Venue of the Yellow River Forum 2022
The Yellow River remaining harnessed has been a cherished wish of the Chinese people for thousands of years. In order to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of President Xi Jinping’s important speeches in this regard, the Counsellors’ Office of the State Council (COSC) hosted the Yellow River Forum on the theme of “Promoting Ecological Protection and High-quality Development in the Yellow River Basin” from August 23 to 24. With the gathering of wisdom and strength, wise words were exchanged and practical advice was put forward. With the great support of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, National Energy Administration and Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) of the Ministry of Water Resources, etc., the Counsellors’ Office of the People’s Government of Shandong Province hosted the forum. Mr. Fan Bo, Vice Governor of Shandong Province, and Mr. Zhao Bing, Vice Chairman of the COSC, gave addresses at the opening ceremony, which was presided over by Mr. Wang Jian, Deputy Secretary-General of the People’s Government of Shandong Province and member of the Party Leadership Group of the General Office of People’s Government of Shandong Province. Mr. Xie Boyang, counsellor of the COSC, and Mr. Zhou Lianhua, counsellor of the Counsellors’ Office of the People’s Government of Shandong Province, delivered keynote speeches. Tang Min, Li Yuguang, and Zhu Tong, counsellors of the COSC, and An Jiayao, researcher of the China Central Institute for Culture and History (CCICH), presided over and participated in the relevant discussions. At the forum, government counsellors engaged in exchanges and discussions with government officials, entrepreneurs, scholars from universities, experts from research institutes and think tanks, etc.
Mr. Fan Bo, Vice Governor of Shandong Province, addressing the opening ceremony
Mr. Fan Bo pointed out that Shandong had been conscientiously implementing the important instructions and requirements of President Xi on Shandong’s work. By anchoring to the principle of “taking the lead and opening up new horizons”, adhering to the priority of ecology, speeding up the construction of barriers to harness the Yellow River, building the high-quality Yellow River Estuary National Park, governing water resources, ecology, environment and disasters simultaneously, promoting high-quality integrated development, stepping up the formation of a new paradigm of opening up and passing down, innovating and telling the Shandong “chapter” of the “Stories of the Yellow River” in the new era, Shandong had shouldered its responsibilities and made its contribution to promoting collaborative cooperation and coordinated development in the Yellow River basin. The province would fully utilize opportunities and fruits brought about by this forum to further deepen exchanges and cooperation so as to “sing” the “Yellow River Cantata” in the new era.
Mr. Zhao Bing, Vice Chairman of the COSC, addressing the opening ceremony
Mr. Zhao Bing noted that no efforts should be spared to thoroughly study and implement the idea of President Xi’s important speeches on this matter, to adhere to the strategic orientation of joint environmental conservation and coordinated ecological governance, to accurately grasp the relationship between environmental protection and economic development, to coordinate development and security, which were two major issues, properly, and to integrate the system concept into the whole process of ecological protection and high-quality development. The decisions and instructions of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council were to be focused on for the accurate identification of the point of penetration and the areas where efforts could be put in. The linkage between the central government and local governments should be strengthened for the organization of cooperation between counsellors and government officials, entrepreneurs, scholars from universities and experts from research institutes and think tanks, in the “counsellor+” model. In this way, wisdom and strength could be gathered while precise and practical advice could be offered to serve scientific, democratic, law-based decision-making and to promote ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin.
Mr. Xie Boyang, counsellor of the COSC, delivering a keynote speech
In his keynote speech, Mr. Xie Boyang referred to expansive, complex and diverse ecosystems with strong correlations as crucial features of the Yellow River basin that posed high requirements for striking a balance between economic development and ecological protection in the entire basin. By taking the ecosystem as the focus and the Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) as an important enabler for realizing the strategic goals of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin, the GEP accounting of the Yellow River Basin could be conducted in a problem-oriented, focused and staged manner to serve as the foundation for value accounting in the national macro control of ecological protection and economic development benefits of different main functional areas, cross-regional ecological compensations and transfer payments.
Mr. Zhou Lianhua, counsellor of the Counsellors’ Office of the People’s Government of Shandong Province, delivering a keynote speech
In his keynote speech, Mr. Zhou Lianhua stressed that to promote ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin, it was necessary to speed up the improvement of the safety and harnessing level of the Yellow River, to strengthen flood control of important tributaries of the Yellow River, such as Fenhe River, Weihe River and Dawen River, etc., to promote the governance of “secondary suspended rivers”, and to reduce the safety risk of the Yellow River levee. The intensive and economical use of water resources in the Yellow River basin should be strengthened while policies and measures to promote the implementation of “basing city, land, people and production on water resources” should be launched. Support should be given to build a large channel going along the Yellow River to the sea and to plan the construction of high-speed railways and highways going along the Yellow River to the sea with the opening up a “straight-line” express channel that would run through the Yellow River Basin from east to west. A land-sea port cooperative development mechanism should also be established to propel the joint construction of sea-rail transit bases in cities along the Yellow River.
