a beautiful ecological environment.
Always adhere to theoretical innovation, and be a firm believer in Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. From Comrade Mao Zedong's demand for protecting the ecological environment and improving the efficiency of resource use, to Comrade Deng Xiaoping's emphasis on taking the road of coordinated development between man and nature, from Comrade Jiang Zemin's proposal that the strategy of sustainable development must be implemented in the course of modernization, to Comrade Hu Jintao's demand for the implementation of the scientific outlook on development, our party's understanding and concept of ecological environmental protection have been continuously deepened. Especially since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has insisted on combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality and with China's excellent traditional culture, put forward a series of original new ideas, new concepts and new measures, profoundly answered major theoretical and practical questions such as why to build ecological civilization, what kind of ecological civilization to build, how to build ecological civilization, etc., systematically formed Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, and raised our party's understanding of the law of ecological civilization construction to a new height. Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization is an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, a scientific guide to promote the continuous development of the construction of ecological civilization in the new era, and a powerful ideological weapon that has been tested by practice and is full of practical power. We must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, make efforts to integrate learning and application, and unify knowledge and faith, consciously be a firm believer in Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, and fully grasp, deeply understand and carry forward the practice of ecological civilization construction in the new era.
Always adhere to the Chinese road, be a man and nature harmonious coexistence and modernization of the committed builders. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the mainland's construction of socialist modernization has many important characteristics, one of which is that the mainland modernization is the modernization of man and nature coexisting in harmony, and pays attention to promoting the construction of material civilization and the construction of ecological civilization at the same time. If the mainland's more than 1.4 billion people want to enter the modern society as a whole, if we continue the old road of high energy consumption and high emissions in developed countries in the past, the pressure on resources and the environment is unbearable, and we must turn to the green and low-carbon development track, which is the only way for the mainland to modernize. We must adhere to the concept that green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains, protect the ecological environment like protecting the eyes, treat the ecological environment like life, more consciously promote green development, circular development, and low-carbon development, and adhere to the civilized development path of production development, rich life, and good ecology.
Always adhere to the world in mind, to be an active promoter of global ecological environment governance. Building a green home is the common dream of mankind, and in the face of ecological and environmental challenges, mankind is a community of common destiny with one prosperity and one loss. At present, the mainland has ratified and implemented more than 30 multilateral conventions or protocols related to the ecological environment, and its leading role in addressing global ecological and environmental challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss has become increasingly prominent, and its voice and influence in the global environmental governance system have been continuously improved. We must uphold the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, adhere to multilateralism, deeply participate in global ecological and environmental governance, earnestly fulfill the obligations of international environmental conventions, vigorously promote the construction of the green "Belt and Road", and provide Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions for global sustainable development, and make Chinese contributions.
Always adhere to pioneering and innovating, and be a doer of deepening the reform of the ecological civilization system. From the 32-character environmental protection work policy and the eight environmental management systems, to the ecological environment indicators becoming binding indicators for economic and social development, to the establishment of an ecological civilization system; from the promulgation and trial implementation of the Environmental Protection Law in 1979, to the basic formation of a legal and regulatory system covering the main environmental elements such as atmosphere, water, ocean, soil, natural ecology, and nuclear safety; from the establishment of the Environmental Protection Bureau in the Ministry of Urban and Rural Construction and Environmental Protection in 1984 to the establishment of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in 2018, The legal system and institutional mechanism for the protection of the ecological environment in the mainland have been continuously improved, providing the strictest system and the strictest legal guarantee for the protection of the ecological environment. We must persist in deepening the reform of the ecological civilization system, continue to improve the system of ecological and environmental laws and regulations, improve the ecological civilization system of strict prevention at the source, strict management of the process, and severe punishment of the consequences, and continuously improve the modernization level of the ecological environment governance system and governance capabilities.
Third, contribute to the construction of a beautiful China in which man and nature coexist in harmony
The Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to basically realize socialist modernization by 2035, fundamentally improve the ecological environment, and basically achieve the goal of a beautiful China; by the middle of this century, the mainland will be built into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful socialist modern power. The Sixth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee put forward clear requirements for the Communist Party of China in the new era, stressing that the whole party should strive to achieve the set goals with the persistence of firmly grasping qingshan and not relaxing. The Central Economic Work Conference made clear arrangements for the overall requirements, policy orientations and key tasks of economic work in 2022, and put forward specific requirements for correctly understanding and grasping carbon peak carbon neutrality. We must adhere to the steady progress, based on the new stage of development, complete, accurate and comprehensive implementation of the new development concept, service and integration into the new development pattern, with a high level of protection to promote high-quality development, create a high-quality life, and contribute to the construction of a beautiful China in which man and nature coexist in harmony.
