How is the pilot program for the cropland rotation and fallow system being explored? The Minister of Land and Resources responds
Jiang Daming, Minister and Party Secretary of the Ministry of Land and Resources, published a signed article in the People's Daily on December 8, pointing out that the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, adopted at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Party, made a strategic deployment for the comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources, which is the fundamental guideline for our country's resource utilization and management work in the next 5 years and even longer.
The article stated that it is necessary to fully implement the national innovation-driven development strategy, integrate the comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources into the torrent of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation”, and truly free economic development from a model of excessive dependence on natural resources.
The article stated that the strictest system for economizing on land must be upheld. First, the scale control of newly added construction land must be strict; second, the standard management of all types of land use must be strict; third, the spatial regulation of construction land must be strict; fourth, penalties for wasteful land use behavior must be strict.
At the same time, explore and implement pilot programs for the cropland rotation and fallow system. To carry out rotation and fallow pilot programs, it is necessary to adhere to productivity as the foundation, conservation as the priority, and security as the guarantee, take into overall consideration the national overall farming situation and local realities, and formulate a scientific and meticulous pilot plan for rotation and fallow, with pilots carried out mainly in groundwater funnel areas, heavy metal polluted areas, and areas with severe ecological degradation.
Establish and improve the initial allocation system for energy use rights, water use rights, sewage discharge rights, and carbon emission rights. Explore the establishment of a system for exercising ownership at different levels, and shift from a permit system to a rights system. Straighten out the relationship between the government and the market, and between the government and enterprises, in terms of institutions and mechanisms, and give full play to the government's management and regulatory role.
Promote contracted energy management and contracted water-saving management. Implement the requirements of the Recommendations, promote contracted energy management and contracted water-saving management, carry out leading actions for energy efficiency and water efficiency leaders, and take the construction of energy-saving and water-saving mechanisms as an important lever.
Implement the national energy-saving action plan. Continue to carry out energy-saving activities in diverse and practical forms, so that energy saving is implemented in all aspects of work and life.
The full text is as follows:
Comprehensive Conservation and Efficient Use of Resources (Studying and Implementing the Spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Party)
Jiang Daming
The Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (hereinafter referred to as the Recommendations), adopted at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Party, made a strategic deployment for the comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources, which is the fundamental guideline for our country's resource utilization and management work in the next 5 years and even longer. To implement this strategic deployment well, it is necessary to scientifically grasp our country's resource conditions, accelerate the transformation of ideas and concepts, firmly establish a resource outlook of conservation, intensive use, and circular utilization, and intensify reform and innovation, so as to ensure the successful completion of all tasks for comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources during the “Thirteenth Five-Year” period.
The key to solving our country's resource, environmental, and development difficulties
The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to resource conservation and efficient use. During the “Twelfth Five-Year” period, especially since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Party, resource conservation and efficient use have achieved notable results, but there is still a large gap compared with the needs of economic and social development and the international advanced level. In 2013, China's GDP accounted for about 12.3% of the world's total, but it consumed 22.4% of the world's energy and 47.3% of its steel, and its water resource output rate was only 62% of the world average. This shows that there is still great room and potential for comprehensively improving resource use efficiency. At the same time, our country's resource constraints have further intensified, the environmental carrying capacity is already approaching the “ceiling”, and the traditional development model is difficult to sustain. Only by comprehensively conserving and efficiently using resources can we effectively solve the resource and environmental difficulties facing our country's development.
An important guarantee for easing resource constraints and achieving the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Our country has a large total amount of resources, but a small amount per capita and low quality, and the per capita possession of major resources is generally low compared with the world average. In 2014, our country's dependence on foreign important energy resources further climbed, with oil at 59%, iron and copper at 70%, and aluminum at 50%. In many places, newly added construction land is approaching or exceeding the upper limit of carrying capacity. The spatial matching of water resources is poor, and more than 400 of the more than 600 cities are short of water. Our country's basic national conditions, resource endowments, and stage-of-development characteristics determine that comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources are necessary.
An important path for promoting green development and building an ecological civilization. Green development is a scientific development model that actively adapts to the carrying capacity of water and land resources and the constraints of the ecological environment capacity. Mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and grasslands are a community of life, and resources are the basic support of the ecological environment. Only by comprehensively conserving and efficiently using resources and intensifying energy conservation and emission reduction can we reduce the damage and impact of resource development on the ecological environment, improve the ecological environment capacity and the carrying capacity of water and land resources, and achieve the goal of green development.
An inherent requirement for building a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society and promoting harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. Harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature is the foundation of sustainable economic and social development. For some time, “red lights” have successively appeared in some areas of our country's resources and ecological environment. If this situation is not reversed as soon as possible, it will not only bring harm to the people's production and life, but also pose a threat to social harmony and stability. Building a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society faces the dual pressure of resource scarcity and ecological deterioration. Only by effectively improving the capacity and level of comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources can we accelerate the adjustment and optimization of the economic structure and industrial structure and achieve sustainable development.
