[Guangming Times Review]
Author: Yu Xun (Professor, East China University of Political Science and Law, researcher, Shanghai Supreme Leader New Era Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought Research Center)
Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued a notice, and the first batch of central eco-environmental protection inspectors in the third round was fully launched, and inspectors were stationed in five provinces of Fujian, Henan, Hainan, Gansu and Qinghai. This inspection action marks the further institutionalization, legalization and normalization of China’s eco-environmental supervision work. It is an important measure to implement the supreme leader’s ecological civilization thought and a new practice of China’s eco-environmental supervision system.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core has insisted on the construction of ecological civilization as an important part of promoting the overall layout of the "five in one", and China’s environmental protection supervision work has gradually moved from regional supervision to central supervision. In 2015, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization, demanding that the establishment of a systematic and complete system of ecological civilization system be accelerated; In the same year, the newly revised Environmental Protection Law was implemented, and the Environmental Protection Inspector Scheme (Trial) was issued, which clearly established the environmental protection inspector system and upgraded the environmental protection inspector to an environmental protection inspector. In this context, in 2015, the central environmental protection inspector began to pilot. In 2016, the first round of central environmental protection inspectors was officially launched. In 2018, environmental protection inspectors were upgraded to eco-environmental protection inspectors. In 2019, the Central Office and the State Council jointly issued the "Regulations on the Supervision of Central Ecological Environmental Protection"; In the same year, the second round of central eco-environmental protection inspectors was fully launched. In 2021, the "Special Supervision Measures for Ecological Environmental Protection" was issued and implemented, marking the further improvement of China’s ecological environmental protection supervision system.
Since the start of the central eco-environmental supervision work, two rounds and ten batches of routine inspections have been carried out, covering 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and some important departments and central enterprises. A total of more than 200,000 pieces of report materials have been accepted, and nearly 10,000 people have been held accountable. After the implementation of the central eco-environmental supervision system, China’s ecological civilization construction and environmental protection have achieved remarkable results, which have had an important positive impact on politics, environment, economy, society and other aspects.
Relieve the dilemma of local ecological environment governance and enhance local governance capacity. The central eco-environmental supervision system replaces the previous sports concept of environmental supervision with fragmented, normalized and institutionalized eco-environmental supervision, breaks the dilemma of environmental governance of local governments through top-down pressure, and urges local party committees and governments to really pay attention to eco-environmental work, effectively promoting the formation of a cross-local and cross-departmental linkage governance pattern. In particular, through the implementation of strict eco-environmental supervision system and accountability system, we will further compact the political responsibility of "party and government share the same responsibility" and "one post and two responsibilities" for eco-environmental protection, ensure the cooperation of eco-environmental supervision in supervising enterprises, government and party, and make the supervision system a rigid constraint and an untouchable high-voltage line.
Solve outstanding ecological environment problems and help improve the quality of the ecological environment significantly. According to statistics, by 2022, the proportion of excellent sections of surface water quality in China has risen to 87.9%; The proportion of days with good air quality in cities at prefecture level and above has increased to 86.5%, and the proportion of days with heavy pollution has dropped to less than 1% for the first time; The preserved area of artificial forest is 1.314 billion mu, ranking first in the world; Desertification, desertification land to achieve double reduction. Thanks to the supervision of eco-environmental protection from the aspects of early warning, prevention and rigid restraint, various subjects are urged to pay unremitting attention to eco-environmental problems, and a number of outstanding eco-environmental problems have been completely solved.
Promote the coordinated development of economy and ecology and form a high-quality green development model. On the one hand, the eco-environmental supervision system forces the transformation of old and new kinetic energy and promotes the transformation, optimization and upgrading of traditional industries; On the other hand, it will accelerate the development of green ecological industries and embark on a new road of high-quality economic development. Under the long-term supervision and promotion of many rounds and batches of routine inspectors, governments at all levels are more consciously innovating economic development ideas, promoting the continuous optimization of industrial layout, industrial structure and industrial introduction, raising industrial access standards, cultivating and developing new industries with good ecological and environmental benefits, actively building an industrial pattern of green and low-carbon circular development, and accelerating progress in the direction of green, low-carbon and high-quality development.
Guangming Daily (November 23, 2023, 03 edition)