Promote the transformation of ecological wealth into economic wealth, and live up to the "green mountains" to obtain the "golden mountain"

In the long run, promoting the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt fundamentally depends on the high-quality ecological environment of the Yangtze River Basin. It is necessary to unswervingly persist in making concerted efforts to protect the whole country, not to carry out large-scale development, and to make greater efforts to protect it at a high level.

——On October 12, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in his speech at the symposium on further promoting the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt

The protection of the Yangtze River is a major national strategy formulated by the CPC Central Committee to promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the perspective of promoting the overall layout of the "five-in-one" and the "four comprehensive" strategic layout. General Secretary Xi Jinping has always been concerned about the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. On October 12, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the Fourth Symposium on the Development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province and delivered an important speech, in which he pointed out that "promoting the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt fundamentally depends on the high-quality ecological environment of the Yangtze River Basin". According to the requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping, we should start from the following three aspects to promote the transformation of ecological wealth into economic wealth in the Yangtze River Basin, so that lucid waters and lush mountains can truly become invaluable assets.

Focus on water quality improvement and realize the "new look of a river spring water"

Water is the source of life, the key to production, and the foundation of ecology, and water ecological civilization is an important component and basic guarantee of ecological civilization. The mountains and rivers are beautiful, and water is the key. To this end, it is necessary to focus on the improvement of water quality and further promote the "4+1" project of urban sewage and garbage treatment, chemical pollution control, agricultural non-point source pollution control, ship pollution control and tailings pond pollution control along the Yangtze River.

The first is to strengthen overall planning and coordination, and increase efforts to promote the quality and efficiency of sewage collection and treatment facilities. Carry out the "Clear River Action" in all rivers, reservoirs, ponds, weirs and other areas in the jurisdiction, quickly make up for the shortcomings of urban and rural sewage collection and treatment facilities, vigorously promote the full coverage of urban sewage pipe networks, and set up a special inspection team for water pollution prevention and control, so as to fully improve the quality and efficiency of sewage collection and treatment facilities.

The second is to build advantageous industries, carry out in-depth pollution control and emission reduction of industrial enterprises, and actively coordinate with relevant departments to improve the efficiency of pollution control and emission reduction of industrial enterprises, and carry out the installation of wastewater online monitoring facilities one by one for water-related enterprises in key industries and key areas of the whole basin in phases and batches, so as to achieve precise and scientific pollution control, and at the same time, it is necessary to introduce a negative list for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and actively organize forces to crack down on all kinds of environmental violations.

The third is to form a strong joint force and do a solid job in the comprehensive treatment of rural non-point source pollution. It is necessary to continuously strengthen the supervision of livestock and poultry breeding pollution sources, and regularly conduct special assessments on the resource utilization of livestock and poultry breeding wastes in relevant towns (streets) to achieve real-time supervision and dynamic management, and at the same time improve the utilization rate of pesticides and reduce the use of pesticides. Fourth, in terms of ship pollution, we should make overall plans, highlight key points, and coordinate progress. Grasp the key points of water, gas and solid pollution control of ships, concentrate on solving the problem of pollution control of ships of 400 gross tons and above, equip cargo ships of 400 gross tons and above with ship anti-pollution facilities and equipment, realize the full collection and treatment of sewage and garbage, and the compulsory tank washing and tank washing water of ships carrying bulk liquid dangerous goods. At the same time, measures such as improving the quality of marine fuel, strengthening the supervision of marine fuel and ship emissions, fully promoting the construction and transformation of shore power, and supporting the application of new energy and the development of new ship types.

Protecting biodiversity and recreating "finless porpoises blowing waves, sand birds enjoying fish"

At the United Nations Biodiversity Summit, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Biodiversity is related to human well-being and is an important foundation for human survival and development. "As one of the richest areas in China, the integrity and stability of the ecosystem in the Yangtze River Basin have an important impact on the ecological security of the whole country. At present, the mainland has shifted to a stage of high-quality development, with a long-term economic improvement and strong development resilience, but the ecological and environmental protection situation of the Yangtze River is still grim, and the protection of aquatic life in the Yangtze River still faces many challenges due to historical reasons such as overfishing, water pollution, and water conservancy project construction.

