The Information Office of the State Council released a white paper on "China's Marine Ecological Environmental Protection" on Nov. 11th.
Among other things, it promotes the economical and intensive utilization of sea resources. In terms of industrial use of the sea, optimizing the management of aquaculture use of the sea, scientifically determining the scale and layout of aquaculture use of the sea, introducing policies on the management of photovoltaic project use of the sea, and encouraging composite use and three-dimensional development.
See below for full text:
Marine ecological environment protection in China
(July 2024)
The People's Republic of China
State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China
catalogs
preamble
I. Building a marine ecosystem that harmonizes people and the sea
II. Integrated promotion of marine ecological environmental protection
(i) Planning leadership
(ii) Legal protection
(iii) Institutional safeguards
III. Systematic management of marine ecosystems
(i) Integrated management of priority sea areas
(ii) Synergizing the management of land-based sources of pollution
(iii) Precision prevention and control of pollution at sea
(d) Making efforts to create a beautiful bay
IV. Scientific protection and restoration of marine ecology
(i) Building marine ecological barriers
(ii) Implementation of marine ecological restoration
(iii) Maintaining a strict line of defense against marine disasters
(iv) Demonstration of Harmonious Island Creation
(v) Building ecological coastal zones
V. Strengthening the supervision and management of marine ecosystems
(i) Implementation of spatial use control and environmental zoning control
(ii) Conducting monitoring surveys
(iii) Strict regulatory enforcement
(iv) Strengthening assessment and supervision
VI. Upgrading the level of green and low-carbon development of the oceans
(i) Promoting the efficient utilization of marine resources
(ii) Thickening the green color of the marine economy
(iii) Exploring the realization of the value of ecological products
(iv) Carrying out green and low-carbon actions for all
VII. All-round international cooperation for the protection of marine ecosystems
(i) Active compliance in global governance
(ii) Expanding the "circle of friends" in maritime cooperation
(iii) Expanding cooperation in deep-sea polar scientific research
(iv) Extensive foreign aid training
concluding remarks
preamble
The oceans and seas account for about 711 TP3T of the Earth's surface area and are the cradle of life and the source of human civilization. The marine ecological environment has a bearing on the ecological balance of the Earth and the rational use of resources, the sustainable development of human civilization, and the reality and future of the community of destiny of the oceans. Protecting the marine ecological environment plays an important role in safeguarding national ecological security, promoting sustainable development of the oceans and realizing harmonious coexistence between people and the oceans. It is the common responsibility and mission of all countries to firmly protect and improve the marine environment and to conserve and sustainably utilize marine resources.
China is a firm promoter and active actor in the protection of marine ecological environment, and the protection of marine ecological environment has a bearing on the construction of a beautiful China and a strong maritime nation. Over the years, China has adhered to the principles of ecological prioritization and systematic management, coordinated the relationship between development and protection, supported high-quality development with a high level of protection, and striven to build a marine ecological environment that is harmonious between people and the sea.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of important remarks on marine ecological environmental protection, emphasizing that "we must care for the oceans and seas as much as we care for our lives". Under the guidance of Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization, China has adapted to the new situation, new tasks and new requirements of marine ecological environmental protection, and has carried out a series of fundamental, pioneering and long-term work, which has led to historic, transformative and global changes in marine ecological environmental protection. Through unremitting efforts, China's marine ecological environment quality has generally improved, the ecosystem service function of local waters has been significantly enhanced, marine resources have been exploited and utilized in an orderly manner, the marine ecological environment governance system has been continuously improved, and the people's sense of access to the sea and their affinity for the sea has been significantly enhanced, resulting in significant achievements in marine ecological environmental protection. China has actively promoted international cooperation in marine environmental protection, effectively fulfilled its responsibilities and obligations under international conventions, and put forward Chinese proposals and contributed Chinese strength to global marine environmental governance, thus demonstrating its role and commitment as a responsible major country.
This white paper is issued to introduce the concept, practice and effectiveness of China's marine ecological environmental protection, to enhance the international community's knowledge and understanding of China's marine ecological environmental protection, and to promote international cooperation in marine ecological environmental protection.
I. Building a marine ecosystem that harmonizes people and the sea
The cause of the oceans and seas has a bearing on the survival and development of the nation, as well as on the rise and fall of the country. Protecting the marine ecological environment is a matter of building a modernization in which human beings coexist harmoniously with nature. China is fully implementing the new development concept, attaches great importance to the protection of the marine ecological environment, and, based on its basic national conditions and stage of development, is constantly deepening its understanding of the protection of the marine ecological environment, continuously improving the system of protection of the marine ecological environment and accelerating the construction of a marine ecological civilization.
After the founding of New China, with the continuous development of the marine industry, China has attached great importance to the marine ecological environment and paid great attention to the protection of the marine ecological environment. In 1999, the law on marine environmental protection was amended, promoting the transformation of marine environmental protection from focusing on pollution prevention and control to taking ecological protection into account. China has formulated China's Marine Agenda 21, which implements the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and promotes the systematic and specialized development of marine ecological environment protection, and will amend the Marine Environment Protection Law again in 2023 to realize a systematic shift towards land and sea integration and comprehensive management.
Based on enhancing the synergy of land and sea pollution prevention and control and the integrity of ecological environmental protection, China has incorporated marine ecological environmental protection into the national ecological environmental protection system, gradually bridging the gap between land and sea, reinforcing the coordination and harmonization of ecological environmental protection functions on land and at sea, and establishing and improving a land-and-sea-coordinated system for the governance of the marine ecological environment. By continuing to strengthen the prevention and control of marine environmental pollution, actively carrying out marine ecological protection and restoration, and fighting an in-depth battle for the comprehensive management of key sea areas, the quality of China's marine environment has improved dramatically, the ecosystem service function of localized sea areas has been markedly enhanced, and the process of the orderly development and utilization of resources and the green transformation of the marine economy has been markedly accelerated.
The cause of China's marine ecological environmental protection is developing in inheritance, innovating in exploration, and endeavoring to build a marine ecological environment that is harmonious between man and the sea.
--Adhere to respect for nature and ecological priority. Firmly establish the concept of respecting nature, adapting to nature and protecting nature, objectively recognize the natural laws of marine ecosystems, start from the succession of marine ecosystems and their internal mechanisms, and focus on improving the ability of marine ecosystems to self-regulate, self-purify and self-restore, and enhance ecosystem stability and ecological service functions. Adhere to the bottom-line thinking and ecological priority, incorporate the construction of marine ecological civilization into the overall layout of marine development, build a firm barrier for marine ecological environmental protection, scientifically and rationally develop and utilize marine resources, and promote harmony between man and the sea.
--Adhere to integrated protection and systematic management. Marine ecological environmental protection is a systematic project. China adheres to the concept of systematic and comprehensive management, emphasizes both development and protection, pollution prevention and ecological restoration, and promotes marine ecological environmental protection in an integrated manner on land and at sea. It insists on linking rivers and seas, and mutual assistance between mountains and seas, connecting the shore and water, the land and sea, as well as the upstream and downstream of watersheds, constructing a cooperative mechanism for protection, governance, supervision and law enforcement based on regional linkage and sectoral coordination, and exploring the establishment of a comprehensive governance system that integrates coastal, watershed and sea areas.
-Adheres to strict regulation in accordance with the law. China protects the marine ecological environment through the strictest system and the tightest rule of law. It has adhered to ruling the sea in accordance with the law, promoting the formulation and revision of relevant laws and regulations in a coordinated manner, establishing a rule of law system for the protection of the marine ecological environment, and implementing the most stringent system for the governance of the marine ecological environment. It has strengthened the regularized, whole-process supervision and management of marine ecological environment zoning and control, monitoring and investigation, supervision and enforcement, and assessment and inspection, and has given full play to the role of the sharp sword of the Central Ecological Environment Protection Inspectorate and the oversight role of the State Natural Resources Inspectorate, striking out with heavy fists and heavy penalties, and severely cracking down on acts of destruction of the marine ecological environment.
--Adhering to innovation-driven, science and technology-led development. China adheres to innovation-driven development, strengthens innovation in marine ecological environmental protection technology systems, monitoring and assessment, and institutional mechanisms, makes scientific decisions, implements precise measures, and promotes the digitalization and intelligent transformation and upgrading of marine ecological environmental protection. It is implementing the strategy of "developing the sea through science and technology", giving full play to the leading role of science and technology in marine ecological environmental protection, striving to break through the scientific and technological bottlenecks restricting marine ecological environmental protection and the high-quality development of the marine economy, and utilizing a variety of means on land, at sea, in the air and in the sky, to enhance the capacity and technological level of marine ecological environmental monitoring, governance, supervision and emergency response.
--Adhere to green transformation and low-carbon development. The blue sea and silver beaches are also green water and mountains of gold. China adheres to the concept of green development, explores the path of green development of the oceans, promotes the transformation of the mode of marine development into a recycling-oriented mode, vigorously develops eco-tourism, eco-fisheries and other green industries, and continuously expands the path of realizing the value of eco-products, so as to promote the high-quality development of the economy of the coastal areas and the creation of a high quality of life through the high-level protection of marine ecological environment. Based on the "dual-carbon" strategic goal, with pollution reduction and carbon reduction as the starting point, we will synergistically push forward the enhancement of sinks and emission reduction in the marine sector, develop new green and low-carbon economic forms such as ocean ranching and offshore wind power, promote the green and low-carbon transformation of the marine industry, and accelerate the promotion of green, low-carbon and sustainable development of the oceans and seas.
--Adhere to government-led, multi-dimensional co-management. Adhere to the government's leading position in marine ecological environmental protection, play a key role in system design, scientific planning, regulatory services, risk prevention, etc., and establish a working mechanism for marine ecological environmental protection that is coordinated by the central government, under the overall responsibility of the province, and implemented by cities and counties. Activate the participation of business entities, trading factors and social capital in marine ecological environmental protection, create a sustainable model of marine environmental protection and ecological restoration, and make concerted efforts by society as a whole to build a modern marine ecological environmental governance system led by the Party committee, led by the government, led by enterprises, with the joint participation of social organizations and the public.
--Adhering to the people's supremacy and the participation of all people. China adheres to the principles of ecological benefit, ecological benefit, and ecology for the people, and constantly meets the new expectations of the people for a good ecological environment, effectively solves outstanding marine ecological and environmental problems, and constantly improves the quality of the pro-sea environment, and endeavors to let the people eat green, safe, and assured seafood, and enjoy a blue sea, blue skies, and clean sandy beaches, so as to constantly improve the people's sense of acquisition, happiness, and security in the pro-sea environment. Adhere to the people, relying on the people, carry forward the marine ecological culture of harmonious coexistence of people and the sea, form a consensus and action consciousness of all the people to actively participate in marine ecological environmental protection, and create a new pattern of marine ecological environmental protection of co-construction, co-rule and sharing.
--China adheres to the principle of open-mindedness and win-win cooperation. China adheres to the concept of a community of destiny in the oceans and seas, and with an open mind, an inclusive mentality and a broad perspective, will work with the peoples of the world in the same boat through thick and thin, sharing the same honor and disgrace, and jointly addressing the challenges of the marine ecosystem, resolutely safeguarding the common interests of mankind, and leaving behind a clear sea and blue skies for the sake of future generations. We will adhere to the principles of mutual trust, mutual assistance and mutual benefit, promote international cooperation in marine ecological and environmental protection, share the fruitful results of protection and development, and contribute Chinese wisdom and strength to the building of clean and beautiful oceans.
