What new arrangements and measures will be taken to promote the protection of the blue ocean?
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 28Title: What new arrangements and measures will be taken to promote the protection of the blue sea
Xinhua News Agency reporter Gao Jing
Blue sea and silver beach are also gold and silver mountains. What new achievements have been made in strengthening the construction of marine ecological civilization and ecological environment protection? What new arrangements and measures will be taken in the next step? The Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a press conference on the 28th to introduce the relevant situation of marine ecological environment protection.
Promote the continuous and stable improvement of the environmental quality of the three major key sea areas
The battle for comprehensive governance of key sea areas is one of the landmark battles in the "14th Five-Year Plan" to fight the battle against pollution. The previously released "Action Plan for the Battle for Comprehensive Governance of Key Sea Areas" made arrangements for the comprehensive governance of the three major key sea areas, including the Bohai Sea, the Yangtze River Estuary-Hangzhou Bay and the adjacent waters of the Pearl River Estuary during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.
Zhang Zhifeng, Deputy Director of the Department of Marine Ecology and Environment of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced that since the "14th Five-Year Plan", the comprehensive governance of the three major key sea areas has made phased progress. However, the pressure of total nitrogen and other pollutants discharged into the sea in the three key sea areas is still high. The restoration of typical marine ecosystems will take a long time. The foundation for improving the ecological environment quality in key sea areas is not solid, and the task of comprehensive governance is still arduous.
He said that we should continue to grasp the key tasks of total nitrogen governance and control in rivers entering the sea, source tracing and rectification of sewage outlets entering the sea, and deepen the pollution prevention and control of land and sea coordination, river-sea linkage, and regional coordination, so as to promote the continuous stability and improvement of the environmental quality of the three key sea areas. At the same time, with mangroves, natural coastlines, coastal wetlands, ecological protection red lines and various marine protected areas as the main targets, we will work with relevant departments to further strengthen marine ecological protection and restoration and regular supervision, and continuously improve the quality and stability of the ecosystem in key sea areas.
In addition, we should keep a close eye on the key and difficult problems faced by various places in the process of tackling tough problems, implement precise governance of "one river, one policy" and "one bay, one policy", and promote the expected results of the comprehensive governance battle in key sea areas.
By 2027, the completion rate of beautiful bays will reach about 40%
The quality of the water ecological environment in coastal waters is mainly reflected in the bays. The "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of Beautiful China" pointed out that by 2027, the completion rate of beautiful bays will reach about 40%.
Zhang Zhifeng introduced that more than 130 bays in China have issued implementation plans for the construction of beautiful bays. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has selected 20 outstanding cases of beautiful bays in two batches, and summarized and condensed a series of experiences and practices such as the "four modernizations" marine floating garbage treatment in Xiamen, Fujian, the joint prevention and control of "river, lake and bay" pollution in Yantai, Shandong, the "ecological +" comprehensive treatment in Yancheng, Jiangsu, and the "six-in-one" departmental linkage mechanism in Sanya, Hainan.
How to continue to deepen the construction of beautiful bays? Zhang Zhifeng said that it is necessary to focus on the comprehensive treatment of more than 100 bays with "one bay, one policy", and build beautiful bays that are beautiful in their own way and beautiful in harmony according to local conditions. We must attach equal importance to governance and supervision, guide and urge coastal areas to conduct in-depth investigations on the bay's ecological environment, and continue to increase the comprehensive and smart supervision of the bay's ecological environment.
He also said that the collection of outstanding cases of the third batch of beautiful bays has been launched. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will keep a close eye on the quality of the bay's ecological environment and the effectiveness of protection and governance, and further strengthen quantitative evaluation and public satisfaction surveys in the collection and selection process.
Carry out a three-year dragnet marine garbage cleanup operation
The sources of marine plastic waste pollution are complex, the impact range is wide, and the requirements for regular governance and supervision are high. Zhang Zhifeng said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with many departments, has jointly formulated the "Coastal City Marine Garbage Cleanup Action Plan", which will be issued and implemented in the near future. The main task is to organize coastal cities, focusing on 65 bays adjacent to urban built-up areas, to systematically carry out a three-year dragnet marine garbage cleanup operation, and further establish and improve the work system and institutional mechanisms.
He introduced that the newly revised Marine Environmental Protection Law has made detailed provisions for establishing and improving the marine garbage governance and supervision work system and institutional mechanisms. These regulations reflect the idea of systematic governance and form a closed loop of coordinated management of marine garbage on land and at sea. From the perspective of model innovation, the new "Blue Cycle" marine plastic governance model in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province won the United Nations "Earth Guardian Award" in 2023, turning the waste plastics picked up and recycled by fishermen at sea into more high-value-added products.
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment also organized 11 key bays such as Qinhuangdao Bay and Xiamen Bay to take the lead in implementing special floating debris removal operations in China. In the past year, a total of about 55,300 tons of marine garbage have been cleaned up, and rich practical experience has been explored and accumulated.
In the next step, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will work with relevant departments and coastal areas to further promote the implementation of the "Action Plan for Cleaning Marine Garbage in Coastal Cities", and increase the regular supervision of plastic pollution in key bays through various technical means such as drones and video surveillance, guide and urge coastal areas to implement various tasks such as marine garbage monitoring, interception, collection, salvage, transportation, and treatment in accordance with the law, and continuously establish and improve a closed-loop management system from source governance, environmental cleaning to recycling.