The focus of this forum was on the theme of promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin. Exchanges and discussions were centered on four panel discussions: strengthening ecological environmental protection, restoration and governance, promoting the intensive, economical and safe utilization of water resources, facilitating high-quality development in the Yellow River basin, and protecting, inheriting and carrying forward the culture of the Yellow River.
Panel Discussion 1: Strengthening Ecological Environmental Protection, Restoration and Governance
Regarding ecological environmental protection, restoration and governance, it was proposed that eight major projects should be completed centering on five priority areas: ecological protection and restoration of rivers and lakes, pollution and carbon emission reduction with synergic efficiency enhancement, improvement of weak urban infrastructure areas, agricultural non-point source pollution control, and ecological protection and restoration. A high-quality Yellow River Estuary National Park should be built. Efforts in ecological protection of the Yellow River were to be increased continuously to promote the development of the river ecosystem and to improve protection of biodiversity. By strengthening the management and control of ecological space in the Yellow River basin, an ecological security landscape could be gradually built. The comprehensive benefits brought by water conservancy and hydropower projects could be given full play to strike a balance and achieve harmony between man and nature.
Panel Discussion 2: Promoting the Intensive, Economical and Safe Utilization of Water Resources
In terms of the intensive and economical utilization of water resources, it was believed that it was necessary to further conserve agricultural water, to guide and promote the rational adjustment of agricultural production deployment and crop planting structure, to continue to increase support for the construction of high-standard farmland and water-saving enterprises and industrial parks, to guide enterprises to implement circular transformation and to step up the improvement of urban water supply and conservation facilities. Explorations should be made to construct the "几" Shaped River Bend water network for reducing the difficulties in and cost of water acquisition and drawing water from areas with abundant water resources to dry areas on a wide scale.
Panel Discussion 3: Facilitating High-quality Development in the Yellow River Basin
When it came to high-quality development, it was held that the Yellow River basin was an area in China with abundant energy resources. To take the initiative to promote the green and low-carbon development of energy, the focus should be put on the transformation and upgrading of power and energy. It was necessary to coordinate centralized and distributed power generation for improving the efficiency of energy resource utilization. The construction of major national-level scientific and technological infrastructure in the Yellow River basin needed to be reinforced with the enhancement of the innovation capacity of the manufacturing industry and the further optimization of the industrial structure. High-quality development could be driven by digital transformation. The capabilities to apply digital technology in energy forecasting and early warning should be strengthened to speed up industrial digitalization.
Panel Discussion 4: Protecting, Inheriting and Carrying Forward Yellow River Culture
In terms of protecting, inheriting and carrying forward Yellow River culture, it was concluded that Yellow River culture was an important component of Chinese civilization. To explore the origin of Chinese civilization, it was necessary to protect the cultural heritage of the Yellow River in a systematic way, to dig into the value of Yellow River culture in the new era, and to tell good contemporary “stories of the Yellow River”. A Yellow River cultural tourism belt with global influence was to be built to enhance the cultural impact of the Yellow River and to achieve the coordinated development of archaeology, cultural relics protection and tourism. In this way, the role of Yellow River culture as a fulcrum in ecological protection and high-quality development could be brought out.
Leaders participating in the relevant discussions includes Zhang Huaping, Deputy Director-General of the Department of General Affairs of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Zhang Shiwei, Level II inspector of the Department of Planning and Programming of the Ministry of Water Resources, Zhou Jiucai, Level I inspector of the Department of Policy and Legislation of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Liang Zhipeng, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Legal and Institutional Reform of the National Energy Administration, and Su Maolin, Deputy Director and Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources. A total of nearly 100 people participated in this forum to exchange ideas, including heads of the counsellors’ office of the people’s governments of nine provinces (regions) along the Yellow River, government counsellors, researchers, research fellows, experts and scholars from relevant institutions and universities, and entrepreneurs, such as Zhang Liping, Director General of the Counsellor-Service Department of the COSC, Wang Huacun, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Chairman of the Counsellors’ Office of the People’s Government of Gansu Province, Cheng Xi, Vice Chairman of the Counsellors’ Office of the People’s Government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Liu Shuqin, Vice Chairperson of the Counsellors’ Office of the People’s Government of Qinghai Province, Ding Jinsong, full-time Vice Chairman of the Counsellors’ Office of the People’s Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Cao Wuxiang, Director and Level II inspector of the Counsellor-Service Division of the General Office of the People’s Government of Shandong Province.
During the forum, the participants surveyed the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, the Yellow River Delta Ecological Monitoring Center, and the Yellow River Delta Agricultural High-tech Industry Demonstration Zone in Dongying City, Shandong Province.
Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve
Yellow River Delta Ecological Monitoring Center
Quinoa in the saline land of the Yellow River Delta Agricultural High-tech Industry Demonstration Zone
