By Chang Jiwen, Institute of Resources and Environment Policies, DRC & Li Qiwei, Hunan Normal University Law School

Research Report, Special Issue, No.19, 2018 (Total 1586) 2018-7-25

Abstract: Building an across-the-board ecological protection compensation system is an important guarantee for bolstering the legal system of ecological civilization and ensuring the sustainable social and economic development. Relevant evaluations show that the system still has room for improvement. For instance, the national laws specifically issued for ecological protection compensation are not yet in place; the legal attribute of ecological protection compensation is ambiguous; the ecological protection compensation intensity remains to be enforced; horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanism is inadequate; and local ecological protection compensation measures need to be improved. It is therefore suggested that the State Council should move faster to issue Ecological Protection Compensation Regulations and clarify the ecological protection compensation attribute in terms of positive externality. The government needs to expand the coverage of ecological protection compensation steadily, improve governmental finance and raise funds through multiple channels. The horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanism should be improved and consultative platforms of ecological protection compensation between local governments should be built. A long-term mechanism of sharing costs and benefits and cooperating on management should take shape in no time. Local governments should timely regulate and revise policy measures on ecological protection compensation and strengthen the supervision and management on the use of funds for ecological protection compensation.

Key words: ecological protection compensation, evaluations, enact targeted laws, horizontal compensation