Opinions on promoting ecological restoration in mines

Background of the introduction of the Opinions

Before the huge debts, the financial funds are a drop in the bucket

China's mine ecological restoration has many historical debts, accumulated problems and realistic contradictions, and faces the problem of "old debts" not returned and "new debts". According to remote sensing survey and monitoring data, by the end of 2018, the country's mining occupied more than 54 million mu of damaged land. Among them, the mining mines occupied about 20 million mu of damaged land, and the historical mines occupied and damaged about 34 million mu.

At present, from the central to the local levels of financial investment is insufficient, the market-oriented mechanism has not been fully established, the lack of effective policies to encourage social capital investment, the fund problem has become a constraint bottleneck of mine ecological restoration. At the same time, some large mining enterprises are facing problems such as the inability to revitalize the existing construction land and the difficulty in obtaining new construction land. "In recent years, some places have actively explored diversified financing methods for mine restoration and achieved many successful experiences. But overall, there are still problems such as unclear incentive policies, insufficient support and weak operability." The person in charge introduced.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed "building an environmental governance system in which the government is led, enterprises are the main body, social organizations and the public participate", and the Guiding Opinions on Coordinating the Reform of the Property rights System of Natural resource Assets proposed that "in accordance with the principle of who repairs and who benefits, by granting property rights arrangements such as the right to use natural resource assets for a certain period of time," Encourage social investors to engage in ecological protection and restoration."

The person in charge said that the "Opinions" will be the mine ecological function restoration and follow-up resource development and utilization, industrial development overall consideration, clear a series of incentive policies. These policies are aimed at all types of social investment entities, including private enterprises, and vigorously mobilize the whole society to join the army of protecting and restoring the ecological space of China's territory.

One of the main contents of the Opinion

Verify the status quo of land use in mining areas according to the actual conditions

In some mining areas in China, especially plain mining areas with high underground water level, such as Jining in Shandong Province and Huaibei in Anhui Province, underground mining causes surface collapse and water accumulation of more than 10 meters, and many lands can not be restored to their original uses.

In line with the principle of respecting history and seeking truth from facts, the Opinions propose that existing agricultural land that cannot be restored to its original use due to mining collapse can be verified based on reality.

"Verifying the status quo, ownership and legality of land use in mining areas according to actual conditions is the premise and basis for ecological restoration and comprehensive utilization according to local conditions." The person in charge said that first of all, we should adhere to the concept of farmland protection priority. On the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen the responsibility of ecological protection and restoration of mining enterprises to avoid causing new land damage, especially arable land damage to the maximum extent; On the other hand, it is necessary to strictly identify standards and approval procedures. For agricultural land that cannot be restored to its original use due to mining collapse, it can be changed into other agricultural land or unused land after verification by the provincial natural resources department in conjunction with relevant departments and the consent of land rights holders, and submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources for approval. It involves the adjustment and rezoning of permanent basic farmland in accordance with regulations, and is included in the territorial spatial planning. The "Opinions" stressed that the reduction of cultivated land does not exempt the person responsible for causing the collapse from the statutory obligation.

The second main content of the Opinions

Encourage comprehensive restoration and utilization of mine land

"Encouraging comprehensive restoration and utilization of mining land through incentive policies such as granting land use rights is the gold content of policy measures." The person in charge noted that

The Opinions make it clear that for abandoned state-owned construction land left over from historical mines, social capital investment can be encouraged by granting subsequent land use rights to investment subjects in mine ecological restoration. First, under the premise of conforming to the territorial spatial planning, two implementation modes can be adopted for the land to be changed into commercial construction land after restoration: The first is to carry out land development in the early stage after the overall restoration by the local government, and determine the land use right owner by subdivision in an open competition; The second is to determine the same restoration subject and the land use right holder through open competition, and sign the ecological restoration agreement and the land transfer contract respectively. Second, after the restoration is intended to be used as agricultural land, the municipal and county people's governments or their authorized departments can determine the restoration subject in the form of agreements, sign state-owned agricultural land contract management contracts, engaged in planting, forestry, animal husbandry or fishery production.