my country's first special law for river basin protection, the Yangtze River Protection Law came into effect on March 1
Create a legal armor for the mother river of the Yangtze River
□ Our reporter Zhu Ningning
From March 1, my country’s first special law on river basin protection-the Yangtze River Protection Law will be officially implemented.
The Yangtze River is the mother river of the Chinese nation. It is not only our cultural cradle, but also feeds more than 400 million people along the coast with abundant water resources.
But for a long time, the Yangtze River has not been protected to match its important status.
Therefore, although my country already has a large number of relevant laws, regulations, and various policies and regulations concerning the protection of the Yangtze River, it is still necessary to formulate a law to comprehensively protect the ecological environment of the Yangtze River basin and adopt special institutional measures for specific areas and specific problems of the Yangtze River. It is particularly important.
"The formulation of the Yangtze River Protection Law is of great significance." At the press conference on the Yangtze River Protection Law held by the General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on February 23, Wang Fengchun, the first-level inspector of the Bills Office of the Environmental and Assets Committee of the National People's Congress, pointed out that the Yangtze River Protection Law insists on overall planning. Coordination, effectively enhancing the systemicity, integrity, and coordination of the protection of the Yangtze River at the legal level, and in accordance with the Party Central Committee’s strategic deployment on the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, promote the Yangtze River Basin to take an ecologically first and green development path in accordance with the law.
Open a chapter of precision legislation
It is understood that in terms of river basin management legislation, the current water law establishes the basic system of river basin management. The State Council and relevant localities have formulated some administrative regulations and local regulations on river basin legislation in accordance with the provisions of the water law, but national laws for specific river basins, The Yangtze River Protection Law was the first and opened a precedent for river basin legislation in my country.
"The upper, middle and lower reaches of the big rivers, the main and tributaries, the left and right banks of the natural environment, and the economic and social development status are different. Basin legislation needs to coordinate the relationship between the upper, middle and lower reaches, between the central and local governments, between different industries, and between different laws. Yang Heqing, deputy director of the Economic Law Office of the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said that the Yangtze River Protection Law has many outstanding highlights.
The law adheres to the strategic positioning of ecological priority and green development, highlights the basic requirements of collective protection and non-development, does a top-level design of overall coordination and systematic protection, adheres to responsibility orientation, and increases penalties.
At the same time, the Yangtze River Protection Law, as my country's first special law for a river basin, has a very important reference for other river basin legislation.
Wang Fengchun took the Yellow River protection legislation as an example: "The "Outline of the Yellow River Basin Ecological Protection and High-quality Development Plan" issued by the Party Central Committee has made clear arrangements, which has laid a solid ideological and policy foundation for the Yellow River protection legislation. At present, the Yellow River protection legislation has been established. Included in the legislative plan of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress this year, relevant departments of the State Council are stepping up the drafting work."
In addition, the Yangtze River Protection Law has many legislative concepts, system design and legislative work experience worth learning.
This includes adhering to the strategic positioning of ecological priority and green development, and first positioning the relevant river basin legislation as a protection law.
Adhere to the system concept, effectively enhance the system, integrity, and coordination of watershed protection; adhere to the combination of goal-oriented and problem-oriented, and use laws to solve the hot, difficult, and painful issues that restrict watershed protection.
Straighten out various legal relationships
The Yangtze River Protection Law has opened up a new pattern of legal control in my country's river basin governance and provided a legal solution to the dilemma of "Jiulong Water Control" that has plagued the Yangtze River for a long time.
"The Yangtze River Protection Law provides a new legal weapon for the ecological environment of the Yangtze River, which fully embodies stricter and higher protection requirements, and a heavier and harder punishment spirit." Bie Tao, Director of the Department of Regulations and Standards, Ministry of Ecology and Environment Say.
According to Bie Tao, the Yangtze River Protection Law emphasizes the "three salient points", namely, the coordination mechanism, clarifies that the state establishes the coordination mechanism for the Yangtze River Basin, and is responsible for unified guidance and overall coordination; emphasizes the common structure among relevant departments and related work, and insists Network system and information sharing mechanism; highlighting the existing laws and regulations on the clear responsibilities of departments and localities, and further clarifying the implementation of the main responsibilities and division of responsibilities of various localities and departments.
At the same time, from the perspective of ecological and environmental protection, the “four prohibitions” are also clarified: it is forbidden to lay out industries that have a serious impact on the ecosystem in key ecological function areas in the Yangtze River Basin, and it is forbidden to transfer heavily polluting enterprises and projects to the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River. New construction and expansion of chemical parks and chemical projects within one kilometer of the trunk and tributaries of the Yangtze River is prohibited. Newly modified or expanded tailings ponds within 3 kilometers of the coastline of the Yangtze River and important tributaries are prohibited to prevent risks.
At the same time, local governments are required to implement classified rectification and gradual withdrawal for small hydropower projects that have been built that do not meet the requirements of ecological and environmental protection.
In addition, various safeguard measures and specific requirements for environmental protection have been put forward.
Since the Yangtze River Protection Law involves the prevention and control of water pollution and the restoration of the ecological environment, how to strengthen its connection with the Environmental Protection Law, the Water Pollution Prevention Law and other related laws is of great concern.
In this regard, Bie Tao pointed out that the implementation of the Yangtze River Protection Law will not affect the application of relevant laws in the Yangtze River Basin.
"Compared with relevant laws such as the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, Water Law, and Waterway Law, the Yangtze River Protection Law has different areas of focus and a closer connection." Bie Tao pointed out that the Yangtze River Protection Law focuses on solving the lack of relevant laws. Involving or stipulating more principles, but affecting the key areas and key issues of pollution prevention, ecological protection and restoration of the Yangtze River Basin, and related laws are complementary and mutually supportive. It is the relationship between special laws, special laws and general laws.
Coordinated development and protection
The Yangtze River Protection Law aims to protect the resources of the Yangtze River, but if development is neglected, there is no doubt that protection will become empty talk.
"The Yangtze River Protection Law is not only a law for protecting the ecological environment, but also a law for promoting green development." said Wang Shancheng, head of the comprehensive coordination group of the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
Talking about how to coordinate the development and protection of the Yangtze River, Wang Shancheng pointed out that, first of all, we must correctly understand the dialectical and unified relationship between ecological environmental protection and economic development.
In the five years since the implementation of the development strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, turning changes have taken place in the ecological and environmental protection of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and historic achievements have been made in economic and social development.
This fully demonstrates that the ecological and environmental protection of the Yangtze River Economic Zone not only does not affect economic development, but also effectively promotes high-quality development. This also further confirms the correctness of the Yangtze River economy in taking the path of ecological priority and green development.
Second, we must continue to strengthen the protection and restoration of the ecological environment system to consolidate the foundation for green development.
Through the implementation of the Yangtze River Protection Law, the overall consideration of production, life and resources and environmental conditions, starting from the integrity of the river basin ecosystem, strengthen the coordinated management of various ecological elements such as mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasses, promote the protection and restoration of the Yangtze River ecological environment system, and promote the formation of a green development mode And lifestyle, promote the economic and social green transformation of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
In addition, it is necessary to accelerate the establishment of a mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products, and guide the formation of a new mode of coordinated promotion of ecological environmental protection and economic development.
"To implement the Yangtze River Protection Law well, it is necessary to resolutely abandon the practice of sacrificing the ecological environment in exchange for economic development by legal means, promote the protection of the ecological environment in the Yangtze River Economic Zone, and achieve green and high-quality development." Wang Shancheng said.
News from Beijing, February 23