From abandoned mines to Chongqing's "Little Jiuzhai", what has Causeway Mountain experienced?

This year's National Day holiday, Chongqing Causeway Mountain Mine Park has become a new "network red card", strength circle powder tourists around. A number of videos titled "National Day card Chongqing 'small Jiuzhai'" and "Yubei Tonglu Mountain Mine Park Tourism Guide" have received many likes on platforms such as XiaoHongshu and Douyin, and some netizens have commented that "if it is not the towering cliff, it is difficult to imagine that this was an abandoned mine a few years ago."

However, the Gongluo Mountain Mine Park in Chongqing, which has been labeled as a "flow", has ambitions far beyond being an "Internet celebrity".

From October 10 to 11, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a landscape project promotion meeting in Beijing, at which the first 15 outstanding typical cases of landscape engineering were announced, and the ecological restoration project of Tongluo Mountain Mining Area in Yubei District of Chongqing was listed. Earlier, in the fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) Ecological Civilization Forum "Ecological protection and Restoration based on natural solutions" theme forum, the project was selected in the "China's Typical Case collection of ecological restoration".

The "ecological burden" in the past has now become "green wealth", how does Chongqing do a good job of "managing mountains and rivers, demonstrating mountains and dew", create a good and popular ecological products, continue to release ecological dividends, and actively explore ways to realize the value of ecological products?

Improve the ecological "green content", abandoned mines beautiful butterfly change

Great mountains and great rivers are born in Chongqing. From the perspective of natural genes, Chongqing's "mountain content" is surprisingly high, accounting for 76%, surrounded by mountains and rivers, surrounded by rivers and gorges, various ecological elements are complete, and the basis of biodiversity is unique.

Viewed from a high altitude, Chongqing's land surface, 23 mountains from northeast to southwest, almost parallel, like the strings of the earth. Open the map, "The city is on a hill, and the city is in the mountains." Among them, Jinyun Mountain, Zhongliang Mountain, Causeway Mountain and Mingyue Mountain run through the central city to the north and south, and integrate with the city, known as "the backbone of the mountain city".

In addition, Chongqing is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the heart of the Three Gorges Reservoir area, which is the last pass of the ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. As one of the "four Mountains", Causeway Mountain is an important ecological conservation area and ecological barrier, which plays an important role in the water ecological environment security of the Yangtze River.

It is understood that from 2010 to 2012, Chongqing fully closed the quarries in the "four mountains" area, and 41 abandoned mines were left behind in the Causeway Mountain mine area, forming a 14.87 square kilometers impact area, with prominent safety hazards and serious ecological degradation.

At the end of 2018, Chongqing was approved to carry out the national pilot project of ecological protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasses in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River Ecological Barrier (Chongqing section) in the confluence area of the Yangtze River and Jialing River. Through the systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasslands, the past single management model of "treating the pain at the top and treating the pain at the foot" has been changed, and the overall protection, systematic restoration, and comprehensive management of the ecosystem in the central urban area have been carried out, accelerating the restoration and upgrading of the ecological barrier function of the Yangtze River in the region.

Tongluo Mountain in Yubei was once the largest limestone mining area in the central city of Chongqing. Zeng Dejian, who was secretary of the Party General Branch of Shibi Village in Shichuan Town, Yubei District, told reporters that since he can remember, the village has opened a small stone farm, and there are more than 100 homes at the peak, and about 7,000 large vehicles transport stones every day. The mountains are devastated, the dust is everywhere, and the trees and crops cannot survive.

From a pit riddled with holes to a deep pool of blue water, like a string of pearls embedded in the mountains, what has happened to Causeway Hill?

-- Adhering to planning and guidance. In July 2019, Chongqing issued the implementation plan for the protection and improvement of the "four mountains" in the central urban area. The ecological restoration project of the Causeway Mountain mining area is closely linked to the overall positioning of "urban green lung and citizen garden" proposed by the plan, making full use of mining relics, adhering to the guidance of multi-field planning, and promoting the coordination and synchronization of the ecological restoration of the Causeway Mountain mine and the construction of the mine park. On the one hand, the Conceptual Plan for Ecological Protection and Restoration Project of Causeway Mountain Mountains, Forests, fields, lakes and Grasslands sorted out the problems of low water conservation capacity, low product supply capacity, reduced biodiversity, and low quality of rural landscape in Causeway Mountain, and proposed four strategies of "comprehensive protection, natural restoration, comprehensive ecosystem design, and collaborative symbiotic design". We will designate conservation, restoration and utilization zones, and promote integrated protection and management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasslands. On the other hand, the tourism master plan of Causeway Mountain Mine Park establishes the overall spatial structure of "One belt, three districts and three centers" centered on the mining cultural tourism and sightseeing belt. In addition, the scientific preparation of village planning. By adjusting and optimizing the spatial layout of the territory through ecological restoration, ecological restoration will be combined with the subsequent tourism development of Causeway Mountain to form a pattern of mutual promotion of ecological restoration and industrial development.

