Ecological Protection Plan Launches All-round Restoration

Six government authorities, including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources, have jointly issued the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for ecological protection to advance the integrated conservation of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts.

The document sets out that by 2030, China's ecological spatial framework will be optimized, ecological quality will see steady improvements, biodiversity loss will be effectively curbed, and more high-quality ecological products will be supplied. The supervision systems for ecological conservation and restoration will be further refined, and the national ecological security will be effectively safeguarded.

Specific goals have been put forward：

◆Nature reserves on land should account for no less than 18 percent of the nation's terrestrial territory.

◆The Ecological Quality Index should be raised to 86.5.

◆Soil and water conservation rate should exceed 74 percent.

◆Forest coverage rate should hit 25.8 percent.

Ecological conservation and restoration will target the "Three Zones and Four Belts," referring to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Barrier Area, the Yellow River Key Ecological Function Area, and the Yangtze River Key Ecological Function Area, to build green barriers in the Three-North Shelterbelt Program.

For coordinated ecosystem conservation and restoration, the plan assigns three major tasks: enabling natural ecosystems to recuperate, carrying out ecosystem restoration projects, and boosting urban-rural ecological livability.

It sets out regulations for protection of grasslands, forests, rivers, lakes and wetlands, proposes to strengthen protection of original deserts, glaciers, snow-capped mountains, permafrost systems, and marine ecosystems, and strictly control sea reclamation.

China will upgrade urban green space systems, make park lands accessible to the public, rehabilitate urban wetlands and water environments, and manage small-scale water bodies in rural areas.

Full-scale biodiversity conservation will be incorporated into municipal statutes, plans and policy frameworks.

Other goals include strengthening ecological quality monitoring and assessment, and the construction of ecological civilization demonstration areas.

Source: Science and Technology Daily