Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 29th Title: Focus on four aspects of the revised draft of the Marine Environmental Protection Law.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Gao Jing from Xinhua Viewpoint
The revised draft of the Marine Environmental Protection Law was first submitted to the 38th meeting of the 13th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) for deliberation on 27th. Compared with the current law, what are the major adjustments in the revised draft? How to prevent and control marine environmental pollution? How to better protect the rich marine ecology? Xinhua Viewpoint reporter interviewed relevant experts on the important points of the draft law.
Aspect 1: Strengthen the supervision of sewage outlets to prevent and control marine garbage pollution
Land discharge is one of the important causes of marine pollution. The revised draft emphasizes adhering to the principle of land and sea planning, highlighting environmental problems in coastal waters and strengthening the prevention and control of land-based pollution.
According to the national requirements for the supervision and management of sewage outlets into the sea, the revised draft optimizes the setting of sewage outlets into the sea, strengthens the supervision of sewage outlets into the sea, clarifies the investigation, rectification and daily supervision and management of various sewage outlets into the sea, and adds provisions for the construction of information platforms for sewage outlets into the sea.
On September 14, 2021, in the sea area of wuzhizhou, Sanya, Hainan, the staff cleaned the fishing nets and ropes wrapped around corals on the seabed. Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Guanyu photo
Wang Juying, director of the National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that the supervision of sewage outlets into the sea is the key to prevent land-based pollutants from damaging the marine environment and an important measure to improve the ecological environment quality in coastal waters.
In 2019, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment launched a special campaign to investigate and rectify the sewage outlets in the Bohai Sea. In 2022, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Implementation Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision and Management of Sewage Discharges into Rivers and Seas", which required deepening the reform of sewage outfall setting and management, and effectively controlling the discharge of pollutants into the sea.
Wang Maojun, deputy director of the Ecological Environment Monitoring and Scientific Research Center of the Haihe River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision Administration of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment is currently drafting the Measures for the Supervision and Management of Sewage Discharges into the Sea, and the Technical Guidelines for the Supervision and Management of Sewage Discharges into the Sea. A series of technical specifications such as the Technical Guidelines for the Setting of Sewage Discharges into the Sea are being stepped up.
On June 8, 2022, volunteers cleaned up the garbage on the beach in Haizhou Bay National Ocean Park, Lianyungang, Jiangsu. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Wang Jianmin)
The revised draft strengthens the prevention and control of marine garbage pollution, completes the connection with the law on the prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste, strictly prevents and controls solid waste on beaches, clarifies that local people’s governments at or above the county level in coastal areas are responsible for the prevention and control of marine garbage pollution in the sea areas under their management, and establishes a marine garbage cleaning system.
On June 1, 2021, sanitation workers salvaged floating garbage in Sandu ‘ao sea area. In recent years, Ningde City, Fujian Province has strengthened the comprehensive remediation of floating garbage, and set up a professional marine sanitation company to clean up the floating garbage in the waters near the transshipment coastline and protect the marine environment. Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Kehong photo
Wang Juying said that the prevention and control of marine garbage pollution is one of the highlights of this law revision. At present, the "three provinces and one city", Fujian, Hainan and other places around the Bohai Sea have explored the establishment of a "maritime sanitation" system to promote the clean beach action.
Aspect 2: Strengthen the protection of marine biodiversity
China is one of the countries with the richest marine biodiversity in the world. In recent years, nearly 30% of the coastal waters and 37% of the mainland coastline have been included in the red line of ecological protection. The revised draft adheres to ecological priority and strengthens marine ecological protection in key areas and areas.
Wang Maojun said that it should be noted that China’s marine ecosystem is generally fragile, with insufficient ecological carrying capacity and environmental capacity. The pressure of coastal economic and social development on the marine environment is still great, and the trend of marine ecological degradation has not been fundamentally curbed.
On April 20, 2022, tourists watched the introduction of "No whale wants to say goodbye like this" environmental protection art exhibition at Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center in Shandong Province. The exhibition aims to advocate people to care for marine animals, understand the harm of marine garbage and raise awareness of marine ecological protection. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ziheng photo
He said that biodiversity protection is one of the key contents of this law revision. Revise the draft to improve the compensation system for marine ecological protection and increase the financial transfer payment to marine ecological protection areas; Increase regulations on the protection of important marine ecosystems, biological species and biological genetic resources, and maintain marine biodiversity.
