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'Red line' rings areas for special preservation
Source: China Daily2018-08-16
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By Yuan Shenggao |

Beijing announced in mid-July that it had drawn a "red line" around key ecological areas in need of protection and preservation that cover 4,290 square kilometers.

The protected areas marked by the red line are mostly in the mountainous regions in the west and north of Beijing and account for more than 26 percent of the city's total area.

The ecological red line zones are designed for soil and water conservation, water sources, wetland protection and biodiversity preservation, according to the city government.

Nature reserves, scenic sites, areas of water sources, forest parks, key noncommercial forests and wetlands are all enclosed by the red line.

The upstream areas of the Miyun, Huairou and Guanting reservoirs in the north of Beijing; the Baihua, Dongling, Yudu and Haituo mountains in the west; and the Yongding, Chaobai and Daqing rivers running through the city are included in the ecological red line zones.

The term "red line", or hongxian, is frequently used in China to describe a limit that should not be crossed.

Within the red line zones, the authorities will implement stringent environmental standards, local officials said.

The ecological red line concept, to be used as a fundamental environmental protection system, was added to the amended Environmental Protection Law in 2014.

The Beijing government formulated its ecological red line plan in 2017, which, together with those of 14 other provincial regions, was approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet, in February.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment is preparing new regulations on ecological red line zones, its spokesman Liu Youbin said at a news conference in Beijing in late July.

The ministry and the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, will guide and help the other provincial regions draw red line protection areas by the end of this year.

An online system for monitoring the ecological zones nationwide will be built, Liu said.

Local leaders are held accountable for the ecological red line zones and any violations in them will be subject to severe punishments, he noted.

According to a policy on pollution control, which the Beijing government released in mid-July, all districts of the city will complete boundary settlement for the ecological red line zones by the end of next year.

Local legislators are expected to roll out rules over the administration of the zones before the end of 2020, according to the Beijing government's plan.

By that time, the city will have added 4,000 hectares of new forests, restore 8,000 hectares of wetlands and repurpose 500 hectares of abandoned mines, as laid out in the policy.

According to another environmental scheme announced in July, a compensation system for ecological damage has been in trial operation from earlier this year.

Damage to these ecosystems or causing pollution in the city's ecological red line zones will be among the offenses subject to the environmental compensation system.