II. Integrated promotion of marine ecological environmental protection
China attaches great importance to the building of a marine ecological civilization and the protection of marine ecological environment, strengthens top-level design, adheres to planning leadership, strengthens overall coordination, establishes a sound system of laws, regulations and institutions, and continuously improves institutional mechanisms, so as to promote the smooth development of the cause of marine ecological environmental protection.
(i) Planning leadership
Based on the new situation and new tasks and requirements of marine ecological environmental protection, China has formulated special plans for marine ecological environmental protection and plans for related areas on the basis of national economic and social development planning, and in conjunction with territorial spatial planning, in order to spearhead the work of marine ecological environmental protection.
Systematic planning for marine ecological environmental protection. Planning related to marine ecological environmental protection is the basic basis for guiding the implementation of marine ecological environmental protection and promoting the building of a marine ecological civilization. The national economic and social development plan makes strategic arrangements for marine ecological environmental protection. The National Territorial Spatial Plan has made overall arrangements for the construction of a marine spatial pattern in which land and sea are coordinated and people and the sea are in harmony, and has provided spatial strategic guidance for marine ecological environmental protection in areas under its jurisdiction. In recent years, China has issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Marine Ecological Environmental Protection", exploring the establishment of a new hierarchical governance system of "national, provincial, municipal and bay", and promoting the formation of a new comprehensive governance pattern with the bay as the basic unit and action carrier, leading the work of marine ecological environmental protection in the new era. Ecological environmental protection work; issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" special plan for scientific and technological innovation in the field of ecological environment, "14th Five-Year Plan" for ecological protection and supervision, "14th Five-Year Plan" for ecological environment monitoring, "14th Five-Year Plan" for national marine environment monitoring, "14th Five-Year Plan" for national marine environment monitoring. Environmental Monitoring Plan, and the National Marine Dumping Area Plan (2021-2025), guiding scientific and technological innovation in marine ecological environmental protection, supervision of marine ecological protection and restoration, monitoring and evaluation of marine ecological environment, and management of marine dumping, etc., so as to provide solid support for comprehensively strengthening marine ecological environmental protection.
The spatial layout of marine development and protection adheres to the principle of ecological priority. Marine space is the basic carrier for the protection and restoration of marine ecosystems, the overall arrangement of marine development and utilization activities, and the implementation of various tasks in ocean governance, and marine spatial planning is an important tool for the overall arrangement of various types of marine spatial development and protection activities. The National Marine Functional Area Plan, the National Marine Main Functional Area Plan, the National Island Protection Plan and other types of spatial plans have been issued successively, playing an active role in the protection and rational utilization of sea areas and islands at different stages. 2018, after the overall deployment of the "Multi-Planning Integration", the "Several Guidelines on the Establishment of a Territorial Spatial Planning System and Supervision of Its Implementation" was issued. spatial planning system and supervise its implementation, issued the National Outline of Territorial Spatial Planning (2021-2035), compiled the Spatial Planning for Coastal Zones and Near-shore Marine Areas (2021-2035), implemented territorial spatial planning at all levels for coastal areas, formed a land-ocean-coordinated marine spatial planning system, strengthened synergies between land, sea and air, and strengthened the coordination between land, sea and air. It has also strengthened synergies between land, sea and air, continuously deepened ecosystem-based comprehensive management of coastal zones, and made global arrangements for the protection, restoration, development and utilization of coastlines, sea areas and islands.
Promoting protection and restoration in an orderly manner. Under the spatial guidance of national spatial planning, and in order to comprehensively plan and design the protection and restoration of important ecosystems in offshore and near-shore areas, China has, for the first time, formulated and implemented the "Construction Plan for Major Projects for Ecological Protection and Restoration of Coastal Zones (2021-2035)", which focuses on upgrading the quality and stability of ecosystems in coastal zones and enhancing the services of coastal zone ecosystems, and forms an overall pattern of "one belt, two corridors, six zones and multiple points". "To enhance the quality and stability of coastal zone ecosystems and strengthen coastal zone ecosystem services as the core, the overall pattern of major projects for coastal zone ecological protection and restoration is formed as "one belt, two corridors, and six districts and multiple points". Special Action Plan for the Protection and Restoration of Mangrove Forests (2020-2025), Special Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Mangrove Grass (2022-2025), etc., with a scientific and reasonable layout, adapting to local conditions, and implementing measures in different areas and categories, to comprehensively push forward marine Ecological protection and restoration, mangrove protection and restoration, and prevention and control of Miscanthus, forming a marine ecological protection and restoration planning system, and promoting integrated protection and restoration in a coordinated manner.
(ii) Legal protection
Relying on the rule of law is the fundamental guideline for marine ecological environmental protection. China has improved the system of laws and regulations on marine ecological environmental protection, strengthened the administration of justice, carried out legal literacy, and formed a favourable atmosphere in which society as a whole respects, learns, abides by and uses the law, so as to promote marine ecological environmental protection on the track of the rule of law.
(c) Establishing a sound system of laws and regulations on marine ecological environmental protection. China attaches great importance to the legislative work on marine ecological environmental protection, and has successively issued a series of relevant laws and regulations. 1982 saw the introduction of the Marine Environmental Protection Law, which has been revised twice and amended three times, and has constantly adapted to the requirements of the new situation and kept abreast of the times, and is a comprehensive law in the field of marine environmental protection of the country. Around the Marine Environmental Protection Law, seven administrative laws and regulations have been formulated, including the Marine Dumping Management Regulations, more than 10 departmental rules and regulations and more than 100 normative documents, and more than 200 technical standards and norms have been issued, basically establishing a system of laws and regulations on marine ecological environmental protection. In addition to specialized marine environmental protection laws, other important laws have also made relevant provisions, such as the Law on the Management of Sea Area Use and the Law on the Protection of Sea Islands, which provides for the sustainable use of sea areas and islands, the protection and improvement of the ecological environment; the Law on the Protection of Wetlands and the Law on Fisheries, which provides for the protection of coastal wetlands and the protection of fishery resources; and the Law on the Protection of the Yangtze River and the Law on the Protection of the Yellow River, which provides for the planning, monitoring and restoration of sea inlets. Coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have issued and implemented local laws and regulations or government regulations on marine ecological environment protection, and Guangxi and Hainan have enacted special legislation to protect coastal beaches and rare animal and plant resources.
(c) Doing a good job of judicial protection of the marine ecological environment. The courts have actively explored the practice of judicial protection of the marine environment, and have heard a total of more than 5,000 cases of various types of civil disputes over the marine environment since 1984. Maritime courts have concluded more than 1,000 administrative litigation cases involving the marine environment since 2015, and have explored jurisdiction over criminal cases involving pollution of the marine environment, illegal sand mining at sea, and illegal harvesting of precious and endangered aquatic wildlife. On the basis of summarizing its practical experience, China has gradually formed a judicial system for marine environmental protection that combines criminal, civil and administrative litigation, as well as a public interest litigation system for the marine environment with Chinese characteristics, in order to build a solid judicial line of defence for the protection of the marine ecosystem.
(c) Carrying out legal popularization of marine ecological environmental protection. Various forms of publicity and popularization of marine laws and regulations relating to sea areas, islands, marine environmental protection, and the management of fishing vessels at sea have been carried out through the convening of press conferences, the holding of lectures and training sessions, media campaigns, knowledge competitions, and the distribution of publicity materials, and some areas have popularized the laws and regulations on marine ecological environmental protection in innovative ways through the use of VR (virtual reality) experiences, interactive games, and microfilms, with notable results. Publicity has been stepped up for coastal areas, sea-related enterprises and the public, prompting local governments to protect and use sea areas in a scientific and reasonable manner, urging sea-related enterprises to fulfill their responsibilities, guiding the public to raise their awareness of the legal norms of the sea, and enabling more sea-related units and the public to understand the sea, protect the sea and care for the sea.
(iii) Institutional safeguards
To establish a series of marine ecological environment protection systems, basically realize the integration and convergence of land and marine management systems and mechanisms, gradually improve the management system for marine ecological environment protection, and continuously enhance the effectiveness of marine ecological environment management.
Establishment of the "four pillars and eight pillars" of the protection system. China attaches great importance to the application of systems to protect the marine ecological environment and regulate the development and utilization of marine resources, and has established the "four pillars" of the marine ecological environment protection system in accordance with practice and the law. In terms of pollution prevention and control, it has established systems such as the filing of sea outfalls, approval of environmental assessment, ocean dumping permits, and response to emergencies, etc.; in terms of ecological protection and restoration, it has established systems such as the red line of marine ecological protection, nature reserves, and natural shoreline control, etc.; and in terms of supervision and management, it has established systems such as the control of the use of territorial space, the control of ecological and environmental zones, the central ecological and environmental protection inspectorate, the national natural resource inspectorate, the target responsibility system, assessment and evaluation, and monitoring and investigation. In terms of supervision and management, a system of land use control, ecological environment zoning control, central ecological environment protection supervision, national natural resources supervision, target responsibility system, assessment and evaluation, and monitoring and investigation will be established.
Forming a management system of "departmental coordination and up-and-down linkage". After years of construction and development, China's management system for marine ecological environmental protection has gone through a development process from scratch, from weak to strong. 2018, the State Council's institutional reform has integrated the responsibilities for marine environmental protection into the ecological environment department, the responsibilities for marine protection, restoration and exploitation into the natural resources department, and the departments of transportation, maritime affairs, fisheries, forestry and grasslands, marine police, and the military have participated in the work of marine ecological environmental protection together in accordance with their respective functions. Transportation, maritime affairs, fisheries, forestry and grassland, marine police, military and other departments have been involved in marine ecological environmental protection in accordance with their respective functions, thus linking the land and the sea and enhancing the synergy of land and sea pollution prevention and ecological environmental protection. Ecological environment regulatory agencies have been set up in the North Sea waters of the Haihe River Basin, the South Sea waters of the Pearl River Basin and the East Sea waters of the Taihu Lake Basin to undertake work related to the supervision of marine ecological environment. Coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have assumed specific responsibilities for ecological and environmental management of near-shore sea areas, and have implemented key tasks, major projects and important initiatives to promote marine ecological environmental protection and management. Over the years, China has formed a working mechanism for marine ecological environmental protection that involves multisectoral coordination and central and local linkages, and has initially established a comprehensive governance system that integrates coastal, watershed and marine areas.
III. Systematic management of marine ecosystems
Adhering to the focus of the attack and systematic management, land and sea integration, river and sea linkage, marine ecological and environmental management, and constantly improve the quality of marine ecological and environmental conditions.
(i) Integrated management of priority sea areas
The Bohai Sea, the mouth of the Yangtze River-Hangzhou Bay, the mouth of the Pearl River and other key sea areas are located in the strategic convergence zone for high-quality development along China's coasts, with well-developed and densely populated economies, high intensity of marine exploitation and utilization, obvious characteristics of the regional marine ecosystems and the relative concentration and prominence of the problems, making them the key areas of attack on marine ecosystems and environmental governance, and it is vital to implement comprehensive governance.
