Lin Zhen: Building a Fundamental Institutional Framework for the Implementation of the "Two Mountains" Concept
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the proposal of the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" [1] concept. The implementation of the "Two Mountains" concept requires the strictest systems and the most rigorous rule of law as guarantees. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made major arrangements for deepening the reform of the ecological civilization system, proposing that we "must improve the system of ecological civilization institutions," "accelerate the improvement of systems and mechanisms for implementing the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," and placed "improving the foundational systems of ecological civilization" in a position of high priority. As the saying goes, "if the foundation is not solid, the earth will shake and the mountains will sway" [2]. To implement the "Two Mountains" concept, we must solidify the foundational systems of ecological civilization that serve as the base of the overall ecological civilization institutional system, allowing them to perform their role of bearing weight, maintaining stability, and acting as a "ballast stone."
1. Implementing the system for zoned control of the ecological environment
General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Zoned control of the ecological environment plays a foundational role in the system for prevention at the source; we must strengthen top-level design, improve the institutional system, and aim to protect ecological functions and improve environmental quality, so as to promote the realization of differentiated and precise zoned control of the ecological environment." The system for zoned control of the ecological environment is a vital component of the ecological civilization system and the spatial governance system of Beautiful China. Its purpose is to solve past problems in ecological environment governance—such as unclear baseline data, lack of targeted focus, extensive management, and passive responses—while properly managing the relationship between development and protection, thereby clarifying the bottom lines, demarcating boundaries, and providing direction for the implementation of the "Two Mountains" concept.
The essence of zoned control of the ecological environment is to strengthen governance at the source, scientific governance, and precision governance. It involves strictly adhering to the red lines for ecological protection, the bottom line for environmental quality, and the ceiling for resource utilization [3]. This scientifically guides various development, protection, and construction activities, boosting high-quality development of the economy and society while implementing high-level protection of the ecological environment. According to the Opinions on Strengthening Zoned Control of the Ecological Environment issued by the General Offices of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, China aims to basically establish a system for zoned control of the ecological environment this year, initially forming a precision and scientific zoned control system covering the entire territory. By 2035, a comprehensive system that is sound, smooth, and efficient should be established, providing strong support for the fundamental improvement of the ecological environment and the basic realization of the Beautiful China goal.
To fully implement this system in the New Era, we must first formulate zoned control schemes based on the National Main Functional Zone Strategy and the Outline of the National Territorial Space Plan (2021–2035). These schemes should focus on implementing the "Three Lines" hard constraints [3], based on ecological environment control units, utilizing ecological environment entry lists, and supported by information platforms. Second, we must strengthen policy and governance synergy in ecological protection. This involves fully aligning with territorial space planning and land-use regulation, coordinating the promotion of carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth in regions and river basins. It also requires promoting linkage between zoned control and environmental impact assessments, pollution discharge permits, environmental monitoring, and law enforcement oversight, striving to build a full-chain management system. Finally, we must improve ecological monitoring and evaluation systems, incorporating prominent problems found in the implementation of zoned control into Central and Provincial Environmental Protection Inspections, and using implementation effectiveness as an important reference for the construction of "Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains are Invaluable Assets" Innovation Bases.
2. Perfecting the system of territorial space use regulation
The national territory is the carrier of ecological civilization construction. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "We must scientifically plan the spatial pattern of territorial development and protection, and establish and improve mechanisms for territorial space control." To achieve intensive and efficient production space, livable and moderate living space, and clear-watered, green-mountainous ecological space—thereby forming a secure, harmonious, competitive, and sustainable territorial spatial pattern—we need to continuously improve the development and protection systems and establish a unified system for land-use regulation and planning permits covering all types of territory. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee set clear requirements for "implementing the main functional zone system and establishing a territorial space development and protection system." The Technical Guidelines for Optimizing and Improving Main Functional Zones implemented in 2024 point out that the role of main functional zones should be leveraged as a link for strategic integration and a foundational base for spatial governance. Building on the original three types of main functional zones—major agricultural product zones, key ecological functional zones, and urbanized zones—other functional zones such as energy and resource-rich zones, border regions, and history/culture-rich zones are superimposed to form a "3+N" functional zoning system.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has continuously promoted the "integration of multiple plans" [4] reform, merging spatial plans such as main functional zone planning, land-use planning, and urban-rural planning into a unified territorial space plan. This has established a national system that is unified, clear in responsibility, and efficient, forming a "single blueprint" for the development and protection of national space. Simultaneously, the land-use regulation system has been improved, creating three basic modes of regulation: "detailed planning + planning permit" for construction within urban development boundaries; for construction outside boundaries, regulation is based on dominant use (primarily agriculture and ecology) via "detailed planning + planning permit" and "binding indicators + zonal entry"; and special protection systems for nature reserves (primarily national parks), important sea areas and islands, water sources, and cultural relics. Currently, China has coordinately demarcated red lines for the protection of permanent basic farmland, ecological protection red lines, and urban development boundaries, providing spatial guarantees for the implementation of the "Two Mountains" concept.
