Opinions of the general office of the State Council on encouraging and supporting social capital to participate in ecological protection and restoration

People's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, ministries and commissions under the State Council and institutions directly under the State Council:

Ecological protection and restoration is an important guarantee to keep the natural ecological security boundary and promote the overall improvement of the quality of natural ecosystem. For a long time, in some areas of China, the problem of ecosystem damage and degradation is prominent, there are many historical debts, and the tasks of ecological protection and restoration are large and wide, so it is necessary to mobilize the whole society to participate. In order to further promote the participation of social capital in ecological construction and accelerate the integrated protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand, with the consent of the State Council, the following opinions are put forward.

　　1、 General requirements

　　（1） Guiding ideology.Give better play to the role of the government, focus on key areas, stimulate market vitality, promote high-quality development of ecological protection and restoration, increase the supply of high-quality ecological products, maintain national ecological security, build an ecological civilization system and promote the construction of a beautiful China.

　　（2） Working principles.

　　Adhere to protection priority and system repair.Following the laws of nature, we will coordinate all elements of natural ecology, focus on natural restoration, supplemented by necessary artificial measures, enhance the relevance and coupling of various measures, promote the overall protection, system restoration and comprehensive treatment of mountains, rivers, forests, lakes, grass and sand, and improve the quality and stability of the ecosystem.

　　Adhere to government leadership and market operation.Give play to the role of government planning and control, policy support, regulatory services and risk prevention, unify market access, standardize market order, establish open and transparent market rules, create a fair, fair and open investment environment for social capital, build a sustainable return and reasonable exit mechanism, and realize the gain, return and return of social capital. It is strictly prohibited to carry out development in the name of ecological protection and restoration, break through the red line of cultivated land protection and ecological protection, and all kinds of acts in violation of laws and regulations.

　　Adhere to goal orientation and problem orientation.Focusing on the construction of an ecological protection and restoration market mechanism of "who will repair, who will benefit", we will focus on solving problems such as lack of information, financing difficulties, scattered policies, unclear incentives and support measures, and imperfect transaction mechanism and return mechanism, so as to promote the unity of ecological benefits and economic and social benefits.

　　Adhere to reform, innovation and coordinated promotion.We will strengthen coordination with the reform of the property right system of natural resources assets, the value realization mechanism of ecological products and the compensation mechanism for ecological protection, coordinate the necessary investment and reasonable return, unblock the channels for social capital participation and benefit, innovate incentive mechanisms, support policies and investment and financing modes, and stimulate the investment potential and innovation power of social capital.

　　2、 Participation mechanism

　　（3） Participation content.Encourage and support social capital to participate in the whole process of investment, design, restoration and management of ecological protection and restoration projects, carry out activities such as ecological product development, industrial development, scientific and technological innovation and technical services around ecological protection and restoration, and carry out life-cycle operation and management of regional ecological protection and restoration. Focus on encouraging and supporting social capital to participate in ecological protection and restoration based on the responsibility of government expenditure (including loss of responsible persons, caused by natural disasters, etc.). For the ecological protection and restoration with clear responsible persons, they shall fulfill their obligations and bear the responsibility of restoration or compensation according to law.

　　（4） Participation mode.

　　1. Independent investment mode.Social capital contributes to ecological protection and restoration alone or in the form of consortium and industrial alliance.

　　2. Mode of cooperation with the government.Social capital can set up funds according to the principle of marketization to invest in ecological protection and restoration projects. For projects with stable operating income, government and social capital cooperation (PPP) and other modes can be adopted. Local governments can support social capital to obtain reasonable returns by means of investment subsidies, operation subsidies and capital injection.

　　3. Public welfare participation model.Encourage public welfare organizations and individuals to cooperate with the government and its departments to participate in ecological protection and restoration and jointly build ecological civilization.

Social capital can obtain benefits from ecological protection and restoration in the following ways: adopt the method of "ecological protection and restoration + industrial introduction", and use the obtained natural resource asset use right or franchise right to develop appropriate industries; For the ecosystem with carbon sink capacity formed by investment and meeting relevant requirements, apply for certification of carbon sink increment and trade; Obtain income through comprehensive utilization of Resources approved by the government.