Fighting and winning the battle for comprehensive treatment of the Bohai Sea. The Bohai Sea is China's semi-enclosed inland sea, with poor seawater exchange capacity and insufficient self-purification capacity.Since 2018, China has opened the first battle for pollution prevention and control in the marine field, and has taken the Bohai Comprehensive Treatment Battle as one of the signature battles of the 13th Five-Year Pollution Prevention and Control Battle, according to the overall deployment of the "one-year plan and layout, two-year overall momentum, and three-year initial results". According to the overall deployment of "one year of planning, two years of overall momentum, three years of results", focusing on the Bohai Sea "1 + 12" cities, focusing on the proportion of good water quality in near-shore sea areas, the "elimination of inferiority" of rivers entering the sea, the investigation of outfalls into the sea Rectification, coastal wetlands and shoreline remediation and restoration of the five core objectives, and synergistically promote "pollution control, ecological protection, risk prevention" key tasks. After a three-year campaign, the core objectives of the Bohai Sea comprehensive management have all been completed with high quality, initially curbing the trend of deterioration of the Bohai Sea ecological environment, and promoting the continuous improvement of the ecological and environmental quality of the Bohai Sea. 2020, the proportion of the Bohai Sea near-shore waters with good water quality (Class I and Class II) has reached 82.3%, which is a significant increase of 15.3 percent compared with the year 2017, before the implementation of the campaign, and 49 state control sections1 of the Bohai Sea rivers are fully covered by the Bohai Sea. State-controlled sections of 49 rivers in the Bohai Sea ① comprehensively eliminated the inferior V water quality, a total of 8,891 hectares of remediation and restoration of coastal wetlands, 132 kilometers of shoreline.
From 2021, on the basis of consolidating and deepening the results of the battle for comprehensive management of the Bohai Sea, China will expand the scope of the battle to the sea areas adjacent to the mouth of the Yangtze River-Hangzhou Bay and the mouth of the Pearl River as one of the landmark battles in the "14th Five-Year Plan" for in-depth battle against pollution. As one of the signature battles in the "14th Five-Year Plan" to fight pollution prevention and control in depth, China has systematically deployed eight coastal provinces (municipalities) and 24 coastal municipalities in the three key sea areas, adhered to precise pollution control, scientific pollution control, and pollution control according to the law, and implemented comprehensive, systematic, and source management in an integrated manner on land and at sea, with each key task progressing smoothly and achieving remarkable results at an early stage. The overall water quality of key sea areas is improving, and the proportion of areas with good water quality (Class I and II) in the Bohai Sea, the Yangtze River Estuary-Hangzhou Bay, and the Pearl River Estuary Comprehensive Governance Battle Sea Areas in 2023 will be 67.51 TP3T, an increase of 8.8 percentage points compared with that in 2020.
(ii) Synergizing the management of land-based sources of pollution
Marine environmental problems manifest themselves in the sea, but their roots lie on land. China has taken vigorous measures to promote the coordinated management of land-based sources of pollution, to control key channels for the transmission of pollutants to the sea, and to reduce the overall pressure of land-based sources of pollution on the marine environment.
Grasp the pollution prevention and control of rivers entering the sea. Rivers entering the sea are the most important way for pollutants from land-based sources to be imported into the sea. China is actively improving the quality and efficiency of urban sewage treatment, constructing and upgrading rainwater and sewage diversion pipeline networks, and strengthening the supervision of the sewage treatment industry, so as to reduce the impact of urban sewage on the water quality of rivers that enter the sea; since 2012, the construction of sewage treatment infrastructure in coastal areas has been significantly accelerated, and the sewage treatment plants of cities above the prefecture-level have basically completed the upgrading of Class I-A standards. To carry out rural environmental remediation, since the "14th Five-Year Plan", the coastal provinces have completed the comprehensive environmental remediation of 17,000 new administrative villages, and have completed the preparation of pollution prevention and control plans for livestock and poultry breeding in 170 large animal husbandry counties, and the rural sewage treatment rate has exceeded 45%, significantly reducing the discharge of sewage from agriculture and rural areas. Efforts have been made to solve the problems of water quality pollution and eutrophication in near-shore waters caused by excessive nitrogen discharges from watersheds, establish a comprehensive management system that integrates coastal, watershed and sea areas, explore the expansion of the scope of total nitrogen control to the upstream of rivers entering the sea, and promote the implementation of the "one-river-one-policy" total nitrogen management for rivers entering the sea. 2012-2017 China's state-controlled rivers in 2017 From 2012 to 2017, the water quality of state-controlled sections of rivers entering the sea in China has remained stable and improved, and the water quality has improved significantly after 2018. At present, the number of state-controlled sections of rivers entering the sea with good water quality (Ⅰ to Ⅲ) accounts for about four-fifths of the total, and the loss of use function (inferior V) sections are basically eliminated.
Guard the important gates where coastal pollution enters the sea. Sea outfalls are important nodes for coastal land-based pollution discharge into the sea. We have issued the "Implementation Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision and Management of River Outfalls into the Sea" to promote the investigation, monitoring, traceability and remediation of outfalls into the sea in an integrated manner, and to establish and improve the whole chain of governance system for near-shore water bodies, outfalls into the sea, sewage pipelines and sources of pollution. In accordance with the requirement of "checking all outfalls and investigating as much as possible", China will find out the number, distribution, discharge characteristics and responsible parties of all types of outfalls, and promote the traceability and remediation of outfalls and the implementation of responsibilities. By the end of 2023, China had investigated more than 53,000 sea outfalls and completed the remediation of more than 16,000 sea outfalls, which has played an important role in improving the environmental quality of near-shore waters. A unified information platform for sea outfalls has been constructed to further standardize the installation and management of sea outfalls, and the establishment of new industrial outfalls and urban sewage treatment plant outfalls in areas such as nature reserves, important fishery waters, sea bathing beaches, and ecological protection red lines is strictly prohibited.
Cleaning up and remedying marine garbage. The Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution and the Action Plan for the Control of Plastic Pollution in the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan have been issued to control the entry of garbage into the sea from the source. Further establish and implement a system for monitoring, intercepting, collecting, salvaging, transporting and treating marine garbage; each coastal city carries out prevention, control and cleanup and remediation of garbage entering the sea in rivers and near-shore areas through the system of "sea sanitation" on a regular basis, and Zhejiang Province's "Blue Cycle" is a new system for the management of marine plastic waste. Zhejiang Province's "Blue Cycle" new model of marine plastic waste management has won the United Nations "Champions of the Earth Award". Promote the joint prevention and treatment of garbage in rivers, lakes and seas, and carry out special clearing and drifting actions in 11 key bays such as Jiaozhou Bay in 2022, mobilizing 188,100 person-times to clean up about 55,300 tons of various types of shoreline and sea-drifting garbage. Consolidate and enhance the effectiveness of the special clearing work, and upgrade the special clearing action in key bays to a marine garbage cleanup action in coastal cities in 2024. It will continue to organize and carry out monitoring surveys on marine garbage and microplastics, and compared with the results of similar international surveys in recent years, the average densities of marine garbage and offshore microplastics in China's near-shore waters are at a low to medium level.
(iii) Precision prevention and control of pollution at sea
Adhering to the equal importance of development and protection, it has continuously strengthened the regularized supervision of marine engineering, marine dumping, mariculture, marine transportation and other industries, actively responded to sudden environmental pollution incidents, comprehensively upgraded the level of prevention and control of pollution at sea, and endeavoured to reduce the impact of various types of marine development and utilization activities on the marine ecological environment.
Strictly controlling the ecological and environmental impacts of marine engineering and marine dumping. The management of environmental impact assessment has been continuously optimized, and marine engineering construction projects such as land reclamation and sea sand mining have been strictly controlled from the source. It will strengthen the prevention and control of pollution from marine oil and gas exploration and development, and the State will unify the exercise of environmental impact assessment approval and pollutant discharge supervision. Starting the preparation of technical specifications for discharge permits for marine projects, and promoting the inclusion of marine projects in the management of discharge permits in accordance with the law. In accordance with the principles of science, reasonableness, economy and safety, a dumping area will be selected and set up, and the operation of the dumping area will be evaluated in a scientific and detailed manner, so as to ensure the safety of the ecological environment and the navigational depth of the dumping area. Strictly implementing the dumping permit system, comprehensively using the automatic ship identification system, marine dumping online monitoring and other means to carry out off-site supervision, and minimizing the impact of waste dumping on the ecological environment.
Systematically carry out the prevention and control of marine aquaculture pollution. It has issued and implemented the Opinions on Accelerating the Green Development of the Aquaculture Industry and the Opinions on Strengthening the Regulation of the Ecological Environment of Maritime Aquaculture, formulated discharge standards, strengthened the management of environmental assessment, and promoted the categorization and remediation of outfalls and the monitoring of tail water, etc., so as to systematically strengthen the environmental regulation of mariculture. Coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have actively introduced standards for the discharge of aquaculture tail water and increased the supervision of pollution discharge. Seawater aquaculture has been incorporated into the national "Classified Management List for Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Projects" for the implementation of environmental assessment management. In accordance with the requirements of "banning a batch, merging a batch and standardizing a batch", localities have carried out clean-up and remediation of illegal and unreasonably set up aquaculture tailing discharge outlets, and promoted the environmental upgrading and transformation of pond aquaculture, factory aquaculture, and net pens to purify the aquaculture environment. Coastal provinces, cities and counties have issued plans for aquaculture waters and mudflats, and scientifically delineated prohibited areas, restricted areas and aquaculture zones for mariculture. Increase the prevention and control of pollution from ships and ports. Strictly implement the "Ship Water Pollutant Emission Control Standards", organize and carry out special rectification activities to prevent and control water pollution from ships, and incorporate environmental protection standards into technical regulations for ships. The implementation of the joint supervision system for the transfer and disposal of water pollutants from ships has been further promoted, and coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have basically completed the construction of facilities for receiving, transferring and disposing of pollutants from ships in ports. It has continued to carry out supervision and inspection of the quality of fuel oil for ships, strengthened the supervision of the equipment and use of shore power facilities for ships at berth, and investigated and eliminated potential pollution hazards.
Establishment of an emergency response system for marine environmental emergencies. It has issued and implemented the National Emergency Response Plan for Major Marine Oil Spills and the Emergency Response Plan for Oil Spill Pollution of the Environment by Marine Petroleum Exploration and Development, clarifying the emergency response organization system, the response process, information management and dissemination, and safeguard measures, and has established a relatively complete system of emergency response plans for oil spills at sea. It has strengthened the investigation of marine environmental risks, and organized three provinces and one city around the Bohai Sea to complete the risk assessment of environmental emergencies and filing of environmental emergency response plans for more than 5,400 key enterprises involved in hazardous chemicals, heavy metals and industrial wastes, as well as nuclear power generation, and so on. It developed the National Marine Ecological Environment Emergency Command System, constructed an intelligent platform integrating communication, monitoring, decision-making, commanding and scheduling, and improved the informatization capability of responding to emergencies. It has developed the "oil fingerprint" identification system, collected more than 3,200 crude oil samples, basically realizing the full coverage of oil sample collection from offshore oil exploration and development platforms, and providing an important basis for resolving disputes over responsibility for oil spill accidents at sea and assessing damage caused by oil spill pollution.
(d) Making efforts to create a beautiful bay
The Gulf is a key area for promoting the sustainable improvement of the marine ecological environment. Taking the bay as the basic unit, with the goal of building a beautiful bay with "clear water and clean beaches, fish and gulls, and harmony between people and the sea", the government will promote the prevention and control of pollution in near-shore waters, ecological protection and restoration, and environmental remediation of the shore and beach in a coordinated manner, so as to systematically improve the quality of the bay's ecological environment. quality of the ecological environment of the bay.
