On November 5, at the 12th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), commissioned by the State Council, Guan Zhiou, director of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration (SFAA), reported on the work of sand control and prevention to the NPC Standing Committee.
The report shows that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the concept of sand control and prevention has become more scientific, the top-level design has become more perfect, the working mechanism has become more sound, and the policy support has become more powerful, 53% of governable sandy land has been effectively managed, and the area of sandy land has been reduced by a net of 65 million acres, thus successfully stepping out of a road of sand control and prevention with Chinese characteristics.
Adhering to the combination of sand control and enrichment, the economic and social development of sandy areas has achieved new results. The report points out that the exploration and popularization of the new model of photovoltaic sand control of "on-board power generation and under-board planting", and the "Great Wall of Photovoltaic" and other projects in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, have significantly enhanced the comprehensive benefits of sand control.
The report proposed that the next step is to grasp a number of iconic joint prevention and treatment demonstration projects in the core attack area, organize central enterprises to implement a good Hunshandak-Khorqin sandland southern edge of the governance project, and promote photovoltaic sand control, road sand control and other new models.
Full text follows:
Report of the State Council on the work of sand prevention and sand control
--November 5, 2024 at the Twelfth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress
Guan Zhiou, Director of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress:
I am entrusted by the State Council to report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) on the work of sand control and prevention.
China's sandy land area of 2.532 billion mu, accounting for 17.58% of the country's land area, is one of the world's most serious countries in the sandy land. The Party Central Committee has always attached great importance to sand prevention and sand control. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has stood at the strategic height of the sustainable development of the Chinese nation and the construction of a community of human destiny, and put forward a series of new ideas and assertions on the work of sand control and a series of major decisions and deployments.2023 June 6, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a meeting in Bayannur, Inner Mongolia, to strengthen the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promote the "Three North" and other key ecological projects construction forum and delivered an important speech, issued a good "Three North" project annihilation, attack, blocking the war, and strive to create a new era of China's sand control and prevention of new miracles of mobilization, marking China's sand control and prevention of a new stage of work. It marks the new stage of China's sand prevention and sand control work. Premier Li Qiang has repeatedly given instructions and put forward clear requirements for the implementation of the "Three Norths" project and the use of brackish water for sand control.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) is very concerned about the work of sand control and prevention, and the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the NPCSC have repeatedly led in-depth grass-roots and front-line investigations, and organized the relevant special committees to continue to strengthen the construction of the rule of law and supervision of their work by means of legislative amendments and law-enforcement inspections, listening to reports on deliberations, and handing over representatives' proposals, thus providing strong safeguards for the good prevention and control of sand and sand work.
I. Main lines of work
Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the relevant departments of the State Council have conscientiously fulfilled their responsibilities, and through successive struggles and unremitting efforts, China's efforts to prevent and combat desertification have made great achievements that have attracted worldwide attention. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping's leadership and Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization, the concept of sand control has become more scientific, the top-level design has become more perfect, the working mechanism has become more sound, and the policy support has become more powerful, with 53% of manageable sandy land effectively managed, and the area of sandy land reduced by a net of 65 million acres, presenting a good trend of "overall improvement and accelerated improvement". Overall improvement and acceleration of improvement", the first in the world to achieve "zero growth" in land degradation, "double reduction" of desertification and sandy land, and successfully walked out of a road of sand prevention and sand control with Chinese characteristics, and became the largest contributor to the greening of the world. It has successfully taken a path of sand control and prevention with Chinese characteristics, and has become the country with the greatest contribution to global greening and an international model for sand control and prevention.