　　（5） Participate in the program.Actively explore flexible and efficient working procedures in combination with reality, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of social capital to participate in ecological protection and restoration. Generally, the following procedures can be adopted:

　　1. Scientifically establish ecological protection and restoration projects.Adhere to the problem orientation, and determine the tasks and key projects of ecological protection and restoration according to the land spatial planning, ecological protection and restoration planning and other plans at all levels and the requirements of relevant standards.

　　2. Reasonably formulate ecological protection and restoration schemes.On the basis of widely soliciting social opinions, reasonably determine the ecological protection and restoration scheme of the project, clarify the ecological protection and restoration objectives or core indicators, the asset allocation of natural resources (among which the mineral resources are only limited to the sand, stone and clay that can only be used as ordinary building materials mined due to the project) and the requirements for subsequent industrial development. If the interests of relevant subjects are involved, consensus shall be reached through consultation.

　　3. Open competition introduces the main body of ecological protection and restoration.Publicize the ecological protection and restoration plan, corresponding natural resource asset allocation plan, various index transfer and support policies, determine the main body of ecological protection and restoration and the user of natural resource assets through competition, sign natural resource asset allocation agreements such as ecological protection and restoration agreement and land transfer contract, and clarify the restoration requirements Rights and obligations of all parties and liabilities for breach of contract.

　　4. Standardize the market-oriented trading of ecological protection and restoration products.Explore the establishment of trading channels for natural resource assets and ecological protection and restoration products, publicly publish product trading rules, enterprise credit rating and other information, and standardize market-oriented transactions by relying on the public resource trading platform system.

　　3、 Key areas

　　（6） Natural ecosystem protection and restoration.In view of the damaged, degraded and degraded natural ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts, rivers, lakes and deserts, we will carry out desertification prevention and control, rocky desertification prevention and control, water and soil loss control, river protection and control, wildlife population protection and restoration, biodiversity protection, land greening, artificial commercial forest construction, etc. Comprehensively improve the carbon sequestration capacity of the ecosystem, increase the increment of carbon sequestration, and encourage the development of carbon sequestration projects. Scientific assessment defines the scope of protection and construction of nature reserves, and guides local residents and public welfare organizations to participate in activities such as science popularization and education, natural experience, scientific experiments and franchise projects.

　　（7） Farmland ecosystem protection and restoration.In view of the farmland ecosystem with weakened ecological function, reduced biodiversity and prominent contradiction between development and utilization and ecological protection, carry out comprehensive land improvement throughout the region, implement agricultural land consolidation, construction land consolidation, rural ecological protection and restoration, land reclamation and biodiversity protection, and improve farmland habitat and conditions.

　　（8） Urban ecosystem protection and restoration.In view of the poor connectivity of urban ecosystems and insufficient ecological space, we will implement the construction of ecological corridors, ecologically clean small watersheds, ecological infrastructure and ecological networks to improve the quality and stability of urban ecosystems.

　　（9） Mine ecological protection and restoration.In view of the prominent ecological and environmental problems existing in historical mines, we will implement the treatment of hidden dangers of geological disasters, the restoration of vegetation on damaged land of mines, the restoration of damaged ecological units, etc., rebuild the ecosystem and reasonably carry out the ecological utilization after restoration; Participate in the construction of green mines and improve the level of economical and intensive utilization of mineral resources.

　　（10） Marine ecological protection and restoration.In view of the degradation of marine habitat, the invasion of alien species and other problems, we will implement the reclamation and return to the sea, the regulation and restoration of shoreline beaches, the comprehensive management of estuaries and bays, the maintenance of important ecological corridors in the coastal zone, the proliferation of aquatic biological resources, habitat protection, etc. Explore the ecological protection and restoration of uninhabited islands with ecological damage without changing the island's natural resources, natural landscape and historical and cultural relics, and allow appropriate ecological utilization.

