Hot words

Ecological red lines

生态红线 (shēngtài hóngxiàn)

The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet, have jointly issued a document which makes determining red lines for ecological protection a national strategy for the first time.

Ecological protection red lines refer to compulsory protection of areas with a special ecological function or which are ecologically fragile as the bottom line to maintain and safeguard the nation's ecological security.

China's overall ecological environment is fragile and its environmental problems, such as haze, and water and soil pollution, are severe, which makes protecting its ecology an urgent task.

The document stipulates a clear timetable for determining the ecological protection red lines, which should be completed nationwide by the end of 2020.

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt should determine their ecological protection red lines by the end of this year, and other provinces and regions should complete this work before the end of 2018.

The document stresses that the principle of ecological protection red lines is to strictly regulate and manage areas where development is prohibited according to the law, on the basis of safeguarding the nation's ecology and maintaining its ecological functions.

And the ecological protection red lines should maintain national ecological security and promote sustainable social and economic development.

(China Daily USA 02/09/2017 page11)