Zone-specific environmental management system established in China

China has established a zone-specific environmental management system that includes a customized blacklist for project introductions in each zone, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

This system encompasses three categories of areas: those earmarked for priority protection, key control and general control, said Wang Zhihua, the head of the ministry's Department of Environmental Impact Assessment and Emission Management, at a news conference on Monday.

As of now, 4,406 zones with detailed sets of dos and don'ts have been mapped out, he said.

He added that the ministry has been promoting the construction of an information platform for the system and publicizing exemplary cases to further tap the role of the system in promoting high-quality development.

A key focus for the ministry is to enhance the platform's integration with ocean and groundwater environmental management systems to facilitate information exchange, he explained. Efforts have also been made to make the system play a bigger role in serving the ministry's environmental assessment work.

Since 2024, the ministry has gathered 223 exemplary cases to demonstrate the implementation of the zone-specific system. Wang said that there are plans to collect additional cases and boost their visibility to further encourage the adoption of the system.

The general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council issued guidelines on a more zone-specific approach to environmental management in March 2024.

It is important to adopt a region-specific approach to environmental management and to enforce red lines for the protection of ecosystems, the quality of the environment, and rational resource utilization, the guidelines stressed. According to the guidelines, the system for region-specific environmental management should be essentially established by 2025, and, by 2035, the system will be full-fledged and functioning efficiently.