Lv Peiming and Yu Minjiang: Systematic Concepts Contained in Xi Jinping's Thought on Ecological Civilization
On July 17, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping summarized the "four major shifts" that have occurred in China’s ecological civilization construction in the New Era at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection. These consist of: the major shift from localized remediation to systemic governance; the major shift from passive response to proactive action; the major shift from being a participant to appearing as a leader in global environmental governance; and the major shift from practical exploration to the guidance of scientific theory. The "four major shifts" provide a comprehensive summary of the immense achievements in ecological civilization construction during the New Era.
As socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era, a historic, transitional, and global change occurred in our country’s ecological civilization construction. The fundamental reason for this lies in the steadfast adherence to "strengthening ecological and environmental protection across all dimensions, all territories, and all processes," and the commitment to "comprehensive governance, systemic governance, and governance at the source." Whether it is the exposition of the relationship of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, or the discussion on the interactive and transformative relationship between "lucid waters and lush mountains" and "gold and silver mountains" [1]; whether it is the major assertion that "mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts are a life community" [2], or the general principle of coordinating land and sea, urban and rural, and above-ground and underground spaces; whether it is proposing the tasks of ecological civilization construction from a global and holistic height—integrating it into all aspects and fields of economic, political, cultural, social, and Party building—or proposing strategies for global ecological cooperation and co-governance, all of these demonstrate the systemic concept inherent in Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization.
From the perspective of the structural elements within the system, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization embodies the internal unity of an all-dimensional hierarchical style, an all-territorial integrated style, and an all-process interconnected style. The theory of systemic governance and its constituent all-dimensional, all-territorial, and all-process outlooks on governance are vivid summaries of the internal laws governing ecological civilization construction in the New Era. Advancing ecological civilization construction through a "systems engineering" [3] approach across "all dimensions, all territories, and all processes" not only demonstrates that Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization is a scientific system with rigorous logic, systemic integrity, and rich connotations, but also provides a methodological basis for planning and deploying ecological and environmental protection work. This holds profound significance for realizing a modernization characterized by the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature and for creating a new form of human civilization.
01 The All-Dimensional Outlook on Governance
The basic logic of modernization characterized by the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature lies in its dialectical unity: namely, the unity of ecology and survival, the unity of ecology and daily life, and the unity of ecology and production. According to this logic, the fundamental characteristic of ecological civilization lies in its emphasis on all-dimensional construction—that is, the comprehensive development and balanced consideration of natural ecosystems, the ecological civilization system, and the human civilization system. To carry out ecological civilization construction in an all-dimensional manner, one must transcend the model of fragmented governance and maintain and strengthen the systematicity and sustainability of the constituent elements of ecological civilization, thereby achieving a high degree of unity among ecological, social, and legal rationality in environmental protection.
Specifically, first is the systemic governance of natural ecosystems. Nature is an organic chain where various elements depend on one another to achieve a continuous cycle. Natural elements such as mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts are as closely related as lips and teeth; they are interlinked and constitute a life community that shares both honor and disgrace, safety and danger [4]. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out: "Ecology is a unified natural system, an organic chain of interdependence and close connection." If one ignores the internal links between various elements of the ecosystem and fails to implement comprehensive measures according to the internal laws and holistic requirements of the natural system, one will "lose sight of one thing while attending to another" [5], leading to mutual conflicts. This would not only trigger a "cascading effect" of pollution damage but could even lead to complex social consequences. Following this thread, as a theoretical system combining timeliness, innovation, and systematicity, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization takes the "battles to defend blue skies, clear waters, and clean soil" as an overarching strategy, effectively improving the holistic quality of the ecosystem and continuously empowering "modernization" with "green" attributes.
