China tries new payment tactic to stop pollution
Print Edition
Chu Chenglong started fish farming when he was young and never imagined one day he would not be able to continue the business.
In March, more than 60 of Chu’s fish cages, along with those of other fish farmers, had been removed from Foziling Reservoir in Huoshan County, Anhui Province, to protect the water from becoming contaminated.
The reservoir provides water to residents in Hefei, 140 kilometers away.
Chu, 56, received 300,000 yuan (US$49,321)in compensation from the government and has no complaints. More than 200 people who used to raise fish in the reservoir received as much as 600,000 yuan in “ecological compensation.”
China is speeding up ecological protection and dropping its pursuit of economic growth at all cost. Decades of industrialization and double-digit growth have left the country badly polluted. Last month’s Plenary Session promised a sound system to protect the environment.
A communique proposed a “red line” for ecological protection, including a system of paid for use of resources and ecological compensation.
Analysts have said harmful smog, contaminated soil and poisoned water supplies prove a better system needs to be introduced to protect the environment.
“The red line is intended to limit economic development in vulnerable regions such as rivers,” said Xia Guang, director of the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy under the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Some regions including Jiangsu Province have already drawn a “red line.” Conservation areas now take up more than 20 percent of the province’s land.
In northwest China’s resource-rich Qinghai Province, half of its land was included in protected areas. Gold mining was banned across the province except for two in Baima County and another in Chingdu County.
“Once a region is declared a protected area, local development should be achieved only if ecological compensation is provided,” Xia said.
In a pilot compensation program, the fund for protecting the Xin’an River is 500 million yuan per year. The river begins in Anhui Province and flows into Zhejiang. Anhui and Zhejiang both contribute 100 million yuan to the program.
If the water reaches quality standards Zhejiang will pay Anhui 100 million yuan. If not, Anhui will give Zhejiang 100 million yuan. Regardless of the water quality, Anhui will receive 300 million yuan each year from the central government.
The program has been running for two years and the river’s water quality has remained excellent.
“If there was no compensation mechanism, the protection of the Xin’an would not be so systematic,” said Nie Weiping, chief of Xin’an protection bureau.
“The ecological compensation in November’s communique is a highlight,” Nie said. “However, the scope of compensation definitely needs to widen.”
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