Major projects lead government-enterprise joint governance to
heal grassland trauma, Inner Mongolia explores a new model of mine governance
Our reporter Zhang Jingyang
The "Case Study of Social Capital Participation in Land Space Ecological Restoration (First Batch)" issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources was released recently.
Mobilizing social forces, attracting social capital, increasing investment in ecological restoration through various channels and using various forms, effectively improving the quality of the ecosystem, and increasing the supply of ecological products will become an important way for future ecological restoration and governance.
Wang Lei, deputy director of the Department of Land and Space Ecological Restoration, emphasized at the press conference that encouraging and guiding social capital to participate in ecological restoration is an important reform task of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Forestry and Grass Administration in 2020.
Since 2019, the Opinions of the Ministry of Natural Resources on Exploring and Using Market-oriented Methods to Promote Ecological Rehabilitation of Mines (Natural Resources Regulations (2019) No. 6) and the Ministry of Natural Resources' Notice on the Pilot Work of Comprehensive Land Remediation (Natural Resources Development [2019] No. 194) and other policy documents have put forward clear and specific support policies for the participation of social capital in ecological restoration, which has aroused widespread concern in the society.
At present, various regions are actively exploring the use of market-oriented methods to promote ecological restoration of mines, and many provinces have also issued implementation rules to support social capital to carry out ecological protection and restoration of mines through participation, cooperation, and franchising.
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has the largest grassland in the country. In recent years, Inner Mongolia has fully relied on technological system innovation and key technological breakthroughs, with joint government-enterprise governance as the starting point, and with the courage and self-confidence of "dare to attack a century-old mine." Set suitable for regional conditions, sustainable development, and effective grassland mine restoration model.
Only picking and not repairing the grassland ecological "poisonous sores"
Experts said that the development and utilization of mineral resources have produced a large amount of solid waste. The stock of these solid wastes is not only the historical accumulation of my country's mining development for thousands of years, but also the result of unreasonable comprehensive utilization of mineral resources.
"The dust floating from coal gangue after weathering contains a variety of heavy metal components. If it falls on the flowers and leaves of plants, it will cause the plants to stop growing and die. This is a silent environmental killer." Zhang Zhigang, a special engineer of the Inner Mongolia Institute of Biotechnology, told Journalist of Science and Technology Daily.
Mine restoration is required after the development of mineral resources. If this link is missing, it will not only cause damage to the surface, but also cause rock movement, mine acid drainage, tailings accumulation, harmful gas emissions and other pollution phenomena, causing damage to groundwater, The air, vegetation, and livestock are seriously affected.
Scientists call it "poisonous sores."
"Grassland ecology is one of the most vulnerable types of ecosystems. The soil is generally only a few centimeters thick, with fine sand under the soil, and the vegetation root system is very shallow. This innate vulnerability determines that it is extremely easy to be destroyed, but extremely difficult to be destroyed. Repair." Zhang Zhigang said.
Ecological restoration of mines is not simply planting trees and grass.
In this regard, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government and research institutes have a deep understanding.
"It is necessary to explore scientific and effective measures based on actual conditions to complete the task of green mine construction." Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Chairman Bu Xiaolin put forward the core requirements when deploying the green mine management work in the whole region.
What are scientifically effective measures?
Bai Zhongke, professor of China University of Geosciences and director of the Technical Innovation Center for Ecological Environment Restoration Engineering of the Ministry of Natural Resources, said: “The overall protection, system restoration, and comprehensive management of land and space have many ecological elements, involving investigation, planning, evaluation, construction, utilization, and management. In addition, in view of the complexity, arduousness, systemicity, and long-term nature of this work, it is necessary to clarify the transformation of green waters and green mountains to golden mountains and silver mountains. The way to realize the value of ecological products is to mobilize various entities and social capital to participate in ecological protection and restoration."
Build a tailor-made scientific system for ecological restoration
On October 31, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's major science and technology project "Inner Mongolia Typical Mining Area Ecological Restoration Technology Integration and Demonstration" project kick-off meeting and implementation plan demonstration meeting was held in Hohhot.
As the main person in charge of this major project, Bai Zhongke introduced in detail how to tailor the technical integration of mine ecological environment restoration and green mine construction for Inner Mongolia.
"According to the requirements of'overall protection, system restoration and comprehensive management' of land and space in the new era, we have developed more specific goals, more precise process control, more advanced technology screening, and more applicable standard construction to develop a The integration of ecological restoration technology in coal mining areas that can be guided at the macro level, controllable at the meso level, and operable at the micro level." He said.
The reporter learned during the interview that the integration of ecological restoration technology is mainly centered on the characteristics and difficulties of "landform remodeling, soil reconstruction, vegetation reconstruction, landscape reproduction, biodiversity reorganization and protection" in the grassland mining area of Inner Mongolia. Strengthen the construction of germplasm resources database, expand the ecological big data platform in mining area, and finally optimize and assemble an advanced and applicable localized and replicable ecological restoration model.