Comprehensively deploying the construction of beautiful bays. The Outline of the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for the National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Visionary Goals for the Year 2035 explicitly calls for the promotion of the protection and construction of beautiful bays, and the Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China incorporates beautiful bays into the overall situation of the construction of a beautiful China, and explicitly calls for the rate of completion of beautiful bays to reach about 40% by 2027, and for beautiful bays to be basically constructed by 2035 The Opinions of the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan The "14th Five-Year Plan" for Marine Ecological Environmental Protection focuses on the construction of beautiful bays, and divides the near-shore sea area into 283 bay construction units, and implements the key tasks, measures and goals to each bay one by one. The Action Program for the Enhancement of the Construction of Beautiful Bays further specifies that by 2027, it will focus on promoting the construction of more than 110 beautiful bays. At present, the construction of beautiful bays is progressing steadily, and by the end of 2023, nearly half of the 1,682 key tasks and engineering measures had been completed, with a cumulative remediation and restoration of 475 kilometers of shoreline and 16,700 hectares of coastal wetlands, the proportion of good water quality area in 167 bays exceeding 85%, and the proportion of good water quality area in 102 bays being improved compared with that in 2022.
Multi-pronged measures are being taken to build beautiful bays. Basic standards for the construction of beautiful bays have been formulated, and five types of indicators have been set up to guide localities in the construction of beautiful bays, with good quality of the bay environment, healthy marine ecosystems, and a harmonious relationship between people and the sea as the guiding principles, encouraging the creation of additional indicators of special characteristics in accordance with local conditions. It will establish a management platform for the construction of beautiful bays, utilize on-site surveys and remote sensing monitoring to track and assess progress, promote the realization of intelligent supervision of the construction of beautiful bays, and supervise and promote the governments at all levels to carry out comprehensive management of bays in accordance with local conditions and the implementation of construction tasks. Establish a diversified investment and financing mechanism, strengthen government guidance, and encourage business entities and social capital to participate in the construction of beautiful bays. Comprehensively utilize financial inputs, special bonds, ecological environment-oriented development (EOD) projects and other financial and monetary means to accelerate the implementation of the Beautiful Bay construction project. Strengthening the demonstration and leadership of beautiful bay construction, encouraging the system mechanism and key technological innovation of beautiful bay construction, carrying out the selection of excellent cases, popularizing the demonstration experience model, and leading the enhancement of the overall level of the construction of beautiful bays. At present, two batches of 20 excellent cases of beautiful bays at the national level have been selected.
Through in-depth promotion of comprehensive management of key sea areas, synergistic prevention and control of land and sea pollution, and continued construction of beautiful bays, the water quality of China's near-shore sea areas has generally improved, and the proportion of areas with good water quality in 2023 will be 21.3 percentage points higher than that in 2012.
IV. Scientific protection and restoration of marine ecology
China adheres to respecting nature, adapting to nature, protecting nature, promoting integrated protection and systematic restoration of marine ecosystems in a coordinated manner, making scientific decisions, applying precise measures, guarding the boundaries of ecological security, and continuously improving the diversity, stability and sustainability of marine ecosystems.
(i) Building marine ecological barriers
China is the first country in the world to propose and implement a system of red lines for ecological protection, effectively building a solid barrier for marine ecological protection through a variety of means, so as to provide sufficient time and space for the oceans to recuperate and recuperate.
Creation of a marine ecological classification and zoning system. Marine ecological classification and zoning is a basic model for modern ocean management. Starting from 2019, the creation of a marine ecological classification zoning system will be carried out to build a marine ecological classification framework of "two beams and four pillars", based on two scenarios of biogeography and aquatic life, and four components of the water body, topography and geomorphology, substrate, and living organisms to carry out marine ecological classification; and a top-down, level-by-level nested approach will be used to carry out marine ecological zoning at different scales. Using a top-down, level-by-level nested approach to carry out different scales of marine ecological zoning, China's offshore waters will be divided into 3 ecological level 1 zones, 22 ecological level 2 zones, and 53 ecological level 3 zones; in 2023, focusing on the near-shore waters with the highest frequency of human activities, the 20 ecological level 3 zones of the near-shore waters will be divided into 132 ecological level 4 zones. Through the construction of unified ecological classification standards and the division of ecological zones at different scales, the natural geographic pattern of China's oceans will be scientifically reflected, providing basic support for a comprehensive understanding of the ecological background of the oceans and fine-tuning marine ecological evaluation, protection and restoration.
Carrying out the evaluation of the carrying capacity of marine resources and environment and the suitability of national land space.In 2015, the Overall Program for Reform of the Ecological Civilization System for the first time made requirements for the evaluation of the carrying capacity of resources and environment, and began to evaluate the scale that the natural resources and ecological environment could carry. carrying capacity of resources and environment and the suitability of territorial space development evaluation basis, scientific and orderly integrated layout of various types of functional space, China began to build a technical methodology system for the evaluation of the carrying capacity of resources and environment and the suitability of territorial space development, and organized the completion of the evaluation of the carrying capacity of marine resources and environment and the suitability of territorial space development at the national, regional, provincial, and municipal levels, which will serve as a basis for the delineation of the red line of marine ecological protection and marine ecological space, This will serve as the scientific basis for the delineation of the red line for marine ecological protection, marine ecological space, and marine exploitation space.
Delineate and strictly abide by the red line of marine ecological protection. The red line of ecological protection is an important institutional innovation and major decision-making deployment in China's ecological civilization construction. China has made systematic arrangements for the key areas of marine ecological protection, prioritizing ecologically important areas for biodiversity conservation, coastal protection and other ecological functions, as well as ecologically fragile areas such as coastal erosion, to be strictly protected by the red line of marine ecological protection, which is distributed as "one belt with multiple points". At the same time, a series of documents have been issued to regulate the limited human activities allowed within the ecological protection red line, and to clarify the control requirements. Continuously carry out monitoring of the red line of ecological protection and assessment of the effectiveness of protection, survey and demarcation, rationally optimize the spatial layout of the red line, and improve the long-term control mechanism of the red line of ecological protection, so as to realize the control of an important ecological space by a red line, and to firmly guard the bottom line of the country's ecological security.
Improving the system of marine protected areas. China has incorporated important marine ecosystems, natural distribution areas of rare and endangered marine organisms, marine natural relics and natural landscapes into marine protected areas for key protection. After years of development, China has established 352 marine-related nature reserves, protecting about 93,300 square kilometers of sea area, and preparing for the establishment of five candidate areas for marine-related national parks, with the objects of protection covering rare and endangered marine organisms such as zebra seals and Chinese white dolphins, as well as typical ecosystems such as mangrove forests and coral reefs and other topographical features such as ancient shell dykes and the remains of ancient forests on the seabed, thus initially forming a system of marine protected areas with a complete range of types, a reasonable layout and a sound function. A sound system of marine protected areas has been initially formed with a complete range of types, reasonable layout and functions. Through the construction of marine protected areas, the populations of rare marine organisms are gradually recovering, and the number of zebra seals, a national-level protected animal, that come to Liaodong Bay to overwinter each year has stabilized at more than 2,000.
Conservation of marine biodiversity. Through the protection of ecological corridors, the raising of species protection levels, the conduct of scientific research and monitoring, fishing moratoriums in key areas, and breeding and releasing of fish, China has been actively and effectively protecting marine organisms. At present, China has recorded more than 28,000 kinds of marine organisms, accounting for about 11% of the number of recorded species in the world's oceans, and the National Marine Fisheries Biological Germplasm Resource Bank has collected and preserved about 140,000 copies of various kinds of biological resources, and the collection and preservation of biogenetic resources has continued to accelerate. The National Marine Fisheries Biological Germplasm Reserve has collected and preserved about 140,000 biological resources, and the collection and preservation of biological genetic resources has been accelerated continuously. Special national conservation action plans or outlines have been issued for key protected species such as the Chinese white dolphin, sea turtles, corals and spotted seals, and a national species conservation alliance has been set up to carry out effective work to stabilize and improve the number of populations. Twenty coastal wetlands, including the Dalian Spotted Seal National Nature Reserve in Liaoning Province and the Huidong Harbor Sea Turtle National Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province, have been included in the list of wetlands of international importance.
(ii) Implementation of marine ecological restoration
Adhering to the principle of natural restoration, supplemented by artificial restoration, major projects for marine ecological restoration will be carried out in an orderly manner, and a pattern of marine ecological restoration from the mountain tops to the oceans will be initially formed with planning leadership, institutional safeguards, financial support, and basic support, so as to thickly cultivate the marine ecological foundation of a beautiful China.
Adhere to a problem-oriented and comprehensive approach. Consider the marine ecosystem as a whole, accurately diagnose marine ecological problems, reasonably determine the objectives and tasks of protection and restoration, adopt targeted modes of protection and conservation, natural restoration, auxiliary regeneration and ecological reconstruction, optimize restoration measures and technologies, and adopt measures that are appropriate to the local conditions and the time and that are categorized by zones. For example, on the layout of protection and restoration, the Bohai Sea focuses on warm-temperate estuarine wetlands, the Yellow Sea focuses on warm-temperate coastal wetlands, the East China Sea focuses on subtropical estuaries, bays and islands, and the South China Sea focuses on subtropical and tropical typical coastal wetlands.
Science and technology support standards first. Strengthen research on the laws of marine ecosystem succession and internal mechanisms, carry out technical research, build standards and norms, and improve the integrity, scientificity and operability of ecological restoration. Select the first 10 lists of innovative and applicable technologies for marine ecological restoration. It has issued 11 technical guidelines on marine ecological restoration and a series of technical guidelines on ecological disaster mitigation and restoration of coastal zones, and formulated technical manuals on the restoration of various typical marine ecosystems such as mangrove forests, coastal salt marshes, oyster reefs, etc., so as to form a systematic restoration technical standard system.
(c) Strengthening financial support for restoration: since 2016, the central financial administration has set up special funds to support coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in carrying out marine ecological protection and restoration projects, mainly in key areas such as sea areas, islands and coastal zones that have an important safeguarding role in ecological security and have a wider range of ecological benefits. It has issued the Opinions on Encouraging and Supporting the Participation of Social Capital in Ecological Protection and Restoration to encourage and support the participation of social capital in the whole process of marine ecological protection and restoration project investment, design, restoration and management, and to promote the establishment of a market-oriented investment and financing mechanism for the participation of social capital in marine ecological protection and restoration. It has issued incentive policies to reward and stimulate qualified new construction land indicators for mangrove afforestation.
Implementing major marine ecological protection and restoration projects: From 2016 to 2023, the central financial administration will support coastal cities to implement 175 major marine ecological protection and restoration projects such as the "Blue Bay" remediation action, ecological restoration of the Bohai Comprehensive Treatment Battle, protection and restoration of coastal zones, protection and restoration of mangrove forests, and so on, covering 11 coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), with a total investment of 25.258 billion yuan of central financial funds. These projects covered 11 coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), invested a total of 25.258 billion yuan in central financial funds, and led to the improvement and restoration of nearly 1,680 kilometers of coastline and more than 750,000 mu of coastal wetlands nationwide. The Special Action Plan for the Protection and Restoration of Mangrove Forests (2020-2025) was issued, and by the end of 2023, about 7,000 hectares of mangrove forests had been created and about 5,600 hectares of existing mangrove forests had been restored, and the results of the 2022 Land Change Survey showed that the area of mangrove forests across the country had increased to 29,200 hectares, about 7,200 hectares more than that at the beginning of this century. With 7,200 hectares, China is one of the few countries in the world with a net increase in mangrove area. Through the above efforts, China is continuously enhancing the service function of marine ecosystems, upgrading the capacity of marine carbon sinks, and building a solid ecological security barrier for coastal zones, and is contributing to high-quality development with high-level marine ecological protection and restoration.
