How can the ecological governance dilemma of urbanization be solved?

Urbanization is a sign of the degree of economic development and social progress of a country or region, while the ecological environment is the foundation for the survival and development of human society. Urbanization and the ecological environment are in a relationship of mutual influence and mutual dependence. The 2014 Government Work Report stated that "urbanization is the inevitable path of modernization and an important support for breaking the urban-rural dual structure. It is necessary to improve the institutional mechanisms for integrated urban-rural development and adhere to a new urbanization path that is people-oriented, synchronized in the four modernizations, optimized in layout, ecologically civilized, and culturally inherited." With the rapid advancement of China's urbanization process, China's urban ecological environment is facing severe challenges. Ecological problems such as excessive resource consumption, intensified environmental pollution, serious damage to ecosystems, and prominent ecological security hazards have become major factors restricting China's urbanization development. How to govern the ecological environment and how to solve the ecological governance dilemma in the process of urbanization have become urgent issues that need to be addressed at present. Ecological governance in the process of urbanization is a complex systematic project that requires the joint efforts of the government, enterprises, and the public, innovative working mechanisms, and the construction of a multi-level and all-round ecological governance model to promote the sustainable development of China's society and economy.

The ecological governance dilemma in the process of urbanization

Lack of awareness of the concept of ecological governance. In terms of mindset, economic benefits are valued over ecological benefits. For a long time, China's economic growth has been notably extensive, local governments have emphasized the economy over environmental protection, and the industrial sector has adopted the production model of "extraction-production-consumption-disposal," which is characterized by non-circularity, high energy consumption, high pollution, and high emissions, causing industrial production energy consumption, wastewater discharge, and solid waste to be significantly higher than the world average. The government has not attached enough importance to environmental protection education, environmental education has become a mere formality, the public's awareness of ecological protection is weak, and the ecological risks in the process of urbanization have been greatly neglected.

Lack of institutional mechanisms for ecological governance. The lack of ecological safeguard mechanisms leads to the deterioration of the ecological environment. In the process of urbanization construction, there is a lack of mechanisms to protect the environment. For construction projects with major environmental impacts, there is a lack of effective supervision mechanisms; after the ecological environment suffers man-made damage, there is no necessary compensation mechanism, resulting in the inability to restore the ecology; the lack of a reasonable price mechanism makes it difficult to protect farmers' rights and interests after their land is expropriated. The lack of restraint mechanisms leads to the intensification of "urban disease." Some local governments simply understand urbanization as a "city-building movement," excessively pursue economies of scale, and lack the necessary restraint mechanisms for urban planning and construction, leading to the rush establishment of various parks, the abuse of large amounts of farmland, and the consumption of large amounts of resources and energy. The imperfect system of environmental laws and regulations, inadequate law enforcement by environmental protection departments, the disorderly variety of environmental regulatory agencies with unclear division of responsibilities and powers, and low investment in environmental governance all restrict the intensity of China's urban ecological environment governance.

Unclear subjects of responsibility for ecological governance. Urbanization construction is a complex systematic project that requires close cooperation and joint participation by the government, enterprises, the public, and other parties, but at present there are problems such as unclear subjects of responsibility for governance. Ecological governance requires the full cooperation of government departments, but government departments are divided into vertical and horizontal segments, making it difficult to give play to the overall synergy. As far as enterprises are concerned, enterprises are the main actors in market activities and aim to maximize profits; in order to enhance competitiveness, they try every possible means to reduce costs and are unwilling to invest too much funds in ecological governance. As far as the public is concerned, ecological governance requires the active participation of the public, but due to the lack of necessary institutional safeguards and participation channels, the public's enthusiasm and initiative for participation are not high, affecting the breadth and depth of governance.

Strategies for solving the ecological governance dilemma in the process of urbanization

Establish a concept of sustainable urbanization development and build a legal safeguard mechanism for ecological governance. To solve the dilemma of ecological governance in urbanization, it is necessary to adhere to the ecological civilization view of harmony between humanity and nature and to adhere to the concept of sustainable development in urbanization construction. It is necessary to find the balance point between urban construction and economic development, properly handle the relationship among population, resources, environment, and development, correctly handle the relationship between urbanization and ecological environment governance, scientifically handle the relationship between the scale of economic development and environmental capacity, reasonably measure the carrying capacity of ecological environment resources, and promote the sustainable development of the economy, society, and ecology. It is necessary to build a legal safeguard mechanism for ecological governance and promote the construction of the environmental legal system. At present, China has formulated the Environmental Protection Law, the Soil and Water Conservation Law, and the Circular Economy Promotion Law, providing a certain legal guarantee for ecological environment governance. In the future, it is necessary to target the characteristics of urbanization construction, combine environmental laws and regulations with political and economic policies, build an ecological environment legal governance system that meets the needs of urbanization construction, and continuously improve the legal safeguard mechanism for environmental protection.

Clarify the responsible subjects of ecological governance and build an all-round and multi-level ecological construction mechanism. Ecological governance is a complex systematic project. To realize the institutionalization, standardization, and professionalization of ecological governance, it is necessary to establish an ecological construction mechanism that meets the requirements of urban development and build an all-round, multi-level, and all-staff ecological cooperative governance model led by the government, driven by enterprises, and participated in by the public. It is necessary to give play to the government's leading role and strengthen the government's management of the urban ecological environment. Establish a people-oriented concept of urbanization development, reasonably position the government's role, conscientiously implement the government's environmental supervision responsibilities, and strictly implement the urban environmental management system. It is necessary to enhance enterprises' sense of responsibility for environmental protection and build an ecological promotion mechanism for enterprises. It is necessary to shut down, suspend, merge, or convert highly polluting enterprises, strictly control industrial pollution, strengthen enterprises' environmental self-discipline, and actively guide enterprises to participate in ecological governance projects. It is necessary to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of the public for participation and guide the public to promote ecological environment governance by improving their own quality and strengthening self-management, forming a social atmosphere in which everyone saves resources and protects the environment.

Promote economic structural adjustment and industrial transformation and upgrading, and build a financial safeguard mechanism for ecological governance. The essence of environmental problems is the problem of development. To solve the dilemma of urban ecological governance, the ultimate goal is to properly handle the relationship between environmental construction and economic development, adjust and optimize the economic structure, transform the economic development mode, promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and take the path of new urbanization. It is necessary to vigorously develop the tertiary industry and increase the proportion of the service industry; improve the extensive secondary industry and develop a technology-intensive economy; raise the scientific and technological level of the primary industry and promote the large-scale, industrialized, and modernized development of agriculture. To solve the urban ecological dilemma, it is also necessary to establish a financial safeguard mechanism. It is necessary to increase fiscal tilt and credit investment in ecological governance, handle ecological governance issues according to the principle of "the polluter is responsible and the developer protects"; increase investment in the construction of environmental facilities such as urban domestic sewage, domestic waste, and industrial waste; establish a system of paid use of resources and an ecological compensation system, strengthen the asset-based management system of natural resources, and form an open and diversified investment system for ecological governance.