Good ecology is not a free lunch.
Imagine what kind of Huangpu River Shanghainese will face if the soil erosion in Sichuan is serious. If there is dust everywhere in Inner Mongolia, can Beijingers still see the pure sky?
"We have also noticed that there are many different opinions, such as nature, capital, ecological compensation and ecological service pricing or green budget and accounting. These concepts have a * * * similarity, and their basic idea is that the environment has a cost and should be added to the mainstream decision-making process. This is not only related to the environment itself, but also to decision-making. " Amin, former minister of environmental protection of Pakistan, said.
On the basis of natural resource pricing, how to solve the pricing problem of natural resources from the perspective of transaction cost through cross-regional cooperation? On June 26th, the theme forum of Guiyang International Forum on Ecological Civilization 20 15, "Green Policy Workshop-System and Mechanism of Horizontal Ecological Compensation", was a topic of concern and discussion among the participating experts.
"Green mountains and green waters" and "Jinshan Yinshan" need ecological compensation and protection.
This year, the Central Committee and the State Council issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization, clearly proposing to improve the compensation mechanism for ecological protection and scientifically determine the rights and obligations of ecological protectors and ecological beneficiaries. Accelerate the formation of an operational mechanism for ecological damage, compensation beneficiaries and paid protectors to get reasonable compensation. The Opinions also clearly put forward that a compensation mechanism for horizontal ecological protection should be established to guide the compensation between ecological benefit areas and protected areas through financial subsidies, industrial transfer and personnel training.
"Ecological compensation is not new in China. It has been studied and practiced for almost ten years. " Wang Jinnan, deputy dean and chief engineer of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that the so-called "green mountains and green waters in the upstream are hungry, and the downstream is delicious and spicy." For a long time, over-exploitation of resources, serious degradation of ecosystem, shocking environmental pollution and unprecedented pressure on resources and environment have seriously threatened the sustainable development of China.
"Green mountains and green hills should be left, and Jinshan Yinshan should be built." Wang Jinnan believes that the ecological compensation mechanism is a benefit distribution mechanism between the protectors of "green mountains and green waters" and the beneficiaries of "Jinshan Yinshan".
In 2005, China released the 11th Five-Year Plan, which proposed for the first time to accelerate the establishment of ecological compensation mechanism according to the principle of "whoever develops, protects and benefits". The "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" outlines the establishment of national special funds for ecological compensation, the implementation of the sustainable development reserve system for resource-based enterprises, and the acceleration of the formulation and implementation of ecological compensation regulations. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly requires the establishment of a system of paid use of resources and an ecological compensation system that reflects market supply and demand and resource scarcity, and reflects ecological value and intergenerational compensation.
"Hugo has a famous saying," There is no power on earth that can stop the idea that has arrived at that time. Amin said, "If we look at the field of environmental protection, we can say that the concept of ecological compensation has matured and its time has come." "
In Pakistan, the environmental protection department tries to turn environmental problems into economic problems and calculate the cost of environmental deterioration. For example, Amin said, "Mangroves are valuable environmental resources and assets. After the Indian Ocean tsunami, many mangroves were severely damaged. To this end, we have established future-oriented cooperative projects such as mangroves to study the real economic value of natural resources such as mangroves. " He also learned that the annual budget of the British government has a green budget, that is, an environment-related budget, which studies which natural assets need to be considered and what impact they will bring, and compares and calculates the costs and benefits. "The key is how to mainstream this concept and practice in developing countries."
There is still a gap between ecological compensation and public expectations.
How to ensure the sustainable utilization of natural resources with the lowest cost of resources and environment? It is by no means easy to incorporate resource and environmental costs into various economic analysis and decision-making processes, and to change the past practice of using nature for free and transferring environmental costs to society.
"The issue of ecological compensation has been discussed for many years, which is easier said than done." Wang Jinnan said that on the basis of comprehensive consideration of the cost of ecological protection, the opportunity cost of development and the value of ecological services, it is an effective system to give reasonable compensation to ecological protectors through financial transfer payments or market transactions, to clarify the rights and obligations of ecological protectors and beneficiaries, and to internalize the economic externalities of ecological protection.
Wang Jinnan said that at present, in order to establish an ecological compensation mechanism in our country, we should pay attention to six aspects: why, who, how much, where the funds come from and how effective they are. "At present, there are many problems in ecological compensation, such as decentralized management, fragmented policies, unclear responsibility subjects and division of labor, and overlapping management." He admits that there is still a gap between China's ecological compensation and public expectations. At present, various compensation policies and funds for ecological protection in China have reached a considerable scale, but some policies have not been sorted out and integrated, resulting in overlapping or duplication of existing compensation policies for ecological protection, and the orientation of ecological protection needs to be further improved.
