The Ministry of Natural Resources held a special press conference on ecological protection and restoration on the 14th. At the meeting, Wang Lei, Director of the Ecological Restoration Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, introduced that the Ministry of Natural Resources, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and others, summarized and distilled the experience of "Xiamen Practice," and in accordance with the decision and deployment of the Third Plenary Session on "deepening the reform of the ecological civilization system," recently jointly issued the "Opinions on Learning from and Applying the 'Xiamen Practice' Experience of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization to Deeply Advance Ecological Protection and Restoration Work in the New Era" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions").

　　Wang Lei stated that the 36-year "Xiamen Practice" embodies seven valuable experiences: "adhering to the people-first principle and co-building and sharing, adhering to strategic planning and planning-led guidance, adhering to high-level promotion and law-based governance, adhering to land-sea coordination and comprehensive governance, adhering to respect for nature and scientific governance, adhering to a problem-oriented approach and one bay one policy, and adhering to gradual progress and sustained effort." It embodies important theoretical value, rich practical significance, and remarkable global influence, and has important demonstrative significance for comprehensively advancing the building of a Beautiful China and promoting Chinese-style modernization featuring harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. The "Opinions" constitute the top-level design for ecological protection and restoration for the coming period, focusing on the overall institutional arrangements and work layout for China's ecological protection and restoration at present and in the period ahead. Drawing on the "Xiamen Practice" experience, it clarifies relevant policies, measures, and requirements from the aspects of planning-led guidance, source governance, systematic governance, scientific governance, standardized governance, and sustained effort, totaling 7 parts and 20 articles.

　　Wang Lei emphasized that the "Opinions" clarify the overall requirements for ecological protection and restoration work in the coming period. All localities should thoroughly study and apply the "Xiamen Practice" experience, take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, as guidance, adhere to respecting nature, conforming to nature, and protecting nature, and uphold the principles of prioritizing conservation, prioritizing protection, and relying mainly on natural restoration; strive to build a grand pattern of protection and governance from mountain tops to the sea, improve the mechanism for integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, and build a "beautiful nature"; establish and improve a working mechanism combining source protection with whole-process restoration and governance, comprehensively advance ecological protection and restoration in all dimensions, all regions, the whole process, and all elements, and enhance the diversity, stability, and sustainability of ecosystems; accelerate the improvement and implementation of institutional mechanisms for the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, support high-quality development with high-level protection, and contribute to Chinese-style modernization featuring harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature and the building of a Beautiful China.

　　Wang Lei introduced that the "Opinions" also emphasize "adherence" in six aspects:

　　Emphasize adherence to planning-led guidance and building national and regional ecological security patterns. Emphasize fully implementing territorial spatial planning, following the results of the "three zones and three lines" delineation, improving the system of use control for natural ecological space, strengthening the implementation and management of ecological protection red lines, and strictly protecting land and sea natural ecological space. Require all localities to advance the implementation and management of ecological restoration planning, and build national and regional ecological security patterns and scientific and rational urban-rural ecological patterns.

　　Emphasize adherence to source governance and strengthening ecological protection and restoration throughout the entire process of natural resource development and utilization. Require that in the development and utilization of natural resources, the ecological restoration responsibilities and obligations of production and construction units be effectively implemented, extending ecological protection and restoration from the end to the source, and strengthening supervision across the entire chain, whole process, and all links. In terms of land use, emphasize "whoever damages, reclaims" and promote "reclamation while construction proceeds," strengthening ecological restoration requirements for construction projects; in terms of mining, emphasize "whoever destroys, governs" and promote "restoration while mining proceeds," strengthening source protection and tightening constraints and management on key links that have a critical impact on ecological restoration; in terms of sea and island use, emphasize strictly controlling new reclamation and new island use, and propose establishing a balance system for occupation and restoration of mainland natural coastlines, encouraging restoration before occupation.

　　Emphasize adherence to systematic governance and comprehensively advancing integrated protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts. In regions crucial to national ecological security, strengthen the overall protection and restoration of natural ecosystems and coordinate systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts. In concentrated mining development zones, coordinate within-mine and outside-mine, underground and aboveground, production and ecology, and other aspects, collaboratively advance comprehensive governance of abandoned mines left over from history, and accelerate the realization of "zeroing out" the stock of mine ecological restoration tasks in areas where conditions permit. In coastal zones, adhere to land-sea coordination and river-sea linkage, and build ecological, safe, and healthy "blue bays," "harmonious and beautiful islands," and "beautiful beaches." Support the implementation of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategy and consolidate and enhance the carbon sink capacity of ecosystems.

　　Emphasize adherence to scientific governance and enhancing the foundational support capacity for ecological protection and restoration. Propose carrying out monitoring, evaluation, and early warning of ecological conditions in the natural resources field, conducting surveys of land damaged by mining, and grasping and clarifying the family background of natural ecology. Adhere to relying mainly on natural restoration with artificial restoration as a supplement, adapt measures to local and temporal conditions, implement policies by zone and category, and continuously improve the scientific implementation level of ecological restoration. Improve the full-chain technical standard system from ecological problem diagnosis, restoration technology, monitoring and supervision to effectiveness evaluation and adaptive management, and strengthen the construction of the scientific and technological support system.

　　Emphasize adherence to standardized governance and improving the long-term mechanism for ecological protection and restoration. Propose that all localities establish and improve management systems covering the entire life cycle of project initiation, implementation, acceptance, monitoring and evaluation, effectiveness assessment, and later-stage management and maintenance. Improve land use policies for ecological protection and restoration. Establish and improve diversified investment mechanisms and improve ecological protection compensation mechanisms. Promote the realization of the value of ecological products.

　　Emphasize adherence to sustained effort and pushing ecological protection and restoration to new heights. The document particularly emphasizes adhering to Party leadership, and in accordance with the overall deployment and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on ecological civilization construction, promoting the establishment of a working mechanism led by Party committees, dominated by governments, and coordinated by departments. Adhere to adapting measures to local conditions, acting within capabilities, proceeding step by step, and making sustained efforts, and carry through a single blueprint to the end. Adhere to participation by all, and fully mobilize the forces of the whole society to participate in ecological protection and restoration. Strengthen legal system development and supervision and law enforcement, and actively participate in global ecological governance.

　　Wang Lei stated that next, the Ministry of Natural Resources will work with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and others to promote the implementation and effectiveness of the various policies and measures of the "Opinions," promote the deepening and solid implementation of the "Xiamen Practice" experience of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization in all localities, push China's ecological protection and restoration work to a new level, support high-quality development with high-level protection, and accelerate the building of Chinese-style modernization featuring harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.