(a) Conscientiously implementing Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization, and scientifically planning the work of sand prevention and control in the new era. All regions and departments are earnestly studying and implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's important theses and instructions on green water and green mountains being golden silver mountains, and integrating the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, water, forests, fields, lakes, lakes, grasses and sands, fully implementing the Party Central Committee's decision-making and deployment of the work of preventing and treating desertification, and actively planning and advancing the work of preventing and treating desertification. Adhering to the principle of drawing a blueprint to the end, it has issued opinions on strengthening the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promoting the construction of key ecological projects such as the "Three Norths", prepared and implemented the national plan for sand control and prevention, the overall plan for major projects for the protection and restoration of important ecosystems nationwide, and the plan for a system of protection and restoration of sandy land, and made scientific arrangements and careful deployment of the work of sand control and prevention, resulting in a more comprehensive and comprehensive plan. Scientific arrangements have been made for the sand control work, and careful deployment has been made to form an increasingly perfect working system, so that the sand control work has realized a fundamental shift from being promoted by industrial sectors to being tackled by all parties in a concerted effort, from single treatment to systematic treatment, from decentralized treatment to joint prevention and treatment, from focusing on quantity to placing equal emphasis on both quantity and quality, and from being factor-driven to being driven by innovation.
(b) Promoting the prevention and control of desertification in accordance with the law, and basically forming a systematic, complete and efficient rule of law system. Under the strong impetus of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China has built up a rule of law system for sand control and prevention based on the Sand Control and Prevention Law, the Forest Law, the Grassland Law, the Wetland Conservation Law, the Ecological Protection Law of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and the Yellow River Conservation Law, with 13 key provinces in the desertification zone having issued sand control and prevention regulations or implementation measures. Efforts to popularize and enforce the law have been continuously stepped up, and the provisions of the legal system for sand control and prevention and legal responsibilities have been effectively implemented. In accordance with the law, local authorities and departments have been given the responsibility for sand control and prevention, improved assessment and evaluation indicators and supervision systems, and stipulated that the people's governments at or above the county level of the areas where sandy land is located should report to the people's congresses at the same level and their standing committees on the situation of sand control and prevention. It has given play to the leading role of the forest chief system, and organized daily supervision and inspection as well as mid-term assessment of the provincial government's target responsibility for sand control and prevention. The central Government has increased investment in sand control and prevention, implemented regional differentiated investment policies, and introduced policies on financial investment, credit support and tax incentives in various regions.
(c) The organization and implementation of key ecological projects such as the "Three Norths" project, which has significantly improved the ecological situation in the sandy areas. It has continued to organize and implement a number of key projects, such as the construction of the "Three Norths" protection forest system, returning farmland to forests and grasslands, the treatment of the Beijing-Tianjin wind and sand source, and the protection and restoration of sandy land, scientifically protecting 538 million mu of sandy land, and effectively treating 118 million mu of sandy land, and increasing the forest cover in the "Three Norths" project area from 12.411 TP3T to 13.841 TP3T. "The forest coverage rate of the "Three Norths" project area has increased from 12.41% to 13.84%, the soil erosion area of 61% has been effectively controlled, and the vegetation cover of the Yellow River Basin has moved 300 kilometers to the west. In the past 10 years, the number of serious spring dust and sandstorms in the northern region has been significantly reduced. Since General Secretary Xi Jinping issued the mobilization order to fight the "Three-North" project, the State Council has established a coordination mechanism to strengthen the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promote the construction of the "Three-North" and other key ecological projects, and formulated the "1+N+X" work plan, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and other departments have issued the "Six-phase Plan for the Three-North Project" and the "Opinions on Financial Support for the Construction of the Three-North Project", and the Ministry of Water Resources has been actively safeguarding the ecological water supply for forests and grasslands. All regions and departments have taken active actions and made concerted efforts to fight the battle of the Yellow River's "several bends", the battle to annihilate the horqin and Hunsandak sands, and the battle to block the edge of the Hexi Corridor-Taklamakan Desert, setting off a new climax of centralized warfare and fierce battles in the sandy sea. To date, 287 key projects have been implemented, centralized investment of 32 billion yuan has been arranged, and more than 40 million mu of comprehensive management tasks have been completed.