　　（11） Explore the development of ecological industry.Encourage and support investment in circular agriculture (Forestry), ecotourism, leisure and health care, nature education, clean energy and water resources utilization, marine ecological pasture, etc; Develop economic forest industry and characteristic industries such as grass, sand, bamboo, Camellia oleifera and biomass energy; Participate in river protection and regulation, and enjoy priority rights and interests in water resources utilization and other industries according to law; Participate in the prevention and control of alien invasive species and the sustainable utilization of biological genetic resources, and promote the application of practical technologies such as efficient trapping and biological natural enemies; Carry out product certification, ecological identification, brand building, etc.

　　4、 Support policy

　　（12） Planning control.The municipal and county governments shall incorporate the spatial needs of ecological protection and restoration and the development of related industries into the land spatial planning. Encourage social capital to participate in the preparation of ecological protection and restoration plans, and reasonably arrange the scale, structure, layout and timing of various spatial land in the ecological protection and restoration area on the premise of complying with laws, regulations, policies and planning constraints. If scattered cultivated land, garden land, forest land and other agricultural land within the scope of the project need space replacement and layout optimization, it can be included in the ecological protection and restoration scheme and approved according to law; If it involves statutory examination and approval matters such as the adjustment of permanent basic farmland, the examination and approval procedures shall be handled according to law. We will implement the strictest cultivated land protection system, firmly hold the red line of cultivated land, resolutely curb the "non-agricultural" of cultivated land and prevent the "non grain" of cultivated land. After the completion of the project, the land use shall be uniformly adjusted through the annual land change survey, and the real estate registration authority shall handle the relevant real estate registration according to the land use adjustment documents.

　　（13） Property right incentive.For the main bodies of ecological protection and restoration that carry out ecological restoration in a centralized and continuous manner and achieve a certain scale and expected objectives, they are allowed to obtain a certain share of the right to use natural resource assets according to law and regulations and engage in the development of tourism, health care, sports, facility agriculture and other industries; Among them, the projects focusing on forest and grassland restoration can use no more than 3% of the restoration area to engage in the development of ecological industry. If the state-owned construction land invested and repaired by social capital is intended to be used for operational construction projects, under the same conditions, the subject of ecological protection and restoration has priority in open competition; Where the right to use sea areas is involved, it may be handled in accordance with laws and regulations and in accordance with the above policies. For the newly added collective agricultural land after restoration, rural collective economic organizations are encouraged to transfer their management rights to the main body of ecological protection and restoration according to law. If the repaired collective construction land meets the planning, it can steadily and orderly promote the entry of rural collective operational construction land into the market according to the unified deployment of the state, and the subject of ecological protection and restoration can give priority to obtaining the use right under the same conditions. The relevant rights and interests such as land and sea area use rights, which are repaired by social capital investment and obtained according to law, can be transferred according to law and regulations and obtain corresponding income after completing the repair task.

Release the related interests of property rights.After the social capital restores the construction land in the repaired area into agricultural land and passes the acceptance, the vacated construction land indicators can be preferentially used for the development of relevant industries, and the savings indicators can be transferred and used within the province according to the policy of linking the increase and decrease of urban and rural construction land. If the main body of ecological protection and restoration restores the stock construction land obtained according to law into agricultural land, after passing the acceptance, the vacated construction land index can be used for the agricultural land of the same land type occupied within the province.

　　Establish and improve the incentive mechanism for the protection and restoration of ecosystems such as nature, farmland and cities.Study and formulate relevant rules for ecosystem carbon sequestration projects to participate in national carbon emission trading, and gradually increase the trading volume of ecosystem carbon sequestration. We will improve the system of participating in ecological protection and restoration by means of social donations, and encourage participation in ecological protection and restoration such as nature reserves. Innovate the forest cutting management mechanism, carry out the pilot of independent cutting of artificial commercial forests, guide social capital to scientifically prepare simple forest management plans, and independently prepare forest cutting quotas for enterprises with a certain business scale, which can be cut independently according to laws and regulations after examination and approval; The cutting of economic forest, energy forest, bamboo forest and trees on non forest land can be designed independently according to the forest management plan or plan, and the cutting age and method can be determined independently according to law and regulations.

