CCTV News (Focus Interview): The vast ocean contains rich biological resources and ecological value. China has vast sea areas and has been committed to the protection and sustainable development of the marine ecological environment. So how well do we protect the marine ecology? Recently, the State Council Information Office issued a white paper on "China's Marine Ecological Environment Protection", which details China's policies, measures and achievements in marine ecological protection, summarizes China's efforts and achievements in marine ecological protection, and its responsibilities and obligations in global ocean governance, and also demonstrates our confidence and determination to face future challenges.

The ocean, as the largest ecosystem on Earth, not only breeds rich biodiversity, but also has a profound impact on the global climate and human life. However, with the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, the global marine ecological environment is facing unprecedented challenges.

Lu Wenhai, Director of the Marine Ecology Research Office of the National Marine Information Center: "In order to deal with these problems, we have done a lot of exploration in ecological and environmental protection and achieved some landmark achievements. In order to allow the international community and people from all walks of life to have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of China's marine ecological and environmental protection cause and further strengthen exchanges and cooperation, we organized the preparation of the white paper."

The white paper consists of three parts: preface, main text and conclusion, with a total of about 27,000 words. The main text includes seven parts: "Building a harmonious marine ecological environment between man and sea; Coordinating the promotion of marine ecological and environmental protection; Systematically managing the marine ecological environment; Scientifically carrying out marine ecological protection and restoration; Strengthening marine ecological and environmental supervision and management; Improving the level of green and low-carbon development of the ocean; and Carrying out international cooperation in marine ecological and environmental protection in all directions."

Yu Hai, deputy director of the Xi Jinping Ecological Civilization Research Center: "The first two chapters of the white paper focus on the concepts, plans, rule of law, and institutional content that China must adhere to in protecting the marine ecological environment. These are mainly guiding things. The following chapters specifically introduce marine ecological restoration, system governance, international cooperation, and other content."

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of important statements on marine ecological environment protection, emphasizing that "we must care for the ocean as we care for our lives." In addition to the programmatic and guiding concepts and policies and systems, the content involved in the white paper shows more of China's practice and achievements in marine ecological environment protection. The white paper mentions that in order to govern the marine ecological environment, China insists on both key breakthroughs and systematic governance, coordinated land and sea, and linked rivers and seas to continuously improve the quality of the marine ecological environment.

Yu Hai: "In fact, the problem of marine ecological environment protection is in the sea, but the root is on land, so we must adhere to the system concept, adhere to the coordination of land and sea, and the linkage of rivers and seas, and build a large pattern of protection and governance from the top of the mountain to the sea. There are mainly several aspects. One is to carry out comprehensive ecological environment governance in the three key sea areas of Bohai Sea, Yangtze River Estuary-Hangzhou Bay, and Pearl River Estuary, and focus on the two important gates of rivers entering the sea and sewage outlets entering the sea."

The Yellow River Delta in Shandong is located in the coastal area of the Yellow River estuary in the southern Bohai Sea. In this national nature reserve, the estuary wetland was once flooded by an alien species with strong reproductive capacity and fast population spread, Spartina alterniflora, which caused ecological imbalance, seagrass beds disappeared, and birds had nowhere to find food.

In response to the harm caused by the flooding of Spartina alterniflora, the Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve explored restoration models for different types of wetlands to maintain the "river-land-beach-sea" ecosystem of the Yellow River Delta to achieve a virtuous cycle. Govern Spartina alterniflora according to local conditions.

The once "green desert" is now full of vitality. From February to July every year, a large number of migratory birds breed here. The staff here closely monitor the dynamics of these wetland elves through monitoring every day.

Not only do many birds love this place, but it also attracts many water elves.

Zhang Cheng, Chief of the Water Ecological Environment Section of the Dongying Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau of Shandong Province: "Recently, after the Yangtze River dolphin and the Yellow River knife fish, wild spotted seals have been found in the bay area where the Yellow River estuary flows into the sea. This fully demonstrates that the ecology of the Yellow River estuary is getting better and better, and the biodiversity is getting richer and richer."

Since 2018, China has used the Bohai Sea Comprehensive Governance Campaign as the first battle to start the fight against pollution in the marine field. After three years of hard work, all the core goals and tasks of the Bohai Sea Comprehensive Governance have been completed with high quality, and the proportion of good water quality areas in the coastal waters of the Bohai Sea has also been greatly improved.

Yu Hai: "Starting from 2021, on the basis of consolidating and deepening the results of the comprehensive governance battle in Bohai Sea, our country has expanded the scope of the battle to the adjacent waters of the Yangtze River Estuary-Hangzhou Bay and the Pearl River Estuary. As one of the landmark battles in the 14th Five-Year Plan to fight the battle against pollution, all key tasks are progressing smoothly and have achieved conclusive and significant results. The water quality in key sea areas has improved overall."

Rivers entering the sea are the most important way for land-based pollutants to enter the ocean. In addition to doing a good job in the comprehensive governance of key sea areas, we must also do a good job in pollution prevention and control of rivers entering the sea. Guarding the important gates where coastal pollution enters the sea is equivalent to controlling the source of land-based pollution. The white paper also focuses on describing China's work on cleaning up marine garbage.

Yu Hai: "The white paper focuses on China's source control, the establishment and implementation of a marine garbage monitoring, interception, collection, salvage, transportation and treatment system, the coastal cities' marine sanitation, the promotion of joint prevention and control of garbage in rivers, lakes and seas, and the implementation of special floating cleaning operations. The white paper also mentioned the case of Zhejiang Province's new model of "blue cycle" marine plastic waste management, which also won the United Nations Earth Guardian Award."