(d) Strengthening scientific and technological innovation, and improving the level of scientific sand control. The Three North Project Research Institute has been established, and the "Three North Project Key Technology Research and Development" project has been launched. Adhering to the "water for greening" principle, the government has alleviated the shortage of ecological water through "open-source and cut-down", actively implemented ecological water consumption indexes, and comprehensively utilized non-conventional water such as recycled water, brackish water and pit water, etc. The government has widely popularized the application of drip irrigation water-saving and afforestation technology in arid areas such as Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia, saving nearly 70% of water compared with the traditional watering and irrigation. Promote tree and grass species that are drought-resistant, barren and sand-resistant, and scientifically configure forest and grass vegetation. It organized the release of seedling supply and demand analysis reports, published a recommended catalog of good forest and grass species, and laid out and constructed a number of guaranteed seedling nurseries in the "Three-North" project areas. Twenty-six desert ecosystem positioning observation stations and 13 ground monitoring stations for sand and dust storms were established, and forest, grassland, wetland and desert surveys and monitoring were organized. It has scientifically popularized the governance models of Shapotou in Zhongwei, Ningxia; Minqin in Gansu; Dengkou in Inner Mongolia; Kekeya in Xinjiang; and Sehanba in Hebei. It has accelerated the mechanization and intelligent development of sand prevention and control, and sand-fixing and sand-pressing machinery, shrub-levelling machinery and unmanned aerial vehicles have been widely used.
(e) Adhering to the combination of sand control and wealth generation, the economic and social development of the sandy areas has achieved new results. Various regions have adhered to the industrialization of ecological construction and the ecological development of industry, making use of the unique resources of the sandy areas, and moderately developing industries such as traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, high-quality pasture, economic forestry and fruits, desert tourism, etc., so as to help fight poverty and revitalize the countryside, and to achieve ecological improvement and economic development in a way that is mutually reinforcing. The Loess Plateau, Yanshan Mountains, Xinjiang Oasis and other places have formed a number of forest fruits, melons, woody oilseeds and other production bases, with an annual output of 48 million tons of fresh and dry fruits, accounting for 25% of the country's total output, and income from forests and fruits in the key areas accounted for more than half of the net income of farmers. Xinjiang Aksu region to explore the "forest for forest" mode, cultivated the nationally renowned "sweet heart" apples; Inner Mongolia Alxa League to build the Cistanch, white thorns, black fruit of goji berries "three million mu "Nearly 70% of the herdsmen in the whole alliance realize an annual per capita income of RMB 30,000 to RMB 50,000 by participating in the sand industry; Shapotou District in Zhongwei City, Ningxia, vigorously develops desert tourism, which synchronizes the "green content" and "gold content". The "greenness" and "gold content" have been upgraded simultaneously. Exploring and popularizing the new model of photovoltaic sand control with "power generation on the board and planting under the board", projects such as the "Great Wall of Photovoltaic" in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, have significantly enhanced the comprehensive benefits of sand control and prevention. The ecological environment in the sandy areas has continued to improve, effectively protecting arable land and enhancing the ability to guarantee food security. The main grain-producing areas in North and Northeast China have basically built a combined farmland forest network, protecting 450 million mu of farmland.
(f) The mobilization of the entire population and the participation of the entire society have forged a great spirit of sand control. Under the leadership of the Party, the cadres and masses in the sandy areas vigorously carry forward the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation of planting and protecting greenery, and devote themselves to the cause of preventing and treating sand with a strong sense of responsibility and mission, creating an ecological miracle of turning the desert into an oasis and the wilderness into a sea of forests, and producing such advanced models of sand control as the Sehamba in Hebei Province, the Righteousness of Shanxi Province, the Kubuchi in Inner Mongolia, the Eight Footsteps of the Gansu Gulang, the Kekoya in Xinjiang, and the advanced models of sand control such as the Wang Youde, the Shih Guangyin, the Niu Yuchen, and the Shishuzhu, Yin Yuzhen, Babusha "six old man" three generations of sand heroes and other groups, nurtured the "Three North Spirit" of "hard work, selfless dedication, perseverance, long-term success" and the "Remember the mission, hard work, selfless dedication, perseverance, long-term success". The "Three North Spirit" and the "Sehamba Spirit" of "remembering the mission, hard work and green development", the Sehamba Spirit has become an integral part of the spiritual genealogy of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and provides an inexhaustible spiritual impetus for the prevention and control of sand in the new era.