Continuously improve the quality of the ecological environment. Comprehensively implement the "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Deeply Fighting the Battle against Pollution", take the improvement of the quality of the ecological environment as the core, adhere to the precise control of pollution, scientific pollution control, and management of pollution according to law, maintain the intensity, extend the depth, broaden the breadth, fight the battle for the defense of blue sky, clear water, and pure land with higher standards, continue to fight the battle to eliminate heavy pollution weather, the battle to control urban black and odorous water bodies, and the battle against agricultural and rural pollution, and concentrate on overcoming the outstanding ecological and environmental problems around the people. Promote pollution prevention and control to achieve new breakthroughs in key areas, key areas, and key indicators.
Vigorously promote green and low-carbon development. In accordance with the deployment of the Central Economic Work Conference, consciously integrate ecological environmental protection work into the overall situation of economic and social development, accurately grasp the overall situation of the environmental economy, more actively innovate the ways, means and ways of ecological environmental protection to participate in macroeconomic governance, promote the establishment and improvement of a green and low-carbon circular development economic system, and promote the formation of a simple, moderate, green and low-carbon lifestyle. Earnestly implement the work deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, build and improve the national carbon emissions trading market, expand the coverage in an orderly manner, and enrich the trading varieties and trading methods。 Focus on the implementation of major national strategies such as the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and create a green development highland. Strengthen the control of ecological environment zoning, and strengthen the application of the results of "three lines and one single" in policy formulation, environmental access, park management, law enforcement supervision, etc.
Continuously strengthen the supervision of ecological protection and restoration. Adhere to the integrated protection and systematic management of grass and sand in landscapes, forests, lakes, and lakes, implement major projects for biodiversity conservation, improve the system of natural protected areas with national parks as the mainstay, and build a biodiversity conservation network. Strengthen the supervision of nature reserves and ecological protection redlines, increase the supervision and investigation of ecological damage problems in accordance with the law, and continue to promote the special action of strengthening supervision of "Green Shield" nature reserves. The second phase of the COP15 meeting will be held on the mainland in 2022. It is necessary to give full play to the advantages of the host country and the presidency, make every effort to do a good job in the preparation of the conference, and promote the formulation of an ambitious and pragmatic "post-2020 global biodiversity framework".
Strict prevention and control of ecological and environmental risks. Firmly establish bottom-line thinking, pay close attention to high-risk areas such as "one waste, one reservoir and one product" (hazardous waste, tailings reservoir, chemicals), and establish and improve the assessment and early warning and emergency disposal system for key risk sources. There are 71 nuclear power units in the mainland, of which 53 are in operation and 18 are under construction. Implement the strictest safety standards and the strictest supervision, continue to strengthen the safety supervision of nuclear power plants, research reactors, and the utilization of nuclear technology under construction and operation, strengthen the capacity building of nuclear safety supervision, and ensure that nuclear and radiation safety is foolproof. Accurately and effectively do a good job in normalizing environmental protection work related to epidemic prevention and control, effectively achieve 100% full coverage of environmental supervision and services of medical institutions, and 100% implementation of timely and effective collection, transfer, treatment and disposal of medical waste and medical sewage.
Comprehensively improve the modernization level of ecological environment governance. Improve laws and regulations and applicable rules for ecological environmental protection, and severely punish and severely punish ecological and environmental violations and crimes in accordance with law. Improve ecological and environmental economic policies, improve the ecological environment capital investment mechanism, comprehensively use financial, taxation, price and other policies to guide and encourage more social capital to invest in the ecological environment. Comprehensively implement the "one-certificate" management of pollutant discharge permits, and establish a supervision and law enforcement system and self-monitoring and supervision mechanism for polluting units based on pollutant discharge permits. Improve the central ecological environmental protection supervision system, improve the ecological environmental protection supervision system at the central and provincial levels, deepen routine supervision, and strengthen special inspections. Vigorously carry forward the great spirit of party building, continue the party's fine traditions and work style, pay attention to the selection and promotion of cadres who dare to be responsible, dare to take responsibility, are good at acting, and have outstanding achievements, and continue to strengthen the construction of the iron army of ecological environmental protection.
Source: Qiushi 2022/04, Qiushi Network