-- Carrying out systematic ecological restoration. Wang Bing, deputy director of Yubei District Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, said that the project carried out the system restoration of "mountain", "mountainside" and "mountain" in accordance with the zoning ideas of ecological conservation area, ecological restoration area and rational utilization area. "In the mountains", we will focus on land greening, landscape walking trails and biodiversity protection along the mountain road. "Mountainside" focus on the ecological restoration of abandoned mines, their affected areas and mine water bodies; "Under the mountain" focus on the comprehensive renovation of land, while coordinating the prevention and control of rural non-point source pollution, groundwater survey, village renovation and other 10 sub-types of work.

-- Consolidating the natural ecological background of mines and improving the supply capacity of ecological products. According to statistics, in the treatment process of Causeway Mountain mine, a total of 3,000 mu of mine area was repaired, and the repair and treatment rate reached 70%. More than 2,100 mu of agricultural land such as cultivated land and forest land were added, nearly 550,000 trees were planted, nearly 10,000 mu of land greening and forest transformation were added, 150,000 square meters of shrubs and lawns were added, the mountain forest coverage rate reached 80%, and 54 safety hazards such as slopes were eliminated. A comprehensive improvement of 5,000 mu of China's territory was completed.

The ecological environment quality of Causeway Mountain has been greatly improved, and the indicators such as mine water quality, mine greening rate and air quality have been improved year by year. Biodiversity continues to increase, the variety and number of wild animals and plants continue to increase, and six Mandarin ducks were found for the first time in the No.8 mine "Xixinhai".

Increase the policy "contain new amount", clear water and green mountains into the market "cash"

The reason why the ecological restoration project of the Causeway Mountain mine was able to turn waste into treasure and activate the sleeping natural resources was largely due to Chongqing's opening up the transformation channel of "resources - assets - capital - funds".

In May 2021, with the approval of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Chongqing Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources issued the "Chongqing Planning and Natural Resources Field Ecological Product Value realization Mechanism Pilot Implementation Plan", and started the pilot work of planning ecological product value realization mechanism in the field of natural resources. Yubei District implemented the requirements of the pilot work, and steadily promoted the pilot ecological restoration and industrial management of the Causeway Mountain mine.

Where's the money coming from? Ren Jie, deputy chief of the Farming protection and restoration Department of Yubei District Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, said that first, actively supporting local financial investment, effectively promoting the pilot work of ecological restoration and industrial management of the Causehill mine. Second, establish a special fund for ecological restoration. We will strive for 150 million yuan of central financial funds for the pilot project of ecological protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasslands, and promote ecological restoration and management in mining areas. At the same time, the new cultivated land index income and ecological dipiao income generated by the comprehensive land improvement and ecological restoration of the mines in the Causeway Mountain area will be included in the special fund for ecological restoration, and will be used as a whole for the protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasslands to ensure long-term investment in ecological restoration.

In order to promote the "realization" of green water and green mountains into the market, Chongqing follows the development model of "government-led, enterprises and all sectors of society participate, and market-oriented operation", and ensures the continuous smooth realization of the value of ecological products through policy, system and institutional innovation.

-- Expanding the ecological functions of Dipiao. In July 2019, Chongqing Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources issued the Notice on Matters Related to the Reclamation Index Transaction of Historical Abandoned Mines, which clearly stipulates that "for historical abandoned mines that meet the relevant reclamation conditions, the reduction of construction land index formed after ecological restoration through engineering measures can be traded as dipiao." Yubei District actively undertakes policy dividends, explores ecological land in the Causeway Mountain mine, and promotes the reclamation index trading of abandoned mines left over from history through ecological restoration of more than 140 hectares of new cultivated land, forest land and other agricultural land, mobilizing the enthusiasm and initiative of district and county restoration.

-- Introducing supporting policies to attract private capital investment. According to the Implementation Plan of Chongqing Municipality to Encourage and Support Social Capital to participate in Ecological Protection and Restoration issued in April this year, Chongqing Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, through establishing and improving the land incentive system, allows social investment entities that participate in centralized continuous ecological protection and restoration projects and achieve the expected goals to obtain a certain share of the construction land use right according to law and regulations. For tourism, health care, sports, facilities agriculture and other ecological industry development.

Yubei District actively implements the relevant regulations of the state and Chongqing Municipality to encourage and support social capital to participate in ecological protection and restoration, attracts social capital investment such as Chongqing Linkong Urban Agricultural Development and Construction Co., LTD., Chongqing Northern Bayu Homestay Management Co., LTD., and effectively promotes the restoration and upgrading of mine park, infrastructure construction, and ecological industry development.