"Blue cycle" is an environmental protection concept proposed by Zhejiang Province for the disposal of marine plastic waste. Through the precise collection of pollutants in areas within 3,000 meters of the coastline and islands, and relying on the Internet of Things + blockchain technology, a full-process visual traceability "from ocean to shelf" has been established. Recycled and reused plastic products have been widely used in clothing, electrical appliances, auto parts and other industries.

To maintain the diversity, stability and sustainability of the marine ecosystem, we must not only work hard on systematic governance and improve the marine protection system, but also be determined to implement marine ecological protection and restoration projects.

The white paper mentioned that from 2016 to 2023, the central government has invested a total of 25.258 billion yuan to support coastal cities in implementing major marine ecological protection and restoration projects such as the "Blue Bay" remediation campaign, the ecological restoration of the Bohai Sea comprehensive governance battle, and the restoration of the coastal zone.

In addition to the restoration of nearshore marine ecological environments such as rivers entering the sea, bays, and coastlines, the white paper also specifically proposed to carry out demonstrations for the creation of harmonious islands.

Nan'ao County, located in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, is the only island county in Guangdong Province and the only national 4A-level tourist attraction in the entire island area among the 12 island counties (districts) in mainland China. Today's Nan'ao Island looks "clear water, green shores, clean beaches, and beautiful bays", but it was not like this before the remediation.

Cai Jinfang, deputy director of the Natural Resources Bureau of Nan'ao County, Shantou City, Guangdong Province: "Before the ecological remediation of Nan'ao, the coast had long been damaged, impacted and hollowed out by waves and tides. There were long-term random constructions on the shore, such as abalone farms, shipyards, and temporary production facilities. The sea sand resources are decreasing year by year, and the beach area is shrinking year by year. You can often see piled up, secretly dumped construction waste, garbage, and weeds on the coast."

Islands are an important platform for protecting the marine environment and maintaining ecological balance. Through ecological leadership and demonstration, the local area has carried out comprehensive remediation of multiple bays such as Jin'ao Bay, Chishi Bay, and Yandun Bay, and also remediated the coastline, beach, sea area, islands, and river environment.

Caring for the ocean, understanding the ocean, and managing the ocean are effective ways for China to promote the prosperity and development of the marine industry in recent years. In recent years, with the development of China's economic construction, the scarcity of space resources in the nearshore sea area has become increasingly prominent. Offshore wind power, submarine cables, cross-sea bridge construction, etc., in the same sea area, sometimes it is difficult to avoid overlapping use of the sea. Faced with such new problems arising from social development, China has classified and implemented policies for intensive and economical use of the sea. In terms of marine space resources, it has also explored and promoted the three-dimensional and layered rights of the sea area, and promoted the transformation of the sea area management model from "flat" to "three-dimensional".

In terms of resource allocation, we must continuously improve the utilization rate, and in economic development, we must continue to integrate green concepts. The white paper summarizes the positive results achieved in the green transformation of traditional marine industries such as marine aquaculture, port shipping, and shipbuilding in recent years. It also mentions that the utilization rate of marine clean energy such as offshore wind power, tidal energy, and wave energy has been continuously improved, and the value of ecological products such as marine carbon sinks has been continuously realized.

Cui Xiaojian, deputy director of the National Marine Information Center: "There are three typical ecosystems in the ocean carbon sink with significant functions, one is the coastal salt marsh, one is the seaweed bed, and one is the mangrove. Now we need to not only fix more carbon, but also promote blue carbon as an asset for trading and circulation. For example, the Xiamen Carbon and Emission Rights Trading Center has established China's first marine carbon sink trading service platform and promoted China's first mangrove carbon sink transaction, which has also caused a good response internationally."

Ocean issues are global issues. Countries around the world have further reached consensus and gathered strength to actively respond to the risks and challenges of the marine ecological environment and strive to build a clean and beautiful ocean. In the last chapter of the white paper, keywords such as global ocean governance, blue partnership, and multilateral cooperation were mentioned many times. China firmly practices the concept of a community with a shared future for the ocean, actively promotes international cooperation in marine environmental protection, contributes Chinese wisdom to global marine ecological environmental protection, and demonstrates the responsibility of a major country with pragmatic actions.

Zheng Miaozhuang, director of the Institute of Marine Development Strategy of the Ministry of Natural Resources: "In recent years, our country has explored a new path in ecological and environmental protection, that is, the path of harmonious coexistence between man and the ocean. We have initially achieved a win-win situation for ecological and environmental protection and high-quality economic development. We have some successful experiences, but these experiences cannot be enjoyed alone. Through international cooperation, we have expanded our circle of friends, spread the advanced concept that China's green waters and green mountains are gold and silver mountains, contributed Chinese wisdom and solutions to global ecological and environmental protection, and demonstrated China's image as a responsible major country."

It is the common responsibility of all mankind to protect the marine ecological environment and promote sustainable development of the ocean. At the same time, protecting the marine ecological environment is also the fundamental requirement and basic guarantee for us to accelerate the construction of a strong maritime country and achieve harmonious coexistence between man and the sea. China adheres to the spirit of caring for the world and cooperating for win-win results, and is practicing the concept of a community with a shared future for the ocean with practical actions. Together with countries around the world, we are building the foundation of marine ecological civilization and taking the path of green development of the ocean. As the white paper says, let the ocean always be a beautiful home where humans can live and rely on for development.

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