Three provincial regulations went into effect on July 1 regarding the environmental and ecological protection of the Chishui River area, which was adopted by the legislatures of Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces as a unified legal standard.

It was the country's first joint legislation on local watershed as well as an innovation in local lawmaking, according to Ou Lin, an official with the Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Joint work

The joint legislation on the Chishui River, one of the Yangtze River's tributaries, is an implementation of the Yangtze River Protection Law, which took effect on March 1. "It can help solve a longstanding problem in cross-provincial legislation for river basins," Ou said, recognizing achievements in the ecological compensation mechanism of the three provinces in recent years, but adding that "difficulties in governing the Chishui River Basin still exist, since protective measures and law enforcement standards are different in each province, making it necessary to unify such standards to promote joint protection."

To reach this goal, the legislatures in the three provinces decided to start developing joint legislation last year. "We worked together to research Yangtze River protection and consulted with each other several times," said Yang Jun, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission with the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee. After several rounds of exchanges, the provincial legislatures adopted the regulations in May.

The Chishui, which is 436.5 km long and extends across Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou in southwest China, is famous as an eco-river with many endemic fish and an important ecological security barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze.

The regulations on the protection of the Chishui area are one example of regional legislators making concerted efforts to achieve the same legislative goals and enhance each other's work.

In January 2020, China implemented a full fishing moratorium in more than 300 conservation areas in the Yangtze River Basin, which was expanded to a 10-year moratorium for all natural waterways in the country's longest river, including its major tributaries and lakes, on January of this year.

According to the law, joint work will be carried out by State Council agricultural and rural affairs authorities, other related State Council departments and provincial-level governments in the regions along the Yangtze to strengthen the enforcement.

The new law adds "designated areas of the Yangtze estuary" to the moratorium. Fishing for productive purposes is banned in the conservation areas for aquatic life in the Yangtze basin, and within the time limit prescribed by the State, productive fishing for natural fishery resources is banned in key Yangtze waters, including its main river, major tributaries and lakes, and designated estuary areas.

Governments at or above the county level along the river are required to adopt compensation policies for fishermen moving ashore, guide them in finding new jobs and ensure social security services.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, hundreds of thousands of fishermen relinquished their nets in 10 provincial-level regions along the river, as local governments provided them with social security services and helped them move ashore to find new jobs.

Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei authorities provided another example of how concerted regional legal efforts make a difference. To further improve air quality, they intensified efforts to prevent and control air pollution, while simultaneously implementing tougher regulations against air pollution in May 2020. The regulations marked the first cross-region legislative effort to improve air quality in China.

Cradle of 'two mountains' theory

Huzhou, in the northern part of Zhejiang Province, has long been known as the cradle of China's "two mountains" theory which says that clear waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, comparable to the gold and silver mountains of legend.

Like other Chinese cities, Huzhou considers ecological protection the most important factor in everything from the formulation of strategy planning and urban and rural overall planning to special planning in infrastructure, industrial development and population control. By enhancing its legislation and law supervision, Huzhou has improved and will continue to boost the ecological environment.

Huzhou promoted the water campaign in tackling five water issues: water pollution, flood control, drainage in waterlogged areas, water supply and conservation. It also succeeded in the reduction of air pollution, the green transformation of industrial companies and mine governance.

Specifically, regulations on ecological protection were launched in recent years, including regulations on city appearance and sanitation management, the prohibition of fireworks sales, and air pollution prevention and control.

"Since the introduction of the regulation on banning fireworks sales, we have seen a decline in the average concentration of PM2.5, an improvement in air quality and fewer fire accidents," said Wang Wuliang, head of the Commission of Legislative Affairs of the Huzhou Municipal People's Congress.

Huzhou is also promoting ecological culture as it explores projects such as a mulberry fish pond and an irrigation engineering system (Lou Gang Wei Tian) on a regional basis. It established the China Academy of Ecological Civilization and the Zhejiang Cadre Institute of Ecological Civilization, and set August 15 as the annual Huzhou Ecological Civilization Day. During that time, deputies of people's congresses at all levels will go to schools, communities, homes and factories to disseminate the concept of an ecological civilization and relevant legal knowledge, in an effort to raise the ecological awareness of the entire society.

Local efforts

For more than three years, regional governments have developed their individual efforts on protecting the environment according to their own specific conditions.

The Standing Committee of Heilongjiang Provincial People's Congress has strictly implemented the decision and the deployment of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on fighting pollution. For three years, the law enforcement inspection team has communicated face-to-face with deputies of people's congresses at all levels, frontline staff, experts and scholars, and others through over 100 symposiums. After listening to reports from hundreds of departments and individuals, and looking at how different companies and projects enforce environmental laws and regulations, the committee made legislative improvements. Once problems are spotted, solutions and improvement will be proposed.

Similarly, the Standing Committee of Jinan Municipal People's Congress in Shandong Province has been working on solving people's concerns regarding pollution. For example, Xiaoqinghe River, a vital city river, was polluted by factory sewage and domestic wastewater. To make the river clear again, the local people's congress standing committee analyzed reports from residents and conducted a thorough investigation, both openly and secretly, on the sources of the pollution. They came up with a long list of root causes such as insufficient sewage treatment capacity and years of no desilting. The investigation group also went to other cities to learn from their experience in battling river pollution. Through all these efforts, the Xiaoqinghe River regained its clear and natural origins.