Ministry of Ecology and Environment: Carry out review and evaluation of the demonstration zone and improve the "red and yellow card" exit mechanism

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will conduct review and evaluation of the named ecological civilization demonstration zone and the "Two Mountains" base, strictly manage dynamically, improve the "red and yellow card" exit mechanism, and continuously improve the quality and quality of demonstration creation.

At the regular press conference held by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment today (28th), Zhang Yujun, Director of the Natural Ecology Protection Department, said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will continue to play the role of the carrier platform for ecological civilization demonstration creation, and promote all work on ecological civilization demonstration creation with high standards, high requirements and high quality. Carry out a new batch of demonstration zones for ecological civilization construction and the selection of "green water and green mountains are gold and silver mountains".

Zhang Yujun introduced that in 2025, the central government approved the preservation of two creation demonstration projects: "Green water and green mountains are gold and silver mountains" practice innovation base and ecological civilization construction demonstration zone. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has clarified the working ideas for the creation of ecological civilization demonstration in the new stage and revised management procedures and construction indicators. At the same time, in order to implement the requirements of reducing burdens for grassroots units, the preparation of plans and implementation plans has been cancelled, the application process has been simplified, and the construction indicator data is mostly made of public data to ensure that indicator data is easy to obtain.

He said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will continue to strengthen normal supervision of named areas, strictly implement the entry and exit mechanism, and send early warning letters to some regions to suspend the use of titles, urging relevant regions to speed up rectification and continuously improve the quality and quality of demonstration creation. In combination with the 20th anniversary of the "Two Mountains" concept, we will evaluate the effectiveness of the construction of the demonstration zone and the "Two Mountains" base, and condense typical case models.

Zhang Yujun introduced that in combination with the preparation of biodiversity protection evaluation standards, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has completed special assessments of key areas such as the Yellow River Basin, Qinling Region, typical desertified areas, Yangtze River Economic Belt, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, Yangtze River Delta Integrated Demonstration Zone, key ecological functional zone transfer payment counties, national coastal belts, as well as pilot assessment of the ecological environment effectiveness of the "13th Five-Year Plan" Mountain, Water, Forest, Field, Lake, Grassland and Sand Ecological Protection and Restoration Project. The fifth national ecological status survey and assessment, national nature reserves and ecological protection red lines, the "Three North Project", and the "14th Five-Year Plan" landscape engineering ecological environment effectiveness assessment is being carried out.

The Natural Ecological Protection Department is responsible for organizing the drafting of ecological protection plans, carrying out national ecological status assessments, and guiding the creation of ecological demonstrations. Responsible for supervision of nature reserves and ecological protection red lines. Organize and carry out biodiversity protection, biological genetic resources protection, and biosecurity management. At the same time, it undertakes the work of the Secretariat of the China National Committee on the Conservation of Biodiversity and the National Biosafety Management Office.

The information provided to reporters today by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment shows that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, issued the "Regulations on the Determination of Major Ecological Destruction Events (Trial)", which clarified the definition, principles of judgment of major ecological destruction events, and made provisions on the collection, investigation, evaluation and judgment of major ecological destruction events. At present, a leading group and expert database for judgment work are being established. On the 28th, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's regular press conference was held.

Based on changes in ecological conditions, central ecological environment protection inspection cases, relevant national plans, existing engineering layout and evaluation results, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment put forward preliminary suggestions for the layout of landscape engineering on the 15th Five-Year Plan; carry out special research on the integrated development of photovoltaics and desert control; cooperate with relevant departments to promote the formulation and revision of laws and regulations such as the National Park Law, Nature Reserve Regulations, and Scenic Spots Regulations.

In addition, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment also organized rapid monitoring of nature reserves and ecological protection red lines, coordinated bimonthly monitoring of central and local governments and annual full coverage monitoring, carried out special actions to investigate ecological damage problems such as the "Green Shield 2024" nature reserves and ecological protection red lines, and jointly inspected with eight departments including the Ministry of Natural Resources, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration. As of the end of 2024, key issues such as mining sand (stone), industrial and mining enterprises, and illegal hydropower and tourism development in buffer zones in national nature reserves have basically been dynamically cleared.

In February this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with the Ministry of Finance, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration and other nine departments, issued the "Implementation Plan for Major Biodiversity Conservation Projects (2025-2030)", clarifying the overall requirements, key tasks and key projects of biodiversity protection at the national level.

Zhang Yujun told reporters that at present, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment is formulating a detailed implementation plan for major projects based on its responsibilities such as biodiversity protection and biological species resource protection, focusing on the key issues existing in biodiversity protection and management, and planning and implementing projects such as biodiversity protection supervision and early warning, biodiversity sustainable utilization projects.

Zhang Yujun said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will plan to implement key tasks and measures to improve the value realization mechanism of ecological products in the field of ecological environment, and prepare and form a national ecological product catalog list optimization suggestions. Carry out trial calculations and application of Ecosystem Regulation Service Value (GEP-R) evaluation, survey the national ecological product value evaluation situation, comprehensively consider the characteristics of the eastern, central and western regions and work foundations, carry out trial calculations in a classified manner, and study and put forward relevant suggestions on the application mechanism of the GEP-R evaluation results.

At the same time, promote the evaluation of the effectiveness of landscape projects in the "14th Five-Year Plan" and cooperate with the planning of landscape projects in the "15th Five-Year Plan". Continue to carry out normalized remote sensing monitoring of nature reserves and red lines of ecological protection activities and strengthen supervision of important ecological spaces of "Green Shield". Organize and carry out a five-year assessment of the ecological environment protection achievements and ecological protection red line protection achievements of national national nature reserves. Explore and develop diverse ecological products based on biodiversity, such as ecological material products, ecological regulation products, ecological cultural products, etc., actively explore high-quality development paths and models that transform biodiversity advantages into industrial advantages, and promote the realization of ecological products' value.