　　（14） Resource utilization.According to the ecological protection and restoration scheme and its engineering design, the main body of ecological protection and restoration is allowed to be used for the restoration project free of charge and included in the cost management for the newly generated earth and stone materials such as reasonable slope cutting, load reduction and elimination of hidden dangers of geological disasters, the soil and stone left in situ, the sludge and sediment generated by river dredging, and high-quality topsoil and native plants; If there is any surplus, the local government at or above the county level shall rely on the public resource trading platform system, and ensure the reasonable income of the main body of ecological protection and restoration.

　　（15） Fiscal and tax support.Give play to the leading role of government investment, explore the introduction of social capital through PPP and other modes to carry out ecological protection and restoration, and those who meet the conditions can enjoy corresponding preferential tax policies such as environmental protection, energy conservation and water saving according to regulations. If the public welfare forest invested and constructed by social capital meets the conditions and is included in the public welfare forest zoning according to the regulations, it can enjoy the relevant government subsidy policies equally.

　　（16） Financial support.On the premise of no new implicit debts of local governments, support financial institutions to participate in ecological protection and restoration projects, broaden investment and financing channels, optimize credit evaluation methods, actively develop appropriate financial products, and provide medium and long-term financial support for the project according to the principle of marketization. We will promote green funds, green bonds, green credit and green insurance to increase investment in ecological protection and restoration. Actively support qualified enterprises to issue green bonds for ecological protection and restoration projects. Support backbone enterprises with leading technology and strong comprehensive service ability to go public for financing. Allow qualified enterprises to issue green asset securitization products and revitalize resource assets. We will improve the forest insurance system, encourage insurance institutions and places where conditions permit to explore and carry out pilot projects for the insurance of characteristic economic forests and forest seedlings that guarantee value, output and income, promote the pilot project of grassland insurance, strengthen the innovation of insurance products, and improve the disaster risk prevention and control and decentralization mechanism.

　　5、 Guarantee mechanism

　　（17） Strengthen organizational leadership.All regions should incorporate encouraging and supporting social capital to participate in ecological protection and restoration into their economic and social development plans, and establish and improve an overall coordination mechanism. We should unblock channels, listen to demands, protect the legitimate rights and interests of social capital and enhance long-term investment confidence. The competent departments of natural resources at all levels shall strengthen the overall planning of work, formulate ecological protection and restoration plans, clarify restoration tasks, set up projects, and determine the objectives of ecological protection and restoration and the requirements for the allocation of natural resources assets. All relevant departments and units shall, according to the division of responsibilities, formulate and improve relevant supporting policies and measures, refine operating procedures, and form a joint force for collaborative promotion.

　　（18） Strengthen demonstration and guidance.Give play to the leading role of backbone enterprises, build cooperation platforms such as mixed ownership enterprises, and promote the coordination of various capital and industries. Encourage basic research on theories and methods of ecological protection and restoration, research and development of key technologies, integrated demonstration and promotion, and explore a resource-oriented sustainable development model with clear guidance, clear path, sustained investment and stable return. Strengthen the construction of scientific research talent echelon and build a benign development mechanism of combining industry, University, research and application.

　　（19） Optimize regulatory services.Establish an investment promotion mechanism, build an information service platform, and summarize and publish various ecological protection and restoration projects, investment needs, policies, regulations and standards. Strengthen supervision and law enforcement, comprehensively supervise the whole process according to law, strictly standardize behavior, establish a credit supervision mechanism, and realize the linkage of rewards and punishments across regions and departments. The collection, processing and use of sensitive geographic, ecological and biological information in the process of ecological protection and restoration shall be carried out in strict accordance with relevant regulations.

　　（20） Do a good job in publicity and guidance.Strengthen the publicity of laws, regulations and policies. Carry out the brand construction of ecological protection and restoration, make full use of various media platforms, improve the communication power and influence, enhance the sense of acquisition and honor of social capital participation, promote the whole society to care and support the cause of ecological protection and restoration, and jointly promote the construction of a beautiful China.