Establish a resource outlook of conservation, intensive use, and circular utilization
“Comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources” sounded the “charge” for resource utilization work in the new era. To implement this important strategic deployment, the key is to transform ideas and concepts in accordance with the requirements of the Recommendations, work hard on “comprehensive”, make efforts on “efficient”, and establish throughout society a resource outlook of conservation, intensive use, and circular utilization.
Establish the concept of conservation first. This is the basic prerequisite for achieving comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources. Conservation first means always putting conservation in the forefront, cultivating awareness of conservation, and developing conscious behavior. Conservation must be implemented in every link of production, circulation, storage, and consumption, and a system of total resource management and comprehensive conservation that is comprehensive, scientific, standardized, and strictly managed must be built. Correctly handle the relationship between humanity and nature, advocate rational consumption, strictly avoid luxury and waste, and form a spatial pattern, industrial structure, production mode, and consumption model conducive to resource conservation and efficient use.
Establish the concept of intensive use. This is the inherent requirement for achieving comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources. It is necessary to adhere to a resource utilization model that focuses on substance and abandon the extensive utilization model of external expansion. On the basis of comprehensive conservation, pay more attention to output efficiency, pay more attention to intensive benefits, and pay more attention to institutional and mechanism innovation. Innovate resource utilization policies, strengthen supporting linkages with policies on investment, fiscal and taxation, credit, and environmental protection, strive to reduce the consumption of energy, water, land, minerals, and other resources per unit of output, and effectively improve the comprehensive benefits of resource utilization.
Establish the concept of circular development. This is an important path for achieving comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources. In accordance with the requirements of reduction, reuse, and resource recovery, reduce energy and resource consumption and waste generation at the source in all links of production, circulation, and consumption, and change the traditional development model and resource utilization mode of “mass production, mass consumption, and mass waste”. Accelerate the construction of circular industrial, agricultural, and service industry systems, promote the industrialization of resource recycling, and form a resource circular utilization system covering the whole of society. Encourage and support circular development, improve resource use efficiency, and promote the sustainable use of resources.
Establish the concept of market allocation. This is the fundamental driving force for achieving comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources. It is necessary to give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, establish and improve a unified, competitive, open, and orderly resource property rights market, improve market rules, improve market prices, promote market competition, and enhance the internal driving force for resource conservation and efficient use. Based on factors such as reflecting market supply and demand and the degree of resource scarcity, and embodying natural value and intergenerational compensation, build a paid use system for resources, expand the scope of paid resource use, raise paid use standards, and curb unreasonable occupation and consumption of resources through market means.
Establish the concept of innovation leadership. This is an important support for achieving comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources. It is necessary to fully implement the national innovation-driven development strategy, integrate the comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources into the torrent of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation”, and truly free economic development from a model of excessive dependence on natural resources. Innovate investment and talent mechanisms, advance scientific and technological tackling of key problems and demonstrations in resource development, and use scientific and technological innovation achievements to lead the direction and future of resource utilization.
Intensify reform and innovation, and ensure that all tasks and measures for comprehensive conservation and efficient use of resources are implemented in place
Based on our country's current resource conditions, the Recommendations put forward a series of tasks and measures on how to comprehensively conserve and efficiently use resources. These tasks and measures highlight problem orientation, fit the stage-of-development characteristics of our country, both inherit and develop past practices, and are highly targeted.
Strengthen binding indicator management and implement dual control of total amount and intensity. The Recommendations propose strengthening binding indicator management and implementing dual control actions on total amount and intensity for energy and water resource consumption, construction land, and other factors. This is an innovation in the macro management of resources and also a hard measure for resource conservation and efficient use. To implement this requirement, it is necessary to control both the total amount and the energy consumption, water consumption, and construction land intensity per unit of GDP. It is necessary to break the limitations of departmental and local interests, improve and perfect the binding indicator system from an overall perspective, raise standards for saving energy, water, land, materials, and minerals, organically combine the dual control targets for resource utilization with environmental improvement targets, economic development targets, and social harmony targets, establish a target responsibility system, and reasonably decompose and implement them. Straighten out the resource price system, establish market-oriented mechanisms for dual control, a budget management system, and a paid use and trading system, strengthen statistical monitoring and public disclosure, and establish systems for review, access, verification, and penalties for violations in resource utilization. Incorporate dual control indicators for resource utilization into the comprehensive evaluation system for economic and social development, and use evaluation results as an important basis for assessing leadership teams and selecting and appointing cadres.
Uphold the strictest system for economizing on land. The Recommendations propose upholding the strictest system for economizing on land. The basic national condition of many people and little land determines that we must uphold this system at all times, without the slightest wavering. First, the scale control of newly added construction land must be strict. Implement total control and reduction-oriented management of construction land, strengthen regulation of the scale, structure, and timing arrangements of newly added construction land, promote the redevelopment of inefficient urban land and the reclamation of abandoned industrial and mining land, and strictly control the scale of rural collective construction land. Second, the standard management of all types of land use must be strict. Strictly enforce access conditions for development and utilization, improve and perfect the standard system for economizing on land by region and industry, and reduce the proportion of industrial land. Third, the spatial regulation of construction land must be strict. Implement boundary control for the expansion of urban and rural construction land, and on the basis of comprehensively delineating permanent basic farmland, accelerate the delineation of urban development boundaries and strengthen the spatial coordination between industrial development and land use. Fourth, penalties for wasteful land use behavior must be strict. Severely crack down on and punish wasteful and idle land behavior.