In this regard, the first is to strengthen the top-level design, focus on the new situation and new needs of biodiversity conservation, systematically plan and make overall arrangements, and strive to solve the "bottleneck" problem in the conservation of biodiversity in the mainland, and effectively deal with the key and difficult problems of biodiversity. For example, we have strengthened the investigation of aquatic life in the Yangtze River and the protection of rare species, and implemented rescue protection actions for Chinese sturgeon, Yangtze sturgeon, Yangtze finless porpoise, and rare and endangered endemic aquatic organisms in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Second, it is necessary to do a good job in effectiveness evaluation, improve the ability of biodiversity conservation supervision and management, establish a long-term mechanism for biodiversity investigation and monitoring, improve the technical standard system for investigation and monitoring, incorporate biodiversity into ecological quality monitoring, implement aquatic life integrity assessment, and scientifically evaluate the effectiveness of species conservation in the Yangtze River Basin.

Third, it is necessary to make use of key time nodes such as the International Day for Biological Diversity and Bird Love Week, rely on news media, online platforms, science popularization bases, etc., to strengthen the publicity of biodiversity conservation, carry out the construction and demonstration of biodiversity-friendly cities, theme cultural parks, experience places and nature education bases, and build digital museums. The online publicity and education system composed of online exhibitions and other activities will develop cultural and creative products with distinctive local biodiversity characteristics, stimulate the enthusiasm of the whole people for biodiversity conservation, and promote the conservation of biodiversity as a national action in which everyone participates.

Cultivate green development and create a beautiful scene of "green mountains and green water".

In recent years, the mainland has made remarkable progress in green development, but there are still murmurs on the way forward, with a small number of polluters defying the wind and evading supervision and reducing costs by transferring pollution across regions and secretly discharging emissions, and a small number of localities have privately lowered their environmental protection requirements in pursuit of economic targets. Therefore, promoting green development is a long-term strategy, not an expedient measure.

On the one hand, it is necessary to practice the concept of "two mountains", lay a solid foundation for green development, and promote the greening of the production and lifestyle of the whole people. According to the requirements of the concept of green development, it is necessary to choose the correct industrial development model and path to promote the green upgrading of the industry. On the other hand, it is necessary to build a solid legal barrier to escort green development. First, it is necessary to speed up scientific legislation and build a sound ecological legal system; second, it is necessary to adhere to strict law enforcement and improve the working mechanism of ecological compensation; third, it is necessary to strengthen judicial fairness and establish a linkage mechanism for severe punishment. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to optimizing the agricultural system, strengthening the drive of agricultural science and technology innovation, establishing and improving the collaborative innovation alliance of agricultural science and technology, and building a new pattern of green agricultural development.

At the same time, it is necessary to adhere to the ecological orientation, cultivate the green development engine, actively and steadily promote the operation and development of ecological products, promote the effective realization of the value of ecological products, and promote the effective integration of ecological environmental governance and related industries, value-added feedback, overall promotion, market-oriented operation, integrated implementation, and sustainable operation, so as to enhance the operating income of related industries with ecological environmental governance, and feed back the investment in ecological environmental governance with industrial value-added income.

The protection of the Yangtze River is not only an ecological topic, but also a development topic, which should be protected and developed in the course of development. In the future, we should always maintain the strategic determination of "jointly grasping large-scale protection and not engaging in large-scale development", always adhere to the problem-oriented, establish long-term thinking, make greater efforts in high-level protection, and make unremitting efforts to further promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, better support and serve the Chinese-style modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and strive to make the Yangtze River Economic Belt an "innovation belt", "prosperity belt", "ecological belt" and "happiness belt" of the mainland, so that the people can share the beauty of nature and life in the lucid waters and lush mountains. The beauty of life.

Source: Jingchu Network (Hubei Daily)

Author: Wang Yueyue (Master student, School of Marxism, Yangtze University, member of the national first-class undergraduate course "Life Yangtze River")

Editor-in-charge: Wang Shuxian