(vii) Wide-ranging international cooperation has continued to contribute to the Chinese solution to preventing and combating desertification. China has earnestly fulfilled its responsibilities and obligations under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention"), set up a compliance office and successfully organized the thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention. It has also promoted desertification control in the "Belt and Road" countries, set up the China-Arabia and China-Mongolia desertification control centers, and promoted South-South cooperation. We have made desertification control one of the priorities of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, the China-Japan-Korea Cooperation Mechanism and the Northeast Asia Environmental Cooperation Mechanism, and have established the Northeast Asia Network to Combat Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought with Mongolia, the Republic of Korea and Russia. The Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has twice honored China with the "Outstanding Contribution to Combating Desertification" award, praising China for its efforts in combating desertification in the world. The Badanjilin Desert and the Sand Mountain Lakes Complex are on the World Natural Heritage List.
II. Major problems
Sand control and prevention is a worldwide ecological management problem, which is long-term, arduous and repetitive. Our country has a large area of sandy land and a high degree of sandiness, and the situation of sand control is grim. There are still some problems in the actual work, which need to be resolved gradually with great efforts.
(a) The task of preventing and treating sand remains daunting. China's existing sandy land area of 709 million mu can be managed, of which 333 million mu have not yet been managed, mainly in the "Three Norths" region, are difficult to gnaw the "hard bones". Some of the protective forests are characterized by a single species of tree, aging and degradation, and the task of consolidating the achievements is relatively heavy.
(ii) There are gaps in the implementation of the system concept. In the implementation of integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, water, forests, lakes, grasses and sands, the natural ecosystem elements are still divided between the protection of one-way restoration and other issues, and did not completely break the "tree planting only to plant trees, water management only to manage the water, the protection of the field is simply to protect the field" situation. The inter-provincial joint prevention and control project is still a long way from realizing the expected goals, and many problems still need to be solved in order to achieve results.
(c) Policy mechanisms need to be improved. It has been more than 20 years since the Law on Sand Control and Prevention was promulgated, and some of its provisions still need to be revised and improved. Forestry and grassland projects are highly seasonal, involving land, water, money and other elements, and there is not enough policy synergy in project approval, plan issuance, bidding, construction and acceptance. Most of the local governments in sandy areas have weak financial resources and insufficient local input capacity. In some areas, the responsibility of farmers and herdsmen for grazing bans and grass-animal balancing is not closely integrated with the distribution of grassland ecological protection subsidies and incentives.
(d) Support capacity needs to be upgraded. Basic research is lagging behind in such areas as the water cycle and vegetation configuration in arid and semi-arid zones, desert ecosystem succession patterns in typical areas, joint prevention and control of the seven major wind erosion zones in the north, protection and restoration of salinized and freeze-thawed desertified land, and the correlation between climate change, extreme events and land desertification. Most of the sand control and sand prevention and treatment programs in colleges and universities and sand control professional research institutions at the grass-roots level have been withdrawn or merged, and there has been a serious loss of professional and technical personnel. The grass-roots forestry and grassland departments do not have enough technical personnel, and their administrative and law-enforcement forces are weak and their supervisory capacity is not strong enough. State-owned forest farms in the "Three Norths" region are generally characterized by conservative thinking, sloppy management, ageing facilities and lack of vitality.
III. Next priorities
At present, the work of sand prevention and sand control is in a critical period of rolling up the mountain and overcoming difficulties. As a next step, we will resolutely implement the decision-making and deployment of the CPC Central Committee and focus on six key areas of work.
(a) resolutely fight the "Three North" project to eliminate, attack and block the war. To fight the three major iconic battles as the top priority, to key projects as a grip, the full implementation of the whole process of project-based closed-loop management, to ensure that a piece of a piece of the cure. Combined with the supply capacity of straw, straw, seedlings, etc., the annual sand control tasks are reasonably determined. Scientific preparation of project operation design, accurate determination of plots, tree species and grass species and technical measures. Strengthen the construction of guaranteed nurseries and grass seed production bases, and strictly control seedlings and engineering sand-fixing materials. In the core attack area to grasp a number of iconic joint prevention and treatment demonstration projects, the organization of central enterprises to implement a good Hunshandak-Khorqin sandland southern edge of the governance project, the promotion of photovoltaic sand control, road sand control and other new modes.