"The pilot work of ecological product value realization mechanism is a long way to go, and we are taking the construction of Causeway Mountain Mine Park as a breakthrough to explore the value realization of ecological products." How will the pilot project break even? How to introduce social capital investment? How to undertake the industry? The goal is to revitalize local ecological and natural resources, build and share them, and bring benefits to both local finance and investment entities." Wang Bing said that at present, although the Causeway Mountain Mine Park has not yet become a real "Jinshan Silver Mountain", it has completed the most important steps, the government has built a nest to attract chicken, let social capital investment, and promote regional development. Next, we must continue to gnaw hard bones and strive to find a new path to realize the value of ecological products with characteristics, replicability and promotion, and accumulate experience and provide demonstration for the construction of ecological civilization in the city and even the whole country.

Boost development "gold content", the potential in the mountains and rivers

Ecology is closely related to economic and social development and people's well-being.

Good ecology is the foundation of the family, and high-quality ecological environment to support high-quality development will become a vivid footnote to Chongqing to promote ecological protection and green development.

One set of data reflects the changes in the lives of Causeway Hill residents:

Since the opening of the park in 2021, the Causeway Mountain Mine Park has launched tourism projects such as sightseeing small trains and mining cultural and creative products, receiving nearly 800,000 tourists in total, with a peak day of 26,000 people, and achieving a comprehensive tourism income of about 20 million yuan

Shibi Village, with the village stock economic cooperation Association as the main body, connects farmers to invest in the operation of scenic facilities, driving the collective economy to increase hundreds of thousands of yuan; Through the participation of social funds, Beibei Bayu Company built Shibi modern agricultural Park and built demonstration base for the integration of agriculture and tourism, which realized the increase of ecological agricultural production and income; In Shibi - Guanxing - Tianping along the planning and construction of the "thirty mile fruit corridor", the orchard yield per mu during the fertile period can reach 1000 kg, and the average output value per mu exceeds 40,000 yuan.

The development of Causeway Mountain Mine has always adhered to the big ecological concept, organically combined the ecological protection and restoration of the mining area with the revitalization of the countryside. The rural living environment along the surrounding line of the mine has been significantly improved, the production and living infrastructure has been continuously upgraded, and the local migrant workers have been attracted to return home, and the ordinary people have jobs and businesses at their doorsteps, relying on the green signboard of the mine park. Around the "integrated development of agriculture and tourism" to do industry, do supporting, do services, to achieve income and wealth. Since the implementation of ecological restoration, more than 2,800 people have been employed by surrounding residents in engineering management and scenic spot construction, and more than 200 people have been employed regularly by surrounding villagers such as Shibi Village and Xidu Village, with a per capita income increase of about 20,000 yuan. The farmers around the mine cooperated with state-owned companies to purchase, store and transfer agricultural houses and land, and implemented a one-year signature to revitalize idle resources of farmers, benefiting more than 300 people.

"In the past, selling stones now depends on the environment. I didn't think we could actually eat an 'ecological meal'." Zeng Dejian has now moved back from the city to residents' New Village and runs a small train in Causeway Hill Mine Park.

Mountain city from "beautiful ecology" to "beautiful economy", the potential is still in the mountain.

Ecology benefits the people. "Ordinary people have a strong demand for ecological experience." CAI Jianjun, deputy director of the ecological restoration Department of Chongqing Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, believes that "ecological restoration must be combined with industrial development. With the development of the economy, the enthusiasm of farmers to protect the ecology will naturally be higher. In the future, we should take another step forward to develop the cultural tourism industry."

Promote the development of green industries. It is understood that Chongqing adheres to the overall planning of ecological protection and restoration and appropriate use, and cultivates and grows the ecological industry according to local conditions according to the idea of "guiding the governance method in the industrial direction and enabling the industrial efficiency in the governance effect". Relying on the unique deep pits, cliffs and landscape resources of the Causeway Mountain Mine, cultivate and develop the eco-tourism industry, actively promote the upgrading of ecological tourism functions and the construction of tourism infrastructure, introduce social funds to jointly develop tourism projects, and create a mine theme tourism destination integrating ecological tourism, sports exploration, cultural tourism and health care. In addition, the national "two Mountains" practice and innovation base, ecological restoration judicial practice base, Mining Park Science Station, and relevant university education practice base have been listed and landed, attracting many educational and scientific research institutions to carry out science popularization and research activities here, and promoting the development of mining cultural industry.

We will promote ecological benefits for the people. In the whole process of restoration, management and development and utilization of mining areas, we always practice "returning mountains to the people, returning green to the people, and benefiting the people", so that the people in mining areas can fully enjoy the ecological dividend. While actively promoting the transfer of idle collective construction land resources in rural areas to meet the needs of park development and construction, farmers can collect rent and achieve income increase and prosperity. Encourage farmers and village collective economic organizations to focus on park construction to do industry, service and support, play the leading role of the government, adhere to the development of the village collective, income and villagers with the same increase, connect farmers with land to operate park supporting facilities, and drive collective economic income.

The river has been written since ancient times, and the mountains are painted today. When we turn our eyes back to the mountain of silence, we realize that the answer to the future is already hidden in this mountain.