3. Strengthening the management of natural resource asset property rights
Natural resources are the naturally generated substances and energy upon which human survival and development depend. Natural resource assets refer to natural resources characterized by scarcity, utility, and clear property rights. Property rights are the core and primary content of ownership systems, serving as a collective term for rights such as ownership, usufructuary rights, and creditor rights. The property rights system is the cornerstone of the socialist market economy. The natural resource asset property rights system is the sum of regulations regarding the subjects, objects, and contents of these rights, as well as their acquisition, modification, and extinction. It plays a foundational role in improving the socialist market economy, safeguarding social fairness and justice, and building a Beautiful China. One principle of China’s ecological civilization reform is to maintain the public ownership nature of natural resource assets, innovate the property rights system, implement ownership, distinguish between the rights of owners and the powers of managers, reasonably divide central and local administrative powers and supervisory responsibilities, and ensure that all people share in the benefits of natural resource assets owned by the whole people.
In the past, China experienced problems such as blurred boundaries of natural resource ownership and unimplemented rights and interests. The Master Plan for the Reform of the Ecological Civilization System issued in 2015 required "building a natural resource asset property rights system with clear ownership, well-defined rights and responsibilities, and effective supervision." It focused on promoting the unified registration of natural ecological space, improving systems for paid resource use and ecological compensation, and refining land-use regulation. To strengthen management, China established the Ministry of Natural Resources to exercise the duties of the owner of natural resource assets owned by the whole people and the duties of regulating all territorial space use and ecological restoration. This has gradually formed a management chain answering "who manages, what exists, how much is it worth, how to protect, how to allocate, how to realize benefits, how to supervise, and to whom is one accountable."
4. Improving the coordination mechanism for national ecological security
Ecological security is an important component of national security, an inevitable requirement for sustainable development, and the security bottom line for building a Beautiful China where humanity and nature coexist in harmony. Article 30 of the National Security Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "The state shall improve the system of ecological environment protection... demarcate ecological protection red lines, strengthen early warning and prevention of ecological risks, and properly handle sudden environmental incidents." Ecological security refers both to the state of a country's ecosystems being complete and unthreatened, and to its capacity to deal with major internal and external ecological risks. In a broad sense, it includes territorial security, resource security, biosafety, and environmental security, serving as the carrier for political, military, economic, cultural, and social security.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Central Committee has attached great importance to ecological security, explicitly incorporating it into the national security system and requiring the construction of a scientific and rational ecological security pattern. In 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed at the National Conference on Ecological Environmental Protection the accelerated establishment of an "ecological security system focused on the benign cycle of ecosystems and effective prevention/control of environmental risks." This requires us to implement the Holistic Approach to National Security [5] and improve coordination mechanisms. First, we must strengthen coordination with economic and resource security; second, improve the legal, strategic, policy, and management systems for ecological security; and third, enhance capabilities for risk assessment, monitoring, early warning, and emergency response. Horizontal coordination between multiple departments helps form a synergy, avoiding a situation where one aspect is neglected at the expense of another, thus modernizing the multi-level governance system.
5. Solidly promoting the compilation of the Ecological Environment Code
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized, "The law is a weight of great importance in governing the country, and the rule of law is an important support for the national governance system and governance capacity." A code is a systematic integration of existing legal norms in a specific department of law, regarded as a mark of a mature legal system. Compiling an Ecological Environment Code is an inevitable requirement for comprehensively strengthening the rule of law in ecological civilization and legally guaranteeing the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature. This process involves the systematic integration, revision, and sublimation of existing norms, codifying the theories and practices of ecological civilization construction since the 18th CPC National Congress into a system with Chinese characteristics that reflects the spirit of the times and the will of the people.
A background for this codification is that the "Two Mountains" concept has become deeply rooted in people’s hearts, and protecting the environment has become a social consensus. The public has higher expectations for environmental quality and hopes to use the strictest systems to promote green development and protect public health. The Ecological Environment Code of the People's Republic of China (Draft) currently under review consists of five parts: General Provisions, Pollution Prevention and Control, Ecological Protection, Green and Low-Carbon Development, and Legal Responsibility and Supplementary Provisions. The fundamental goal is to solve the fragmentation of current legislation through systematic integration, building a basic law for the ecological environment that is logically unified and comprehensive, providing a solid legal guarantee for the construction of a Beautiful China.