The revised draft also strengthens coastline protection, establishes and improves the natural coastline control system, clarifies the scope of strict coastline protection, increases the classified protection and utilization of coastline, and delineates the retreat line of coastal buildings according to local conditions.
On June 5, 2021, tourists played in the artificial beach of Dongjiang Port in Tianjin Binhai New Area (photo of drone). In recent years, Tianjin has adhered to the combination of pollution control in the Bohai Sea and shoreline management, and started projects such as shoreline and coastal wetland remediation and restoration. Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhao Zishuo photo
Wang Juying said that the coastline, as a transitional zone between the sea and the land, is an important part of the natural ecological space. Strengthening coastline protection, strictly controlling natural coastline and constructing a more scientific and reasonable coastline pattern are important measures to implement the requirements of ecological civilization construction.
Aspect 3: Prevention and control of pollution in coastal engineering and marine engineering construction projects
The revised draft combines Chapter V "Prevention and Control of Pollution Damage to the Marine Environment by Coastal Engineering Construction Projects" and Chapter VI "Prevention and Control of Pollution Damage to the Marine Environment by Marine Engineering Construction Projects" into one chapter, unifies the marine environmental protection requirements of coastal engineering and marine engineering construction projects, completes the connection with environmental impact assessment law and other laws and regulations, optimizes the access and layout of construction projects, and modifies the relevant provisions on environmental impact assessment and environmental protection of construction projects.
The scenery of Guangxi Shankou Mangrove Ecological National Nature Reserve (drone photo) taken on October 22, 2022. Located in Hepu County, Guangxi, this nature reserve is one of the first national marine nature reserves in China. Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Ailin photo
The revised draft also improved the requirements for ecological protection of construction projects, made it clear that construction projects should avoid or mitigate the impact on marine life, and added provisions that construction projects should not cause erosion, siltation and damage to the territorial sea base and its surrounding environment.
Wang Maojun said that the pollution damage of coastal and marine projects to the marine environment includes not only the pollution caused by sewage, waste gas, noise and electromagnetic radiation during its construction and operation, but also the impact or change of the project itself on the coastal environment or marine environment.
On August 9, 2021, a marine sanitation vessel in Huanghua City, Hebei Province salvaged floating garbage in the Bohai Sea (photo of drone). Xinhua News Agency reporter Luo Xuefeng photo
In addition, in view of the problem of illegal exploitation of sea sand, which has been closely watched by the marine police department in recent years, the revised draft strengthens the supervision of sea sand exploitation, explicitly prohibits the exploitation of sea sand within the scope of strictly protecting the coastline, and increases the requirement that the carrying of sea sand resources should have a legal source certificate.
Aspect 4: Optimize the marine environmental monitoring and investigation system.
Wang Juying introduced that the revised draft adhered to the problem orientation. In 2018, the the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) Law Enforcement Inspection Team found that the marine environmental supervision and management system was not implemented in place, including the imperfect marine environmental quality standard system, the gap in the implementation of marine environmental monitoring and monitoring system, and the lack of systematic norms in the environmental information disclosure system.
In terms of marine environmental supervision and management, the revised draft strengthens overall planning, pays attention to comprehensive management, pays attention to key points, supplements shortcomings, strengths and weaknesses, prevents risks, and improves key institutional mechanisms.
On June 7, 2022, in the sea area near Fenjiezhou Island in Lingshui Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province, experts from Hainan Academy of Marine and Fishery Sciences and staff of Fenjiezhou Island Tourist Area were transplanting corals to protect the coral reef ecosystem in the sea area. Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Lizhen photo
She said that the revised draft has optimized the marine environmental monitoring and investigation system, and on the basis of marine ecological environment monitoring, it has added provisions such as conducting marine ecological environment quality survey and marine resources survey. At the same time, strengthen the ability of marine environmental management information sharing, broaden the channels of information sharing, and improve the comprehensive management level of marine environmental protection.
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