"I tried to find out the role played by the market in ecological compensation in the past decade, but unfortunately I didn't see it." Ye Qi, director of the Tsinghua-Brookings Center for Public Policy Research, said that in establishing and improving the ecological compensation mechanism, China's current feature is the double market failure, so it is necessary to establish an ecological compensation market and ensure its efficient and normal operation.
Market and government must be "two-wheel drive"
"Yunnan Fuxian Lake has a water storage capacity of more than 20 billion cubic meters, but the market value is pitiful and the use value is very low. But on the other hand, its existence is of great value, and China cannot afford to lose such a large-scale and high-quality lake. In order to save such a lake, the government must act as. Ye Qi believes that the market itself is not the most important tool for ecological compensation, and the government should play a better role in creating the market and ensuring the fair allocation of resources in the market.
Ye Qi said that in the process of promoting ecological compensation, we should pay attention to clear levels, let the market make a difference, and let the government play its role and take responsibility; It is necessary to establish a mechanism to make different regions form synergistic effects. "The role of the government is to create the market and ensure that the market can play its fair and appropriate role, especially in the allocation of resources."
In Wang Jinnan's view, in terms of ecological compensation, China should establish a "two-wheel drive" mechanism of market compensation mechanism and government compensation mechanism. At present, China's ecological compensation mechanism has some problems such as decentralized management and repeated compensation, and the policy has not formed a long-term mechanism. He suggested that in the future, it is necessary to establish a coordination mechanism for ecological compensation at the national, provincial and regional levels, accelerate the formulation of ecological compensation legislation and technical specifications, promote horizontal ecological compensation, and accelerate the establishment of a long-term mechanism for ecological protection compensation.
Wang Jinnan suggested that we should continue to increase the compensation for transfer payments to key ecological functional areas and gradually improve their basic public service level; Establish an evaluation system of ecological protection compensation effect and improve the performance evaluation mechanism of ecological protection compensation; For some major projects, it is suggested to appropriately integrate channels, extend the subsidy period, and ensure the smooth transition of relevant residents.
Mizuho Ishii, chairman of the Global Environment Facility, said that ecological development should be compensated through the market mechanism, and long-term ecological compensation should be achieved through the formulation of relevant laws and regulations by the state and the government.
"The National Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization clearly puts forward four different compensation methods: financial subsidies, industrial transfer, personnel training and * * * building parks. Some experts may think that it is difficult to integrate such compensation from the perspective of system construction. However, in the reality of China, the fully institutionalized compensation method is still in the process of formation. In this case, I want to adopt a diversified approach to reflect the requirements for compensation. " Yin, director of the Second Economic Bureau of the Central Financial and Economic Leading Group Office, said.
Give the public a reason to go deep into nature.
China Meteorological News reporter Zhao correspondent Zeng
At the end of June, full of green, Guiyang Huaxi National Urban Wetland Park. When the wind blows, clouds and water are moving.
"We want to give the public a reason to understand why we should go to nature, why we should go to forests and why we should go to wetlands."
At the 20th15th annual meeting of Guiyang International Forum on Ecological Civilization, Wang Xiaoping, vice chairman of Beijing Forestry Society, said that it is necessary to tap the value of ecological protection and governance, increase public participation and "dig, protect, restore and develop".
Kim Xingyi, a professor at Seoul National University and president of the Korea Eco-tourism Association, feels the same way. When it comes to South Korea's forest restoration policy, Jin Xingyi believes that there are three factors that ensure the successful implementation of this policy. The first is strong leadership. "Successive presidents have been very supportive of forest restoration, and made the protection of water resources and forest resources a priority task of the government"; Secondly, economic coordination, so that all resources can participate; The third is the new village movement, "that is, all ages participate, and everyone is one of them, realizing environmental protection and energy saving."
Of course, ecological governance is not easy. For example, the restoration of Taihe River has gone through a difficult process. Taihe River runs through Ulsan, a highly industrialized city in South Korea. From 1960 to 2000, the city expanded at an alarming rate. By 2000, many industrial parks appeared, with rapid population growth and rapid economic development.