Second is the systemic construction of the ecological civilization system. Ecological civilization has its own systemic composition. The ecological civilization system—comprising the ecological culture system, the ecological economy system, the target responsibility system, the institutional system for ecological civilization, and the ecological security system—represents the specific deployment for implementing the basic principles of ecological civilization construction. Environmental pollution is often endogenous to the "negative externalities" generated by human activities. These negative externalities result from the combined effects of subjective and objective factors. Only by systemically constructing and comprehensively utilizing the various tools and means provided by the ecological civilization system can we connect multiple social factors—such as the environmental resource base, economic development models, and environmental protection awareness—to truly cultivate a green foundation for high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must seek a new way of governance from the perspective of systems engineering and the overall situation. We can no longer 'treat the head when the head aches and the feet when the feet ache' [6], with everyone managing their own patch and constraining one another. Instead, we must coordinate all factors, implement holistic policies, and take multiple measures simultaneously to carry out ecological civilization construction across all dimensions, all territories, and all processes."
Third is the systemic construction of the human civilization system. Viewed from the height of the history of human civilization, the human civilization system is a systemic category composed of several civilizational elements such as material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilizations. As the concrete expression of the "new form of human civilization" in the ecological field, ecological civilization maintains a "genus-species" relationship with the civilization system: it both creates the conditions for maintaining the survival of the civilization system and realizes its functions through the evolution of the civilization system. In view of this, since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to ecological civilization construction, incorporating it into the "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" at the strategic level. The "Five-Sphere Integrated Plan" for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics represents a scientific grasp of the internal systematicity of the civilization system, constituting the main content of "Chinese-path modernization" and the "new form of human civilization."
02 The All-Territorial Outlook on Governance
"All-territorial" emphasizes the extensiveness of the spatial layout of ecological civilization construction—that is, covering all aspects of the operational field of ecological civilization, including individuals, the nation, and the international community, to maximize the alleviation of unbalanced, uncoordinated, and insufficient regional ecological development.
First is the systematicity of coordinating the functional spaces of the ecological environment. The national territory is the basic unit of ecological civilization construction and can be divided into three types: production space, living space, and ecological space (the "three spaces"). There is a symbiotic, integrated, and inseparable relationship between these "three spaces." Both production and daily life must take the optimization of ecological space as their basis, premise, and foundation. Under certain conditions, ecological space is limited, determining the boundaries and scope of production and living spaces. If humanity breaches the threshold of ecological space, it will trigger ecological and environmental risks.
Second is the systematicity of the domestic spatial structure of the ecological environment. At the domestic level, the spatial structure of ecological governance mainly involves complex relationships between urban and rural areas, regions, and river basins, as well as the fair distribution of ecological products and the effective allocation of ecological services among different spatial units.
First, the integrated ecological development of urban and rural areas. In May 2017, while presiding over the 41st collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to "increase the intensity of comprehensive urban and rural environmental remediation and build beautiful towns and beautiful villages." This indicates that urban and rural functions and spaces are an internally unified and inseparable organic whole. Promoting the coordinated governance of urban and rural ecological environments and improving the integrated green governance mechanism has become both a necessary trend and a practical measure for urban-rural integration.
Second, regional ecological collaborative governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out: "We must increase the intensity of environmental governance and ecological protection work, investment, and policy support; strengthen the reduction of pollutant emissions, especially atmospheric pollution prevention and control; promote the treatment of atmospheric pollution in key industries and key regions; and strengthen regional joint prevention and control." Transboundary environmental pollution is a major problem faced in the process of regional sustainable development. It requires a continuous upward shift from local breakthroughs to holistic linkage, from static management to dynamic governance, and from low-level trust to high-level participation, bringing all elements of the regional environment into view.
Finally, holistic protection of river basin ecology. The natural attributes of water are holism, fluidity, and borderlessness, and water pollution is characterized by diffusivity, contiguity, and overlap. Therefore, water pollution control is a recognized "wicked problem" [7] in public affairs. Due to its externalities, "free-rider" mentalities and "crowded consumption" phenomena easily occur, hiding what Garrett Hardin called the "tragedy of the commons." Therefore, integrated protection of river basins should become the developmental direction of comprehensive basin management.
