China News Service, Beijing, March 27 (Reporter Ruan Yulin) The first batch of the third round of central ecological and environmental protection inspections will be launched in November 2023. Pei Xiaofei, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment, told reporters in Beijing on the 27th that overall, the ecological environment quality of the five provinces inspected this time continued to improve. However, some provinces still have the problem of blindly launching "two high" (high energy consumption and high emission) projects, and some industries are unable to transform and upgrade.
With the approval of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the first batch of five central ecological and environmental protection inspection teams in the third round will be stationed in Fujian, Henan, Hainan, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces from November 21 to 22, 2023 to carry out inspections. As of December 31, 2023, various inspection teams had received a total of 19,815 calls and letters from the public, and accepted 16,700 valid reports. Relevant provinces have completed or are in stages completing 11,457 cases. Among them, 1,232 companies were filed and punished, and 55 cases were filed for investigation; 623 party and government leading cadres were interviewed, and 289 party and government leading cadres were held accountable.
"Overall, the quality of the ecological environment in the five provinces inspected this time has continued to improve. However, the inspection also found that there are still gaps in the work to meet the people's new expectations for a better ecological environment, and some outstanding problems need to be solved urgently." Pei Xiaofei said, It is because some regions and departments have deviations in implementing the concept of green development. The inspection found that some provinces still have the problem of blindly launching "two high" projects. In some provinces, when promoting project development, chemical park layout problems are prominent, some industries are weak in transformation and upgrading, and pollution prevention and control measures are not in place.
Second, there are shortcomings in promoting the implementation of ecological protection and high-quality development strategies in the Yellow River Basin. There is still a big gap in the intensive conservation and utilization of water resources in some provinces. The problem of “digging lakes and creating landscaping” is still prominent in some areas.
Third, ecological protection and restoration are ineffective. Ecological damage to oceans, lakes, grasslands, woodlands, and nature reserves occurs from time to time, and problems of illegal mining and lag in ecological restoration still exist.
Fourth, there are obvious shortcomings in environmental infrastructure. Judging from the inspection situation, the inspected provinces have problems such as lagging behind in the construction of urban domestic sewage treatment facilities and inadequate operation and management of sewage treatment facilities to varying degrees.
At the end of February, each inspection team successively reported their inspection opinions to the inspected provinces, and simultaneously handed over a list of accountability issues and case files. Pei Xiaofei said that in the next step, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will guide and urge the inspected provinces to scientifically formulate inspection and rectification plans, fully implement the rectification requirements, and do a solid job in the "second half of the inspection and rectification". (over)