Shanghai releases new ecological, environmental management guideline

A guideline on the city's regional ecology and environment management has been released by the local government, which lists nearly 300 environmental protection units, categorized into three major types: those under priority protection, key management and control and general management and control.

The guideline is set on the basis of the nation's “Three Lines and One List” approach. The three lines refer to the ecological red line, environmental quality baseline and upper limit of resource usage, while the list covers environmental management requirements for different areas.

In October 2017, the former Ministry of Environmental Protection, which is now the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, launched nationwide compiling work on regional plans for this approach that it promoted. Shanghai was listed in the first group of 12 provinces and cities involved in this program.

The city government then organized a working team led by the vice mayor who is responsible for this field, while districts also established their own teams. Experts from the Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences and other research institutes were invited to join the program as well.

According to the city's ecology and environment bureau, in the guideline, among the 293 units, there are 44 areas with important ecological functions or ecology and environment sensitivity marked as priority protected ones, including waters at the mouth of Yangtze River, reserves of drinking water sources and atmospheric reserves in Chongming District.

They accounted for 18.4 percent of the total environmental protection units. In these areas, construction and development should be strictly restricted with very tough protection measures to ensure their ecological and environmental functions would never degrade.

The 123 regions under key management and control cover industrial parks, major ports and downtown areas, about 21.3 percent of the whole. Downtown areas should develop productive service industries and high-value-added urban industries as well as laying emphasis on deepening the reduction of pollution discharge.