(ii) Comprehensively strengthening the rule of law on sand control. It is actively promoting the revision of the law on sand control and prevention, incorporating sand control and prevention into the ecological and environmental code that is being compiled, and formulating supporting systems such as the regulations on the management of the construction of the "Three Norths" project and the measures for the management of the construction of the "Three Norths" project. It has improved grass-roots law enforcement and supervisory power, and organized and carried out regular crackdowns on forest and grass destruction and other illegal acts. In-depth publicity has been given to the law on sand control and prevention, and law enforcement inspections have been strengthened to promote the full and effective implementation of the law. It has also given full play to the role of forest chiefs, and has strengthened the main responsibility for sand control and prevention.
(c) Continuously promoting scientific sand control. Integrate the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, water, forests, lakes, grasses and sands, and carry out the restoration of aged and degraded protection forests in a scientific manner, while forests and grasses and sands and sands and deserts are suitable for forests and sands. Adhere to the water green, reasonable configuration of tree irrigation grass, vigorously develop water-saving forests and grasses, and appropriately increase the ecological water use of forests and grasses. Continue to organize and implement key technology research and development projects, research and development and promotion of new equipment and technology. Do a good job in forest, grassland, wetland and desert investigation and monitoring, ecological meteorological services, ecological protection and restoration effectiveness assessment, as well as sand and dust storm disaster monitoring and early warning and emergency response. Practicing the concept of big food, developing forest and grassland industries such as woody oilseeds, understory economy, and specialty fruits according to local conditions.
(d) Improving and perfecting policy mechanisms. Innovative project bidding and purchasing mechanisms will support qualified enterprises or state-owned forest farms with experience in sand control to participate in targeted bidding. Adhere to the principle of "who builds, who manages, who benefits", encourage farmers and herdsmen to participate in sand control and prevention by contracting, leasing, shareholding, etc., and explore the practices of "award in lieu of subsidy", "work in lieu of food" and the long-term mechanism of post-project management and care. Explore the practice of "rewarding instead of subsidizing" and "providing relief for work" and the long-term mechanism of project management and care in the later stage. Improve and perfect the diversified input mechanism with the government's input as the main focus, establish a compensation mechanism for desert ecological protection, and encourage enterprises and public welfare funds to participate in sand control and prevention. Consolidate and continue the policy of ecological forest rangers, and innovate the performance incentive mechanism for state-owned forest farms.
(e) Taking the initiative to tell a good Chinese story. We will vigorously carry forward the "Spirit of the Three Norths", the Spirit of Sehanda, the Spirit of Righteousness, and the Spirit of Ke Keya, and intensify our efforts in selecting advanced models and heroes, so as to motivate and inspire people with the power of role models. We will continue to carry out the theme publicity of "6-17" World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, "I plant a tree for the Three Norths" and other special actions. Efforts have been made to improve the ability to guide public opinion, coordinate internal and external propaganda, online and offline, mainstream media and new media, comprehensively display the scientific concepts, advanced practices and governance achievements of sand control, and tell the world a good story of China's sand control to the world.
(vi) Further strengthening international cooperation. We will actively implement the Convention, prepare for the organization of the China Pavilion at the sixteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention, and support the Global Land Initiative of the Group of Twenty (G-20). We will strengthen desertification control in the "Belt and Road" countries, build desertification control centers in China and Mongolia, and provide strong technical support for joint efforts to deal with sand and dust hazards. It will also give full play to the branding effect of the Kubuqi International Desert Forum, and actively share its experience in sand control and prevention, including the "Three Norths" project.
The mission of sand prevention and sand control is glorious and the responsibility is great. Under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the CPC, with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, we will adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the spirit of the Twentieth National Congress of the CPC and the Second and Third Plenums of the Twentieth Central Committee of the CPC, thoroughly put into practice Xi Jinping's Thought on Ecological Civilization, and, under the supervision and support of the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee, work hard and pay close attention to implementation in order to strive to create new wonders for the prevention of and the treatment of sand and sand control in China in the new era.
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