(iii) Maintaining a strict line of defense against marine disasters
Marine disasters pose a serious threat to marine ecosystems. By enhancing the resilience of coastal ecosystems and strengthening the identification of marine ecological disaster risks and emergency response, the capacity to prevent and control marine disasters will be continuously improved, and the bottom line of marine ecological security will be effectively safeguarded.
Strengthening the capacity of coastal zone ecosystems to withstand typhoons, storm surges and other marine disasters. China is one of the countries with the most serious marine disasters in the world. In order to prevent major marine disasters, a global marine three-dimensional observation network with a reasonable layout, complete functions and an integrated system has been built, basically realizing long-term operational observation of the maritime areas under China's jurisdiction and those of key concern, and continuing to enhance the level of autonomy, globalization, intelligence and refinement of marine disaster early warning reports, so as to provide technical support for the prevention of and response to marine disasters. Mangrove forests, coastal salt marshes and other ecosystems are a natural line of defense against marine disasters, and through the construction of ecological seawalls, a comprehensive protection system that synergizes ecology and disaster reduction is being built to give full play to the disaster prevention and mitigation functions of ecosystems, and to comprehensively strengthen the ability of coastal zone ecosystems to withstand typhoons, storm surges and other marine disasters.
Strengthening the capacity to prevent and control marine ecological disasters. Marine ecological disasters have a serious impact on the economic and social development of coastal areas. China's marine ecological disasters are dominated by localized biological outbreaks such as red tides and green tides. It will formulate emergency plans for red tide disasters, strengthen early warning and monitoring of red tide disasters, discover, track and accurately warn of red tide disasters in a timely manner, and grasp the trend of development and evolution of red tides, so as to provide support for the prevention and control of red tide disasters and the handling of emergencies. Carry out the Yellow Sea seagrass green tide disaster monitoring and early warning and prevention and control, reduce the seagrass green tide disaster impact. For jellyfish, shrimp and other localized biological outbreaks, the implementation of key areas, key time surveillance monitoring, timely release of information.
(iv) Demonstration of Harmonious Island Creation
Islands are an important platform for protecting the marine environment and maintaining ecological balance. The Harmonious and Beautiful Island Creation Demonstration Work takes individual islands or groups of islands as the mainstay of its creation, with the goal of creating a new "Harmonious and Beautiful" pattern of harmony between people and islands, with green islands, clean beaches, clear water and abundant materials, in order to vigorously promote a high level of protection and high-quality development of the island areas.
In 2022, the Harmonious and Beautiful Island Creation Demonstration Work was officially launched, focusing on the connotation of "ecological beauty, living beauty and production beauty", and setting up seven indicators, including ecological protection and restoration, resource conservation and intensive utilization, improvement of human habitat, green and low-carbon development, economic development with special characteristics, cultural construction and institutional construction. In 2023, the first batch of 33 islands will be selected as Harmonious Islands.
Ecological leadership in the creation of demonstrations. Adhere to ecological priority, repair and restore the ecological environment of islands, implement ecological protection and restoration projects for shorelines, islands and aquatic plants, and encourage the development of mangrove forests, seagrass beds and other blue-carbon ecosystems to sequester carbon and increase sinks; for example, Shandong Changdao is building an international zero-carbon island, and it is actively exploring ways to turn marine carbon resources into assets by issuing "marine carbon loans" and "sea grass beds and seaweed farms carbon loans". For example, Shandong Changdao is building an international zero-carbon island and actively exploring ways to turn marine carbon resources into assets by issuing "marine carbon credits" and "carbon credits for seagrass beds and seaweed fields". Continuously promote the improvement of island habitat, strengthen infrastructure construction, improve external transportation conditions, improve water supply and drainage, power supply, communications and other facilities, such as the implementation of large-scale planting of flowers, trees and shrubs on Dong'ao Island in Guangdong, the completion of the entire island, the beautiful landscape of the green road, to create offshore islands of the mountains and the sea stacks. Promote the new development of cultural and tourism integration, using the island, sea, history, temple characteristics of resources, deepen the "tourism +" model, and strive to promote "tourism + fisheries", "tourism + rural", "tourism + culture", "tourism + culture", and "tourism + tourism". "Tourism + Culture", innovate the culture, sports and tourism industry model, excavate marine stories, and pass on traditional culture, such as the establishment of 33 intangible cultural heritage projects on Meizhou Island in Fujian Province, spreading the culture of Mazu in multiple forms, and realizing the publicity, protection and inheritance of "intangible cultural heritage".
(v) Building ecological coastal zones
The coastal zone is a special area where the land and the sea are highly interconnected, interactively integrated and in solidarity, with rich natural resources, unique environmental conditions and frequent human activities. China's coastal zone, as the intersection of the coastal area and the ocean, is a key zone for building a firm national ecological security barrier, supporting the economic and social development of the coastal area, carrying the linkage between the land and the sea, promoting the development and opening up of the area at a high level, and promoting high-quality development. 2021, China proposes to build an eco-coastal zone, adhering to the integration of the land and the sea, and constructing the eco-coastal zone evaluation technical and methodological system by using a comprehensive evaluation of the state of the marine ecological condition as a starting point. In 2021, China proposed to build an ecological coastal zone, insisting on land-sea integration, taking the comprehensive evaluation of the marine ecological condition as a starting point, and constructing a technical methodology system for evaluating ecological coastal zones, setting nine evaluation indicators in four aspects, namely, stable ecosystem condition, environmental quality condition, sustainable utilization of resources, and safe and healthy condition for human beings, so as to scientifically identify ecological problems in the coastal zone, and to build a healthy, clean, safe, diversified, and bountiful coastal zone through ecological protection and restoration, constructing a network of greenways in the coastal zone, and upgrading of ecological sea walls.
V. Strengthening the supervision and management of marine ecosystems
Coordinate resources in all fields, bring together the strength of all parties, adhere to the red line of ecological protection, the bottom line of environmental quality and the upper line of resource utilization, play a good zoning control, monitoring and investigation, supervision and law enforcement, assessment and supervision of the "combined fist", improve the level of informationization, digitization and intelligent supervision and management of the marine ecological environment, and guarantee the smooth advancement of the marine ecological environment governance and marine ecological protection and restoration work. The ecological protection and restoration work will be promoted smoothly.
(i) Implementation of spatial use control and environmental zoning control
Fully implement the main functional area strategy, implement use control based on territorial spatial planning, strengthen the ecological and environmental zoning control of near-shore waters, and "draw the bottom line" and "draw the border" for development.
In the 1990s, China issued and implemented the National Marine Functional Zoning Plan based on the location and resources and environmental conditions of the sea area, specifying the dominant functions of the functional zones and the requirements for marine environmental protection. 2015 saw the issuance of the National Marine Main Functional Zones Plan, which divides the marine space into four types of areas: optimized development, key development, restricted development and prohibited development, and provides basic constraints on the development and protection orientations of the various marine zones. Starting from 2019, the Marine Functional Zoning and Marine Main Functional Area Planning were integrated into the national land spatial planning, realizing the "integration of multiple regulations".In October 2022, the National Outline of Land Spatial Planning (2021-2035) was issued and implemented, and coastal provinces were required to implement the National Outline of Land Spatial Planning (2021-2035) in their national land spatial planning. In October 2022, the National Outline of Territorial Spatial Planning (2021-2035) was issued and implemented, and the coastal provinces implemented the requirements of the Outline in the implementation and management of territorial spatial planning, refined the arrangement of marine territorial space, scientifically divided ecological protection zones, ecological control zones and marine development zones, and clarified the functional use, mode of sea use, and ecological protection and restoration requirements of the functional zones, so as to gradually establish a "full coverage of the sea area, islands and coastline". It has also clarified the functional uses of each functional area, the mode of sea use, and the requirements for ecological protection and restoration, so as to gradually establish a system for controlling the use of ocean space that "fully covers all sea areas, islands and coastlines" and "combines the industries that use the sea with the mode of sea use".
Implementing ecological and environmental zoning control of near-shore waters. Connecting the national economy and social development planning, land space planning, with the goal of safeguarding the ecological function of near-shore waters and improving environmental quality, focusing on the implementation of the red line of ecological protection, the bottom line of environmental quality, and the upper line of resource utilization as the hard constraints, based on the near-shore waters environmental control unit, and with the ecological access list as the means, promoting the realization of the ecological environment of the near-shore waters subregionally differentiated and precise control.2017 Since 2017, coastal areas have gradually carried out exploration and practice of ecological and environmental zoning control of near-shore waters, and delineated 3,036 environmental control units of near-shore waters, promoting industrial development combined with environmental carrying capacity. Xiamen City is the first city in the country to create an ecological environment zoning control application system, which effectively solves the difficulties of enterprise site selection, long approval timeframe, slow project landing and other difficult pain points, delineates 42 near-shore sea area environmental control units, improves the level of land and sea integrated governance, and promotes the transformation and upgrading of coastal industries.2024 The Opinions on Strengthening Ecological Environment Zoning Control was issued in 2024, which called for the strengthening of the ecological environment zoning control in near-shore sea area, and proposed to Forming a set of marine ecological environment zoning control system with full coverage and precise science, systematically deploying ecological environment zoning control work, and providing important guidelines for scientific guidance of all kinds of development, protection and construction activities in near-shore sea areas.
(ii) Conducting monitoring surveys
Marine ecological environment monitoring and investigation is the basis for marine ecological environment protection. China is gradually improving its integrated ecological environment monitoring network, strengthening the monitoring and assessment of the quality of marine ecology and early-warning monitoring, so as to get a clear picture of the bottom line and provide a basis for decision-making in the supervision and management of marine ecology and the environment.
Comprehensively carrying out marine ecological environment monitoring. It is constantly optimizing and improving the layout of the marine ecological environment monitoring network, focusing on near-shore waters and covering jurisdictional waters, and building a modern marine ecological environment monitoring system that integrates land and sea, and links rivers and seas. Integrate national and local resources, build a national marine ecological environment monitoring base, and construct a national ecological quality comprehensive monitoring station. With 1,359 state-controlled monitoring points for seawater quality as the basic structure, covering 15 monitoring tasks in four categories, namely, marine environmental quality monitoring, marine ecological monitoring, special monitoring and marine supervision monitoring, it will continue to enhance the monitoring capacity of emerging hotspot areas, such as marine garbage, marine microplastics, marine radioactivity, new marine pollutants, marine carbon sinks, etc., and strengthen the monitoring of the health status of typical ecosystems such as mangrove forests, so as to gradually establish a unified marine ecological environment monitoring data system and to provide a comprehensive monitoring system. It has also strengthened the monitoring of the health of mangrove forests and other typical ecosystems, gradually established a unified platform for the transmission and sharing of marine ecological environment monitoring data, regularly publicized the monitoring data on seawater quality, and issued the China Marine Ecological Environment Status Bulletin.
