Research On The Legal System Of Ecological Compensation In The Yellow River Basin

On May 9,2020,the Ministry of Finance and other four departments issued the Implementation Plan for Supporting and Guiding the Yellow River Basin to Establish the Pilot Ecological Compensation Mechanism.In the fourth part,subsection(2),it only stipulated that "the compensation funds shall be promptly and fully implemented in accordance with the ecological compensation standards stipulated in the agreement".There are no detailed regulations on the ecological compensation standard,the source of compensation funds and compensation methods of the Yellow River Basin.On November 27,2020,the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Regulations on Ecological Protection Compensation(Draft for Public Comment),which made overall provisions on ecological compensation for the Yellow River basin,but did not provide specific provisions on ecological compensation for the Yellow River basin.The current ecological compensation system in the Yellow River Basin mainly has the following four problems: First,the lack of unified legislation in the Yellow River Basin leads to the lack of collaborative governance.Second,it is often difficult to reach consensus on the formulation of ecological compensation standards and their calculation methods in upstream and downstream watershed compensation agreements,leading to insufficient protection of development opportunities in ecologically contributing areas.Third,in terms of the source of compensation funds,the source of compensation funds is too single,mainly relying on the central government and local governments,resulting in the compensation of funds in practice far less than the actual input.Fourthly,in terms of compensation methods,the compensation methods are not diversified enough.At present,the provinces along the Yellow River and Nine Provinces pay compensation in the form of funds,which results in that the social,economic and cultural interests of the ecological contribution areas cannot be fully guaranteed.Based on the experience of ecological compensation in Xin’anjiang River Basin and Tennessee River Basin in the United States,and combined with the actual situation of ecological compensation in the Yellow River Basin,the following aspects can be considered to improve the ecological compensation legal system in the Yellow River Basin.Firstly,the ecological compensation regulations should be formulated centering on the unification and institutionalization of the standards for ecological compensation of the Yellow River Basin and focusing on water conservation areas.Second,the improvement of ecological compensation standards in the Yellow River Basin.Clarifying issues related to the formulation of ecological compensation standards for the Yellow River Basin.Improve the ecological compensation management function of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission.Under the coordination of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission,the upper and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin shall negotiate on the ecological compensation standard of the Yellow River Basin,and unify the calculation method of the compensation standard of the upper,middle and lower reaches as the opportunity cost method.Thirdly,the multi-channel ecological compensation fund source mechanism should be improved.In addition to increasing financial investment,we should improve the water right trading mechanism,green financial mechanism and other market trading methods to expand the source channels of funds.Fourth,the improvement of diversified ecological compensation mode system.The compensation mode has changed from single fund compensation to diversified compensation mode,such as providing technology and policy preference for different provinces in the Yellow River basin.