Wu Qiang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of China University of Mining and Technology, said: “Based on the joint research of many universities and research institutes, and the in-depth integration of theory and practice, this major project is of great significance not only to Inner Mongolia, a major mining province, but also to the nation’s Ecological restoration of mines has both theoretical and practical significance."
In fact, it is the model of government-enterprise alliance, technology integration, and expert collaboration that has made this major project take root and blossom in Inner Mongolia.
Although this is the first major science and technology project in the field of mine restoration in Inner Mongolia, it is also a relatively mature and typical example of Inner Mongolia, after years of practice and exploration, and after forming multiple successful demonstrations, guided by the government, undertaken by enterprises, and technically assisted by universities and research institutes. s project.
"This major project will refer to the management methods and models of the national key research and development plan from the start of implementation, program demonstration, mid-term inspection, and later acceptance. The implementation of this major project will not only make important contributions to the construction of the ecological environment in northern Xinjiang, but also A batch of mine restoration technologies, standards and models that can be replicated and promoted can be formed and promoted and demonstrated throughout the region and even in other provinces and cities." Bao Weijun, director of the Social Development Science and Technology Division of the Inner Mongolia Science and Technology Department, told reporters.
He said that over the years, the relevant departments of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Government and the Inner Mongolia Mengcao Ecological Group have successfully repaired multiple ecologically damaged mining areas, with remarkable results.
It is precisely because of this that the ecological restoration of grassland mines in Inner Mongolia attracted the attention of the scientific research team of China University of Geosciences, and received their affirmation and technical support.
Innovation leads to create a new model of ecological restoration
Located in the northeast of my country, the Zhalai Nuoer Coal Mine in Inner Mongolia has a mining history of more than 100 years, and finally formed a pit with an area of about 500 hectares.
The surrounding area of the mine is piled up into multiple dumps, covering a total area of 1,276 hectares. Local people have always called it "artificial tiankeng".
According to reports, in 2016, the Manzhouli City Government, where the coal mine is located, decided to shut down this open-pit coal mine.
In 2017, the Manzhouli Municipal Government and Inner Mongolia Mengcao Ecological Group reached a cooperation agreement on the ecological restoration of the Zalainuoer Mine, and realized the green closure of the Zalainuoer Open-pit Coal Mine through ecological restoration of the Mengcao-style mine.
Mengcao Ecological Group has successively dispatched professional scientific research teams such as mines, soil, big data, and cold-resistant plants to collect more than 10,000 natural data such as water, soil, air, animals and plants, and microorganisms in the mining area and surrounding areas, and conduct comparative analysis.
A large ecological database of Mongolian grass was established, and correct data analysis was made for the situation in the region.
At the same time, the technical team of Mengcao Ecological Group focused on the key issues of ecological restoration of the Zalainuoer Open-pit Coal Mine, and through technical measures such as on-site surveying and mapping, numerical simulation, evaluation, planning and design, etc., the open-pit mine closed pit slope stability, site leveling restoration and ecological restoration The problem is demonstrated.
After more than a year of ecological restoration, on the basis of the original annual weeds, it has transformed into fine perennial forage plants such as gramineous and legumes.
At present, 4.6 million square meters of green cover has been achieved, and the number of plant species has increased from the original 10 species to more than 70 species.
The vegetation coverage of the original bare land was restored to more than 90%, and the vegetation coverage and grass yield were significantly improved.
After ecological restoration, the local microclimate environment has been greatly improved in the open-pit mining area.
A variety of birds, insects, and animals have re-established and reproduced, gradually forming a stable and adaptive ecological community.
The Zhalai Nuoer Mine is full of greenery after governance.
"The Mongolian grass-style mine ecological restoration technology is based on the navigation of the Mongolian grass ecological big data platform. It provides systematic mine restoration and environmental management solutions from planning and design, product technology research and development, plant ratios, engineering construction, etc. For the damage to the ecological environment caused by in-depth investigation and data detection, the plan is designed according to the actual situation of the project. Then it is equipped with the native plant germplasm resource system, and the integrated technology of ecological restoration of mines and slopes is adopted, which is finally effective Control a series of problems such as soil erosion, soil pollution, landslides, and vegetation degradation caused by mining of minerals." said Gao Jungang, executive president of Inner Mongolia Mengcao Ecological Group.
He said that the launch and implementation of the “Integration and Demonstration of Ecological Restoration Technology in Typical Mining Areas in Inner Mongolia” has truly realized the innovative model of government-enterprise cooperation, scientific research assistance, and government-industry-university research.
The project has formulated a practical and highly targeted technical roadmap, which will create a demonstration model for ecological restoration of grassland mining areas in Inner Mongolia, and promote this advanced experience to the whole country.