Promoting marine ecological early warning and monitoring in an integrated manner. With the goal of clarifying the distribution pattern of marine ecosystems, the status and evolution trends of typical ecosystems, and major ecological problems and risks, an operational ecological early-warning and monitoring system will be constructed, focusing on near-shore areas, covering the areas under China's jurisdiction, and radiating to the polar regions and key areas of concern in the deep sea. In near-shore waters, the system focuses on the distribution areas of typical ecosystems such as important estuaries, bays, coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds and salt marshes, as well as the high-risk areas for ecological disasters, and carries out surveys and monitoring; in jurisdictional waters, it analyzes and evaluates the ecological problems such as sea-level changes, seawater acidification and low oxygen, and realizes full-coverage and large-scale monitoring of major marine ecosystems, and expands the ecological monitoring of the polar regions and the deep sea. "During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, there were more than 1,600 offshore ecological trend monitoring stations, and surveys on the ecological status of coral reefs, coastal salt marshes and seagrass beds nationwide, as well as a census of the ecosystems of estuaries and algal farms, were completed. The China Marine Ecological Early Warning and Monitoring Bulletin was compiled and published. It explored the establishment of early warning methods for typical marine ecosystems, and basically realized the operational operation of coral reef bleaching early warning.
Conducting baseline surveys on marine pollution. In order to systematically grasp the basic situation of the marine ecological environment, China has carried out three baseline surveys of marine pollution, in 1976, 1996 and 2023, in order to get a clear picture of the state of the marine ecological environment in each period. The third baseline survey of marine pollution covers four aspects: survey of pollutants in the marine environment, survey of sources of pollution entering the sea, survey of environmental pressure and ecological impacts on the coastal zone, and survey of the refinement of bays, so as to obtain basic data on the marine ecological environment and provide decision-making support for the scientific assessment of the state of China's marine ecological environment and for the formulation and implementation of China's marine ecological and environmental protection strategies and policies.
(iii) Strict regulatory enforcement
Adhere to the coordination of supervision and law enforcement, departmental coordination, central and local linkage, build a three-dimensional, full-coverage marine supervision and law enforcement network, and severely investigate and deal with illegal use of the sea and islands and the destruction of marine ecological and environmental activities.
Comprehensive supervision of the sea continues to be optimized. China has continued to enhance its capacity for comprehensive supervision of maritime areas, islands and coastal zones, accelerating the construction of a supervision system that covers the entire chain of events before, during and after the event, and giving full play to the role of comprehensive supervision in safeguarding the order of the use of the sea and the use of the islands, strictly abiding by the bottom line of resource safety, supervising the ecological use of the sea and the use of the islands, and supporting high-quality development. At present, China has constructed and operated various systems, including the sea area and island supervision system, the marine ecological restoration supervision system, and the "one map" information system for land and spatial planning, and has adopted satellite remote sensing, maritime and shore-based modes of complementing each other in order to grasp the changes in the use of sea areas, sea area and island space and the ecological and environmental conditions. The system utilizes satellite remote sensing, maritime and shore-based modes to complement each other, so as to grasp the use of sea areas, changes in sea area and island space resources, and the ecological environment. Comprehensively applying remote sensing monitoring, sea and shoreline inspections and other means, it implements high-frequency supervision of sea areas, islands and coastlines, and pays key attention to the use of the sea for reclamation, ecological restoration projects, drilling platforms, submarine fiber optic cables, cross-sea bridges and other sea-use activities, as well as to important areas such as sea sand resource-rich zones, development zones of marine oil and gas exploration and development, marine dumping zones, and aquaculture and fishery zones, so as to curb illegal behaviors in the field of marine ecological environment at a nascent stage and continuously improve the quality of marine ecological environment. It will nip violations in the field of marine ecological environment in the bud, and continue to enhance the effectiveness of maritime supervision and law enforcement work.
Comprehensive law enforcement for marine environmental protection continues to be strengthened. In recent years, comprehensive law enforcement has been carried out within the maritime areas under China's jurisdiction. Regular law enforcement inspections have been carried out on marine engineering projects, sea-related nature reserves, fisheries and maritime transportation. The "Sea Shield" special law enforcement program has been implemented to strengthen coastline protection and reclamation control, the "Green Shield" program has been implemented to strengthen supervision of nature reserves, the "Blue Sea" program has been implemented to crack down on illegal and unlawful acts of damaging the marine ecosystem, and the "Green Shield" program has been implemented to crack down on illegal and unlawful acts of damaging the marine ecosystem. The "Blue Sword" and "China Fisheries Law Enforcement" special law enforcement programs will strengthen the protection of fishery resources, and form a strong deterrent to violations of laws and regulations related to the marine ecological environment. 2020-2022, inspections will be conducted on marine engineering, marine and coastal protection projects, and the control of reclamation and enclosure. From 2020 to 2022, more than 19,000 inspections will be carried out on marine engineering projects, oil platforms, islands and dumping zones, and more than 360 cases of illegal reclamation, illegal dumping and destruction of islands will be investigated and dealt with, so as to crack down on illegal and criminal activities in key areas of marine ecological environment protection.
(iv) Strengthening assessment and supervision
The implementation of the target responsibility system and assessment and evaluation system for marine environmental protection, the central ecological environmental protection inspection and the national natural resources inspection are important measures to solve outstanding problems in marine ecological environment, to press local responsibilities and to motivate cadres to take up their roles.
Implementing the target responsibility system and assessment and evaluation system for marine environmental protection.In 2014, the Environmental Protection Law was amended to implement the target responsibility system and assessment and evaluation system for environmental protection.In 2015, the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution incorporated the core task indicators, such as the proportion of good water quality of nearshore waters, into the target responsibility assessment system of coastal local governments.In 2020, the status of water quality of nearshore waters was incorporated into the effectiveness of the battle for the prevention and control of pollution. In 2023, it will be clarified in the revised Marine Environmental Protection Law that local people's governments at or above the county level along the coast are responsible for the quality of the marine environment in the waters under their management. The results of the assessment as an important basis for the rewards and punishments and promotion and use of leadership at all levels and cadres, for the compaction of the responsibility of the coastal local government, incentives for cadres to take on the role of an important role in guiding. Zhejiang builds a comprehensive evaluation system of marine ecology, and incorporates the evaluation results into the "Five Waters" and "Beautiful Zhejiang" construction appraisal system, effectively stimulating the enthusiasm of leading cadres.
(c) Implementation of ecological environmental protection inspections and patrols: since 2015, three rounds of central ecological environmental protection inspections have been carried out, covering 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, as well as relevant departments of the State Council and relevant central enterprises. Taking the oceans as an important area of inspection, it has discovered and disclosed a number of outstanding problems in the field of marine ecology and environment, such as illegal farming in the offshore, destruction of mangrove forests, illegal and unlawful land reclamation in encroachment of coastal zones, and pollution of water quality of near-shore waters, etc., which have been fed back to the provincial party committees and governments, and have pushed the localities to set up a regularized mechanism for their implementation by means of distinctive attitudes and resolute measures, thus achieving the notable results of affirmation by the central government, praise from the people, support from all parties, and resolution of problems. The results have been recognized by the central government, praised by the people, supported by all parties and solved problems. Provincial ecological environment protection inspections have been carried out, focusing on outstanding issues in the field of marine ecology and environment, continuing routine inspections and deepening special inspections. A system of regular, periodic and dynamic inspections has been established to comprehensively strengthen the supervision and inspection of key projects, hot spots and key links, and to focus on remedying outstanding problems such as damage caused by marine pollution and ecological destruction.
Focusing on the protection of marine ecology and the implementation of national natural resource inspections. The Outline of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China explicitly proposes to "implement a marine inspection system and carry out regularized marine inspections", and in 2017, marine inspections were carried out for the first time for 11 coastal provincial governments, with a focus on the implementation of the Party Central Committee and the State Council's major decision-making and deployment of marine resources and the environment by the local governments, and the transfer of problems found to the provincial people's governments. Deployment, relevant laws and regulations and national marine resources and environment plans, planning, important policies and measures, the problems found will be transferred to the provincial people's government, strong supervision of the local people's government in accordance with the scientific allocation of sea area and island resources, the implementation of the main responsibility for marine environmental protection. In recent years, the National Natural Resources Inspectorate has conducted annual marine inspections of coastal local people's governments, focusing on supervising the implementation of strict control of land reclamation and strengthening the protection of coastal wetlands, focusing on the main responsibility of provincial governments, and focusing on the inspection of new illegal land reclamation, encroachment of ecological protection of the red line of the sea, illegal and unlawful approval of the use of the sea, and the destruction of mangrove forests, uninhabited islands and the natural coastline, and other outstanding issues affecting marine ecology. In response to the problems found, the relevant provincial people's governments have issued letters of advice to the inspectors, interviewed the principal officials of the local municipal governments with prominent problems of violations, notified them of the major problems found by the inspectors, and continued to follow up and supervise the implementation of the main responsibility of the local governments for the protection of marine ecology.
VI. Upgrading the level of green and low-carbon development of the oceans
China has always been concerned about the oceans, recognizing them and strategizing about them, and, while keeping the boundaries of ecological security firmly in place, it has comprehensively improved the efficiency of marine resource utilization, promoted the green development of the marine economy, continuously met the multilevel and diversified needs of the people for the oceans, and, through a high level of ecological environmental protection, has continued to shape new dynamics and new advantages for high-quality development.
(i) Promoting the efficient utilization of marine resources
The oceans are a treasure trove of resources on which we depend for our survival and development, and they are also an important vehicle for building a strong maritime State. China has continued to promote the economical and intensive utilization of marine resources, to coordinate and strengthen the supply of marine resource elements, to safeguard the natural reproduction capacity of the oceans and seas, and to seek and realize the benign interaction between a high level of security of resources and high-quality development in the context of multiple objectives.
(c) Promoting the economical and intensive use of maritime resources. In recent years, China has actively planned, practiced and explored the intensive and economical use of the sea, and has adopted classified measures. In terms of mapping out its marine resources, it has carried out a pilot inventory of marine resources and assets, providing basic support for the optimal allocation and intensive and efficient utilization of marine resources. In terms of creating benchmarks, China has issued the first batch of 18 marine resources saving and intensive demonstration counties (cities), transforming utilization models and technologies with demonstration and leading roles into replicable and generalizable institutional experiences, and incentivizing various types of resource elements to better serve high-quality development. In terms of spatial resources in the sea area, it will explore the promotion of three-dimensional layering of rights in the sea area, promote the change of the sea area management mode from "flat" to "three-dimensional", introduce safeguard measures for elements of the use of the sea, and appropriately deal with the historical problems of enclosure and reclamation. In terms of industrial use of the sea, optimize the management of aquaculture use of the sea, scientifically determine the scale and layout of aquaculture use of the sea, and introduce policies on the management of photovoltaic project use of the sea, encouraging composite use and three-dimensional development.
Strengthening the sustainable utilization of fishery resources. The relationship between the conservation and exploitation of fishery resources is being correctly handled, and rational conservation and long-term sustainable utilization are being carried out on the basis of scientific assessments. Since the introduction of the marine seasonal fishing moratorium system in 1995, the moratorium has been continuously extended and expanded to control the intensity of marine fishing, protect and restore fishery resources, and promote the sustained and healthy development of marine fisheries, and, since 2003, the management system for the total amount of marine fishery resources, the system of fishery fishing licenses, and the system of "dual control" of the number of marine fishing vessels and their power have been implemented, and the management of fishing quotas by species and by area has been explored. Since 2003, a system for managing the total amount of marine fishery resources, a fisheries fishing licensing system, and a "dual control" system for the number and power of marine fishing vessels have been implemented, and the management of fishing quotas by species and region has been explored.
(ii) Thickening the green color of the marine economy
It is actively practicing the dual-carbon goal, integrating the concept of green and low-carbon into the development mode of the marine economy, sustainably developing marine fisheries, greening the development of port shipping and shipbuilding, scientifically developing and utilizing marine clean energy, and achieving positive results in the green transformation of the marine industry.