Third is the systematicity of the international spatial structure of the ecological environment. At the international level, General Secretary Xi Jinping, focusing on the common well-being of all humanity, proposed the initiative to "build a community with a shared future for humanity," calling for joint efforts to build a world of "lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness and inclusiveness, and cleanliness and beauty." Global ecological governance from the perspective of a community with a shared future for humanity reflects Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions, and Chinese strength in the construction of a global ecological civilization. It means that only by reshaping ecological values, views on ecological interests, and views on ecological responsibility—and by specifically addressing global issues such as climate warming, energy shortages, nuclear security, and marine pollution—can all countries in the world jointly build the foundation of ecological civilization and truly promote global sustainable development.
03 The All-Process Outlook on Governance
In the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization organically integrates the scientific mechanisms of the temporal and process dimensions of ecological governance, opening a new chapter of "all-process" ecological civilization construction. "All-process" emphasizes the integrity of the operating procedures of ecological civilization construction—that is, using the practice chain of environmental policy goal planning, information allocation, agenda setting, program decision-making, and effective execution to orderly promote the dynamization and precision of pollution prevention and control. It is a transcendence of the "discontinuous" governance of ecology in Western capitalist countries.
First, strengthening ecological protection and restoration throughout the entire process. Ecological protection and restoration is a major national strategic task concerning national ecological security and the well-being of the people. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, promoting ecological protection and restoration with the "life-cycle" concept provides a "strict prevention at the source—strict management of the process—strict punishment for consequences" mechanism linked by "publicness." This helps solve traditional problems such as disorganized, fragmented, departmentalized, and short-term restoration efforts. Its core mechanism lies in two aspects: on the one hand, this concept pays high attention to "people-centeredness," advocating for interest coordination, responsibility sharing, and resource integration in ecological governance, which helps correct the traditional top-down meritocratic view of political achievements [8] and better encourages government departments at all levels to "keep their eyes downward" [9]. On the other hand, this concept focuses on "process," largely correcting the limitations of the "administrative subcontracting system" [10] where "results determine heroes," and helping to improve the scientific, standardized, and refined level of environmental supervision.
Second, promoting the greening of relations of production throughout the entire process. Marxist historical materialism reduces social relations to relations of production, which, in terms of content, includes four stages: production, circulation, consumption, and distribution. As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters the New Era, the core essence of ecological civilization construction lies in the green transformation of relations of production—that is, vigorously constructing and improving green production, circulation, consumption, and distribution systems in the realm of practice. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must adhere to and implement the new development philosophy, correctly handle the relationship between economic development and ecological and environmental protection, protect the ecological environment like we protect our eyes, and treat the ecological environment like we treat our lives. We must resolutely reject development models that damage or even destroy the ecological environment, and resolutely reject the practice of sacrificing the ecological environment for temporary economic growth in one place, so that a good ecological environment becomes the growth point for people's lives and the supporting point for sustained and healthy economic and social development."
Finally, ensuring the continuity of civilizational evolution throughout the entire process. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized many times: "When the ecology flourishes, civilization flourishes. We must stand at the height of being responsible for human civilization, respect nature, conform to nature, and protect nature, and explore the path of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature." From the resonance of material and spiritual civilizations, to the display of the advantages of political and social civilizations, and finally to the rapid improvement in the level of ecological civilization construction, the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is by no means a static existence; rather, it is always in a process of dynamic evolution and development, with its connotations continuously deepening and its extensions continuously expanding. This iterative effect not only displays the brand-new characteristics of ecological civilization as a higher form of civilization but also shapes a complete, coupled, and all-process outlook on governance. The all-process outlook on governance is an ecological strategic thinking that simultaneously considers the present and the future, aiming to advance the sustainable evolution of civilizational forms in stages by relying on the unity of "parallel-track" [11] advancement and greening (ecologization).
Viewed comprehensively, these three aspects are coupled and mutually reinforcing, forming a procedure chain of all-process interconnection with benign interaction, thus avoiding the "modernization trap" of "pollute first, treat later" found in the West.