"But urban development comes at a price, and the river there has become a dead river," Venus said. "So they invested a lot of money in restoration. I once chatted with an official, and he said that they invested 654.38 billion US dollars in restoration and reconstruction. "
In 2002, Ulsan City began to harness the Taihe River. First of all, it blocked sewage from flowing into Taihe River, dredged 8.8 kilometers of silt belt, demolished concrete embankment, built green embankment, expropriated 440,000 square meters of land on both sides of the river, and built sidewalks, football fields, parks and bicycle lanes along the river. In addition to huge funds, Jin Xingyi believes that public participation is the key to the success of Taihe River, and the public is responsible for cleaning, planting trees and operating. "Now we see birds and fish coming back, and people even hold swimming competitions in Taihe River." He is very emotional. "It is not easy for a dead river to become a swimming place and the richest gathering place for migratory birds."
"What can be done from the mechanism and system? For example, organize green volunteers, green holidays, green volunteers and so on. Who organized these activities? " Wang Xiaoping pointed out that in the process of advocating public participation, professional associations should not be absent, but should gather knowledge, strength and action, and should let professional people do professional things.
Wang Xiaoping said: "We can't complain that our forest is so good, why the public doesn't come. In fact, children who grow up in cities are afraid of forests. This year's activities of entering city parks through forest caravans can help children and parents learn and understand. In addition, at the legal level, we launched an extracurricular activity plan for primary and secondary school students last year, requiring primary and secondary school students to spend 10% of their time related to nature every year. " He believes that in addition to constantly improving the system and mechanism, it is also necessary to provide a good infrastructure to provide convenience for the public and make everyone feel that "I should go to nature."
Experts talk freely: ecological compensation should pay attention to resource integration
China Meteorological News reporter Yang Zhangjing
At the ecological forum with the theme of "Green Policy Workshop-System and Mechanism of Horizontal Ecological Compensation", Amin, former Minister of Pakistani Ministry of Environmental Protection, John Fogzi, Chairman of Aicart Environment and Investment Group and Expert of China International Cooperation Committee on Environment and Development, Ye Qi, Director of Tsinghua University-Brookings Policy Research Center, Sayaji Bos, Assistant Professor of Earth Institute of Columbia University, Philip Carazo, Chairman of Costa Rica Volcano Mountain Development Foundation, Ishii, Chairman of Global Environment Facility,
"Ecological compensation is not only related to the environment itself, but also to the decision-making of all walks of life." Amin believes that there are different opinions about ecological compensation. For example, some concepts such as nature, capital, ecological compensation and ecological service pricing or green budget and accounting have similarities. The basic idea is that the environment has a cost and should be added to the mainstream decision-making process. He looks at ecological compensation from a political point of view, which requires feasible green growth goals, paying attention to the environment and protecting it more carefully, rather than selling it out.
John Fogg emphasized that China is a country with a large population mobility, so it must be more stable and sustainable, so as to protect the environment and solve some social problems.
Ye Qi's prescription for the double market failure in China's ecological compensation is to have a market and ensure its efficient and normal operation. At the same time, the government must take action to let the market play its role and establish a mechanism to make different regions form a synergistic effect, so as to ensure that the market can play its fair and appropriate role, especially in resource allocation.
When talking about the ecological compensation mechanism, Sayajibos especially thought of a proverb of China-thinking about the source of drinking water. He said that it is very important for China to implement the mechanism of increasing ecological compensation. As long as the ecological compensation mechanism is used well, the urban-rural population flow can be solved. China is currently in a transitional period, and the proportion and consumption of service industry in GDP will increase in the future, so ecological compensation is very important.
Wang Jinnan, vice president and chief engineer of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, believes that it is necessary to do a good job in ecological compensation from the perspective of market development, establish three dimensions of ecological compensation, establish horizontal and vertical compensation mechanisms at the national level, and clarify how, who and how much to make up. For example, based on the positive externalities and negative externalities of the ecological environment, a two-wheel drive of blood transfusion and hematopoiesis is established to realize multi-channel compensation funds from the government, market-oriented beneficiaries and ecological well-intentioned people, and at the same time realize ecological, social and economic development. In the future, we should establish a coordination mechanism for ecological compensation at the national, provincial and regional levels, speed up the formulation of legislation and technical specifications for ecological compensation, promote horizontal ecological compensation, and speed up the establishment of a long-term mechanism for ecological protection compensation.
Philip carazo emphasized that we should attach importance to the benign development of ecology, the integration of resources and the utilization of natural resources, promote ecological protection through the establishment of foundations, and organize landowners to actively participate in forest protection, and suggested strengthening cooperation and realizing interaction at the policy and legal levels.