Ecological security forum kicks off in Beijing

An ecological security forum to uphold an ecological protection red line was held in Beijing on Wednesday.

The forum, co-organized by the Chinese Ecological Civilization Research and Promotion Association (CECRPA) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), attracted more than 50 scholars, representatives of NGOs and government officials.

Zhu Guangqing, general secretary of CECRPA, kicked off the forum by addressing the importance of facilitating legal regulations for an ecological red line, a boundary that protects ecologically sensitive areas, vulnerable areas and ecological functional zones in different landforms.

“Although the red line often refers to a boundary that is strategically important to protecting environmental security, we need to clarify the term and standards of drawing the boundary in arable land areas, wetlands, oceans and forests in the form of law," said Zhu.

"Overlapping of natural reserves has led to mismanagement in recent years," said Huo Jianbo, head of Development and Planning Division of Ministry of Agriculture, "an objective liability system is needed at both national and provincial levels."

"Whether the red line has been crossed or not and the extent to which the ecological system has been damaged should be part of the performance evaluation of political achievement,” Huo added.

A clear proposition of the "ecological red line" was put forward for the first time in the communiqué adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 2013.

In 2014, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a provisional draft guideline for drawing the ecological red line.

Before the guideline came out, four pilot projects have been trying it out in Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Hubei and Guangxi provinces starting from 2011.