Explore and implement pilot programs for the cropland rotation and fallow system. Cropland is our country's most precious resource. In order to effectively safeguard national food security and realize “storing grain in the land” and “storing grain in technology”, the Recommendations propose exploring and implementing pilot programs for the cropland rotation and fallow system. This is an important measure conducive to allowing cropland to “recuperate and regenerate” and to the sustainable development of agriculture, and it is also an institutional arrangement that coordinates national food security and ecological security. To carry out rotation and fallow pilot programs, it is necessary to adhere to productivity as the foundation, conservation as the priority, and security as the guarantee, take into overall consideration the national overall farming situation and local realities, and formulate a scientific and meticulous pilot plan for rotation and fallow, with pilots carried out mainly in groundwater funnel areas, heavy metal polluted areas, and areas with severe ecological degradation. It is necessary to organically combine this with work such as land quality grade evaluation and monitoring, agricultural structural adjustment, returning farmland to forest and grassland, land consolidation, special protection of the black soil in Northeast China, and the stripping and reuse of topsoil from cultivated land occupied for construction, and to carry out the pilot work with a strong awareness of cropland protection.
Establish and improve the initial allocation system for energy use rights, water use rights, sewage discharge rights, and carbon emission rights. For a long time, because property rights such as energy use rights, water use rights, sewage discharge rights, and carbon emission rights have been vague and the market-oriented initial allocation system has been unsound, the prices for resource use have been severely distorted. In response, the Recommendations propose establishing and improving the initial allocation system for energy use rights, water use rights, sewage discharge rights, and carbon emission rights, with the aim of giving full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and establishing a long-term mechanism for resource conservation and environmental protection. Clarify property rights subjects, carry out unified confirmation and registration of natural ecological spaces, explore the establishment of a system for exercising ownership at different levels, and shift from a permit system to a rights system. Straighten out the relationship between the government and the market, and between the government and enterprises, in terms of institutions and mechanisms, and give full play to the government's management and regulatory role.
Promote contracted energy management and contracted water-saving management. Contracted energy management and contracted water-saving management are service mechanisms that use market means to promote energy and water conservation. Since this mechanism was introduced into our country, it has played a positive role in promoting energy-saving and water-saving renovations and reducing energy and water consumption. However, in the process of implementation, problems such as inconsistent understanding, lack of supporting policies, financing difficulties, and non-standard development have also emerged. To implement the requirements of the Recommendations, promote contracted energy management and contracted water-saving management, and carry out leading actions for energy efficiency and water efficiency leaders, it is necessary to overcome misunderstandings, take the construction of energy-saving and water-saving mechanisms as an important lever, break through technical bottlenecks, accelerate the construction and improvement of monitoring teams and monitoring institutions, and standardize industry management. It is necessary to innovate policy combinations, increase financial support and tax policy support, innovate investment and financing mechanisms, and establish a green financial service system.
Advocate a rational consumption model. The Recommendations clearly propose advocating rational consumption, strictly avoiding luxury and waste, and stopping extravagant trends. This not only fits the excellent tradition of the Chinese nation's advocacy of frugality, but is also of great significance for conserving resources, protecting ecology, and opposing the “Four Winds”. To advocate rational consumption, it is necessary to give play to the government's leading and exemplary role, start with Party and government organs, reduce administrative costs, control public fund consumption, and consciously resist luxury, waste, and extravagant trends; accelerate institutional development, raise thresholds, increase the cost of excessive consumption, deeply carry out actions against excessive packaging, food waste, and excessive consumption, and implement comprehensive conservation in all links of production, circulation, storage, and consumption; guide the whole of society to establish a correct consumption outlook, eliminate conspicuous consumption and comparison-driven consumption, and advocate frugal consumption, green consumption, and civilized consumption.
Implement the national energy-saving action plan. The Recommendations propose implementing the national energy-saving action plan, which is a general mobilization for energy-saving work during the “Thirteenth Five-Year” period. It is necessary to establish the concept of energy saving, raise awareness of energy saving, enhance the sense of urgency and crisis regarding energy saving, and turn energy saving into the conscious action of all citizens. Continue to carry out energy-saving activities in diverse and practical forms, so that energy saving is implemented in all aspects of work and life. Increase energy-saving publicity and promote the formation of a social trend of diligence and frugality. Establish an energy-saving work pattern led by the government, with enterprises as the main body, and jointly advanced by the whole of society, with linkage between upper and lower levels and interaction among all sides, to ensure that the energy-saving action achieves truly effective results.