Building modernized marine pastures. As an important means of conserving aquatic biological resources and repairing the marine ecological environment, sea ranches have played an important role in promoting the sustainable development of marine fisheries. As of 2023, a total of 169 national-level sea ranch demonstration areas have been created, generating annual ecological benefits of nearly 178.1 billion yuan. The conservation of marine fishery resources has been effective, with the occurrence of resources such as large yellowtail, small yellowtail, scallop and cuttlefish along the coast of Zhejiang increasing by more than four times in 2019 compared with that of the late 1990s, of which the density of resources of small yellowtail has increased by 34.11 TP3 T. Seawater aquaculture has been gradually expanding from the offshore to the deep and distant sea, and the independently developed fully submerged deep-sea intelligent fishery aquaculture equipment has been put into operation, creating China's unique The independently developed full-submersible deep-sea intelligent fishery aquaculture equipment has been put into operation, creating a unique green aquaculture mode in China.
Greening and intelligentizing port shipping and shipbuilding. It has built smart ports and green ports, and strengthened the utilization of clean energy in coastal ports. Qingdao Port has constructed a modern energy system integrating wind, light, hydrogen and storage, and complementing multiple energies, with the proportion of clean energy in the port reaching 66%, and the intelligent air track collection and transportation system realizing a reduction in energy consumption of more than 50%. Tianjin Port promotes the construction of "intelligent zero-carbon" terminals, helping to "carbon neutralize" port production and consumption and reduce energy consumption. The construction of three green shipping corridors, namely Shanghai Port-Los Angeles/Long Beach Port, Guangzhou Port-Los Angeles Port and Tianjin Port-Singapore Port, accelerated the decarbonization of the shipping industry. The rapid development of green ships and new energy ships, the first methanol dual-fuel-powered green ship can reduce carbon emissions by 75%, nitrogen emissions by 15%, and sulfur and particulate emissions by 99%, and the annual emission reduction of a 700TEU (standard container) purely electrically-powered container ship is equivalent to the planting of 160,000 trees, which is a prominent role in carbon reduction and emission reduction.
Marine clean energy is developing vigorously. The ability to utilize marine clean energy is constantly improving, and the scale of clean energy is expanding and its proportion is increasing. By the end of 2023, China's cumulative installed capacity of offshore wind power will reach 37.69 million kilowatts, accounting for a global share of about 50%, ranking first in the world for four consecutive years. The rapid development of marine renewable energy, megawatt-class tidal current energy generating unit "Endeavour" continues to deliver green energy to the national power grid, China's independent research and development of the first deep and distant sea megawatt-class wave energy power generation platform "Nankun" for the remote islands and reefs to provide a clean power supply. The deep-sea aquaculture platform Penghu realizes clean energy self-sufficiency by carrying wave and solar power generation equipment and energy storage devices.
(iii) Exploring the realization of the value of ecological products
The blue sea and silver beaches are green water and green mountains, as well as golden mountains and silver mountains. China is constantly exploring institutional innovations related to marine carbon sinks, actively promoting the operation and development of marine ecological products, and exploring the establishment of mechanisms for realizing the value of ecological products.
Planning to establish an offshore ecological protection compensation system. Marine ecological protection compensation is an important means of guiding marine ecological beneficiaries to fulfill their compensation obligations, incentivizing marine ecological protectors to protect the ecological environment, constructing a benign interactive relationship between marine ecological protectors and beneficiaries, and promoting the sustainable development of the marine economy.2021 The introduction of the "Opinions on the Deepening of Reforms in the System of Compensation for Ecological Protection" called for the establishment of a compensation system for offshore protection. Hainan, Hebei, Guangxi, Lianyungang of Jiangsu Province and Xiamen of Fujian Province have introduced marine ecological compensation policies that are compatible with the actual conditions in their regions, and have carried out compensation practices, and the effects of compensation incentives have been gradually reflected in various places.
Continuously explore institutional innovations related to ocean carbon sinks. Marine carbon sinks are an important part of China's efforts to achieve its strategic goal of "peak carbon and carbon neutrality". China has formulated an action plan for ocean carbon sinks, issued a series of technical standards for blue carbon surveys and monitoring, carried out pilot surveys of carbon stocks in blue carbon ecosystems such as mangrove forests, coastal salt marshes and seagrass beds and pilot projects for measuring and monitoring carbon sinks, and carried out monitoring of sea-air carbon dioxide fluxes and monitoring of greenhouse gas emission reductions from offshore oil and gas platforms. It issued the Measures for the Administration of Greenhouse Gas Voluntary Emission Reduction Trading (for trial implementation), released the methodology for greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction projects in mangrove forests, and supported marine carbon sink projects to participate in the national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market. Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan are actively exploring innovative modes such as carbon inclusive trading, carbon sink insurance and carbon sink mortgage.
Actively promote the management and development of marine ecological products.2021 The Opinions on the Establishment and Improvement of the Mechanism for Realizing the Value of Ecological Products will be issued and implemented, and the construction of the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products will be systematically deployed. The relevant departments have issued and implemented the Accounting Standards for the Total Value of Eco-products (Trial) and Typical Cases of Realizing the Value of Eco-products, providing theoretical and technical support for the construction of the mechanism for realizing the value of eco-products. Coastal localities have actively innovated path mechanisms. Dongtou, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, has innovated the mode of "higher-level special incentives + self-financing by the local government + participation of social capital" to attract social capital to participate in the "Blue Bay" remediation action project and promote the construction of the "Sea Garden". Sea Garden" construction. The China Ocean Development Foundation set up the first special fund for the construction of an ecological civilization in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with a focus on the marine economy, supporting the construction of marine industrial parks, marine ecological parks and marine engineering centers in the region, and accelerating the promotion of technological innovation and industrial development related to the realization of the value of marine ecological products.
Compensation for damage to the marine ecosystem continues to be sound. China attaches great importance to compensation for damage to the marine ecosystem, and when it revised its law on marine environmental protection in 1999, it explicitly established a national loss compensation scheme for marine ecological damage. China has successively issued the Measures for State Loss Claims for Marine Ecological Damage and the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases of Disputes over Compensation for Damage to Marine Natural Resources and the Ecological Environment to guide the implementation of compensation for damage to marine ecosystems, which has achieved good results.2023 China again amended the Marine Environmental Protection Law to further revise and improve the system of compensation for damage to marine ecosystems.
(iv) Carrying out green and low-carbon actions for all
It is actively carrying out a variety of marine cultural and educational activities and popular science activities, enhancing the environmental and ecological awareness of the entire population, advocating a simple and moderate, green and low-carbon, civilized and healthy lifestyle, transforming the green concept into the conscious action of the entire population, and attracting all sectors of society to love the sea and protect it, and to be close to the sea.
Awareness of marine ecology and environmental protection is deeply rooted in people's hearts. For many consecutive years, thematic activities have been organized on World Oceans Day and National Ocean Awareness Day, World Earth Day, World Environment Day and World Wetland Day, and more than 160 "National Ocean Awareness Education Bases" have been constructed throughout the country to jointly safeguard the blue homeland. Ocean festivals such as Zhoushan Islands-China Ocean Culture Festival and China (Xiangshan) Fishing Festival, as well as well-known exhibitions and forums such as China Ocean Economy Expo and Xiamen International Ocean Week, have become important platforms for displaying China's oceanic characteristics and culture. The National Maritime Museum, the "Forbidden City on the Ocean", has been built and opened, and has become an important classroom for the people to learn about ocean civilization, recognize ocean resources and reshape ocean values. The 14 consecutive National Ocean Knowledge Contests have attracted the participation of more than 1,000 college and university students and 6 million members of the public each year, and have markedly raised the conscious awareness of all people of their concern for and knowledge of the oceans, as well as increasing their sense of mission, responsibility and pride in strategizing for the oceans.
All people participate in marine ecological environmental protection. Marine ecological environmental protection gives full play to the power of the people, and the whole society should actively take action and strive to be an active disseminator and exemplary practitioner of the concept of ecological civilization. 2019 China put forward the concept of "Blue Citizenship", and for many years in a row it has been carrying out a variety of projects and activities to advocate that residents of the community take action for the beauty and cleanliness of the ocean, and to support the growth of Blue Citizenship. Since 2017, China has organized a series of programs and activities to support the growth of Blue Citizens. Since 2017, China has held seven consecutive "National Beach Cleaning Public Welfare Activities" and organized and implemented "Beautiful Ocean Public Welfare Activities" to build China's own brand of ocean public welfare, and to attract and grow the power of sea-loving and sea-protecting forces from all parts of the country and all walks of life. Xiamen, Fujian Province, for the general public to select and employ Yuandang Lake "Citizen Lake Chief", prying social forces for marine ecological environmental protection advice. Hainan has explored the establishment of a "garbage bank", encouraging tourists to participate in cleaning up garbage on the beach, and creating a favorable atmosphere for all people to participate in marine ecological environmental protection through diversified activities.
Deepen the practice of green lifestyles. Everyone is responsible for protecting the marine ecosystem. Advocate coastal civilized tourism, do not buy rare marine biological products, do not disturb marine life, do not abandon plastic garbage into the sea, and consciously maintain the health of marine ecology. More and more people reduce the consumption of bottled water, plastic bags and plastic tableware by bringing their own cups, bags and tableware, so as to reduce the amount of marine plastic garbage from the source and practice a green, low-carbon and recycling lifestyle.
VII. All-round international cooperation for the protection of marine ecosystems
Marine issues are global problems, and the protection of the marine ecological environment is the concern of all peoples in the world. 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment adopted the Declaration on the Human Environment, in which marine environmental protection was included in the twenty-six principles, thus initiating global action on marine environmental protection. 1982, the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea adopted the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which opened a new chapter in the governance of global oceans and seas, and also provided comprehensive and systematic provisions on marine environmental protection. In 1982, the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea adopted the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, opening a new chapter in global ocean governance and making comprehensive and systematic provisions for marine environmental protection. The international community has successively adopted a series of agreements on marine environmental protection, which have continuously pushed forward the development of global marine protection. All countries in the world have further consolidated their consensus and pooled their efforts to actively address the challenges of marine ecological and environmental risks, and are committed to building a clean and beautiful ocean together. China is firmly practicing the concept of a community of shared destiny in the oceans and seas, and is working with the international community to carry out mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation through multiple channels, in various forms and at various levels, so as to contribute Chinese wisdom to the protection of the global marine ecosystem.
(i) Active compliance in global governance
China adheres to the goal of the well-being of all humankind, plays the role of a great Power, effectively fulfills its responsibilities and obligations under international conventions in the field of the oceans and seas, and demonstrates its commitment as a great Power through pragmatic actions.
China has effectively fulfilled its responsibilities and obligations under international conventions in the marine sphere. As marine ecological and environmental issues cover a wide range of areas, China supports the promotion of global marine ecological and environmental protection from a holistic perspective, and actively promotes the implementation and realization of international treaties relating to the oceans, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which, in May 1996, China ratified and acceded to, thus opening up a new chapter in China's participation in global oceans governance. In addition, China has acceded to more than 30 sea-related multilateral treaties, including the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter and the Antarctic Treaty, thereby demonstrating China's determination to protect the oceans and seas and its commitment to do so in a wider range of areas and in a more detailed manner. Under the framework of international conventions, China has established a policy system for marine ecological environmental protection, resource conservation and management of polar activities, taken the initiative to implement an autonomous fishing moratorium on the high seas, actively fulfilled its environmental protection obligations such as the environmental impact assessment of Antarctic research activities, participated in the United Nations' regular assessment of the state of the global marine environment, and regularly issued progress reports on the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, national reports on the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, national communications on climate change, and so on. It regularly publishes progress reports on the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, national reports on the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, national communications on climate change and other compliance reports, presenting to the international community the progress of China's actions in marine ecological environmental protection and resource conservation, and demonstrating China's real contribution to the fulfillment of its obligations under various conventions.
Integration into and promotion of global ocean governance. China actively participates in the construction of global ocean governance mechanisms and promotes the building of a more just and rational global ocean governance system. China has actively integrated into multilateral governance, actively participated in the affairs of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Seabed Authority, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other international organizations, and played an active role in the agendas of the Meetings of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. Since 2012, it has submitted, individually or jointly, more than 120 proposals to the relevant polar international organizations, submitted more than 700 proposals of various types to the International Maritime Organization and other international organizations, and extensively participated in the formulation of relevant systems and rules for environmental protection and resource conservation. We have promoted the formulation of regulations on exploration and exploitation by the International Seabed Authority, the negotiation of agreements and regulations on fisheries by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the negotiation of the United Nations International Convention on the Prevention and Control of Plastic Pollution, and have participated in the negotiation and implementation of the Agreement on Precautionary Measures for Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean. It also contributed to the agreement on the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Marine Biological Diversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, which had taken nearly 20 years to negotiate, and was the first to be signed, thus making an outstanding contribution to global ocean governance.
(ii) Expanding the "circle of friends" in maritime cooperation
There is a long way to go in addressing global marine ecological and environmental problems, and we need broad global participation and joint action. China adheres to multilateralism, develops blue partnerships in an open and pragmatic manner, and joins hands with the international community to build a sea of prosperity and beauty shared by all countries.
(c) Establishing a broad blue partnership. China and other countries will jointly discuss and build a global blue partnership on a voluntary and cooperative basis. 2017, China launched the initiative of "building a blue partnership" at the first United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development of the Oceans, promoting international cooperation on "cherishing shared oceans and guarding the blue homeland", followed by the release of the "Belt and Road" Construction Maritime Cooperation Concept, which officially proposed building a blue partnership. In 2017, China launched the "Building Blue Partnership" initiative at the first United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development of the Oceans to promote international cooperation in "cherishing the common ocean and protecting the blue homeland", and then formally put forward the building of a blue partnership in the "Vision for Maritime Cooperation in the Construction of the Belt and Road Initiative" issued by China. In September 2021, "actively promoting the establishment of the Blue Partnership" was recognized by the Global Development High-Level Dialogue as one of the concrete initiatives taken by China under the framework of the Global Development Initiative (GDI). At the United Nations Oceans Conference in 2022, China released the Blue Partnership Principles, launched the Sustainable Blue Partnership Cooperation Network and the Blue Partnership Fund, and jointly carried out actions to protect and sustainably utilize the oceans and marine resources. At present, it has signed intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements on cooperation in the marine sector with more than 50 countries and international organizations that are building the Belt and Road Initiative, which have played an important role in joining hands with other parties to effectively promote the protection of the global marine ecosystem.
Expanding marine cooperation platforms and mechanisms. China has made the protection of marine ecosystems and the environment a key element of its cooperation, and has taken the initiative to build new platforms and mechanisms for global ocean cooperation, with a view to forging consensus among all parties. China has taken the lead in building platforms to lead cooperation, and has taken the lead in establishing and operating the East Asian Seas Cooperation Platform and the China-ASEAN Centre for Marine Cooperation, and has carried out practical cooperation with East Asian and ASEAN countries in the areas of marine scientific research, ecological environmental protection, disaster prevention and mitigation. It has undertaken to build international cooperation mechanisms of international organizations in China, including the APEC Centre for Sustainable Development of the Oceans and the Ocean and Climate Collaboration Centre of the Ocean Decade, to coordinate global innovation and cooperation in the field of the oceans and climate, and to promote the sharing and exchange of useful experiences in marine ecological environmental protection among countries, so as to play an important role in the joint efforts to improve the protection of the marine ecological environment. (c) Playing an important role in the joint efforts to protect the marine ecosystem.
China advocates and leads bilateral and multilateral cooperation. China adheres to the principle of "common cause, common construction and sharing", and is constantly expanding the scope of its external cooperation. China focuses on dialogue and exchanges on multilateral platforms, and has successfully held a series of activities such as the Marine Cooperation Forum of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the Global Coastal Forum, the Guiyang International Forum on Ecological Civilization, and the China-ASEAN Forum on Environmental Cooperation, promoting new progress in cooperation in a series of areas such as marine ecological protection and restoration, monitoring and early warning of marine disasters, prevention and control of marine plastic pollution, and so on. China has made new progress in cooperation in a series of fields, including marine ecological protection and restoration, marine disaster monitoring and early warning, and marine plastic pollution prevention and control. China attaches importance to mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation among countries, and has established long-term bilateral marine cooperation mechanisms with many countries, and continues to carry out cooperation and exchanges in many fields. China has actively provided technical capacity support to developing countries, and has established joint research centers, joint laboratories, joint observatories and other platforms with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mozambique, Jamaica and other countries, thus playing an active role in strengthening marine ecological and environmental protection in developing countries. Jointly with other countries, it has carried out research on marine endangered species, joint environmental surveys in the Yellow Sea, coral reef monitoring and data collection, and the prevention and control of marine garbage and microplastic pollution, and the results of cooperation have injected more vitality into regional marine ecological environmental protection.
(iii) Expanding cooperation in deep-sea polar scientific research
It is the common responsibility of humankind to protect the deep-sea polar ecosystem. As an important participant, a strong promoter and an active practitioner of deep-sea polar affairs, China is actively leading international deep-sea polar exploration and research, and is working with the international community to promote the sustainable development of the deep-sea polar region.
Synergizing the promotion of deep-sea research and exploration. It has actively participated in international seabed affairs, scientifically coordinated deep-sea surveys and strengthened deep-sea ecological and environmental protection. China has conducted more than 80 voyages of scientific investigation in the deep sea, and has carried out joint scientific research with Russia, Japan, Nigeria, Seychelles, Indonesia and other countries, making unremitting efforts to deepen the knowledge of deep-sea ecosystems for all countries. Utilizing the results of geoscientific surveys, China has, for more than 10 consecutive years since 2011, submitted proposals for naming seabeds to the Subcommission on Nomenclature of Geographical Entities of the International Seabed, of which 261 names have passed the consideration process, thus contributing to a clearer understanding of the geography and environment of the deep sea by mankind. Based on the results of its deep-sea biological resources surveys, China has established a marine microbial resource bank that is a world leader in terms of the amount and types of microorganisms in its collections, thus helping humankind to deepen its understanding of the biological life processes in the deep sea.
We will work together to deepen our knowledge of the Polar Regions. China insists on protecting the natural environment of the Antarctic and North Pole in accordance with international law, and actively participates in international cooperation to address the challenges of the Antarctic environment and climate change. At the 40th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, China led more than 10 countries in jointly proposing the "Green Expedition" initiative, which was adopted by the General Assembly in the form of a resolution, opening a new chapter in Antarctic expeditions. China has built five Antarctic research stations and two Arctic research stations in Norway and Iceland, providing an important platform for thousands of scientists to carry out observation, biological monitoring and glacier research in the polar regions. It has organized 13 scientific expeditions to the Arctic Ocean and 40 scientific expeditions to the Antarctic, signed memorandums of understanding or joint declarations with the United States, Russia, Australia, Iceland, New Zealand and other countries, and carried out international cooperation with more than 10 countries, participated in the largest Arctic scientific research program "Multidisciplinary Drifting Ice Stations for Arctic Climate Research" as a major participant, and led the implementation of the "Multidisciplinary Drifting Ice Stations for Arctic Climate Research" program. "As a major participant in the Multidisciplinary Drifting Ice Station Program for Arctic Climate Research, the largest Arctic scientific research program to date, we have taken the lead in the implementation of the International Joint Program for the Exploration of the Mid-Ocean Ridge of the Arctic Ocean, and we have cooperated with a number of countries in the implementation of the mission of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR)'s Antarctic Ice Sheet Circle Action Group, thus making positive contributions to the in-depth understanding of the impacts of the polar regions on the global marine ecosystem. It will make positive contributions to humanity's in-depth understanding of the impact of the polar regions on the global marine ecosystem.
(iv) Extensive foreign aid training
In the face of the global challenge of the deterioration of marine ecosystems, all countries are in the same boat as a community of destiny. China will work in solidarity with the international community to realize its own development while benefiting other countries and peoples, and will contribute its strength to deepening the protection of the global marine ecosystem.
(c) Extensive foreign assistance. In 2012, China launched the Chinese Government Ocean Scholarship Program, which has trained more than 300 master's and doctoral degree holders in ocean-related disciplines for 45 countries, including the Belt and Road countries, and provided training for young talents in marine science and management for developing countries. In 2012, China launched the "Chinese Government Ocean Scholarship" program, which has trained more than 300 master's and doctoral degree holders in ocean-related majors for 45 countries, including the "Belt and Road" countries. Provided technical assistance to many countries, including Thailand, Cambodia and Cape Verde, in the areas of marine spatial planning, marine economic planning and sea level rise assessment. It has organized technical training courses on the management of marine dumping under the London Convention and the 1996 Protocol, and disseminated the concepts and techniques of marine ecological environmental protection to African and Latin American countries.
(c) Actively carrying out foreign training. China has built a number of centers, including the China-International Seabed Authority Joint Training and Research Center, the International Ocean Institute (IOI)-China Regional Center for the Western Pacific, the IOC Regional Center for Training and Research on Ocean Dynamics and Climate, and the Global Ocean Teachers' Academy Tianjin Regional Training Center, to build a platform for marine education, training and public awareness in developing countries. (c) To build a platform for marine education, training and public awareness cultivation in developing countries. It organizes training courses with different characteristics, actively shares knowledge and practical experience in integrated coastal zone management, ocean governance and marine ecological environmental protection, and trains about 500 people each year, making a positive contribution to developing countries in improving the technical capacity of scientific researchers in marine ecological environmental protection.
concluding remarks
The oceans are the blue home on which mankind depends for its survival. In the face of the global challenge of the marine environment, all mankind is a community of shared destiny. It is the common responsibility of all mankind to protect the marine ecosystem and to promote the sustainable development of the oceans.
At present, China has embarked on a new journey to comprehensively promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization, and the cause of the oceans and seas has ushered in a period of great historical opportunity. The protection of the marine ecological environment is a fundamental requirement and basic guarantee for accelerating the construction of a strong marine country and realizing harmonious coexistence between man and the sea.
On its new journey, China is adhering to the new development concept, promoting the construction of an ecological civilization and continuing to build a marine ecological environment that is harmonious between mankind and the sea. China adheres to the spirit of open-mindedness, cooperation and win-win cooperation, and has put into practice the concept of a community of destiny for the oceans. It is willing to work with all countries in the world to build the foundation of marine ecological civilization and take the path of green development, so that the oceans will always be a beautiful home where human beings can live and develop, and to jointly build a cleaner and more beautiful world.
① Section means the entire profile on a river or channel set perpendicular to the direction of water flow for the purpose of measuring and collecting water quality samples. State-controlled section refers to the national surface water environmental quality evaluation, assessment and ranking monitoring sections (points) deployed in China.
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