Yu Fawen: Key Issues and Paths for Realizing the Modernization of Harmonious Coexistence Between Humanity and Nature
The Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese-path modernization. Chinese-path modernization is the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development.
During the ten years of the New Era, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have promoted the continuous improvement of the institutional system for ecological civilization construction. They have implemented tough battles [1] for the prevention and control of air, water, and soil pollution. The state of the ecological environment has improved significantly, promoting harmony between humanity and nature. Currently, having embarked on a new journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects, realizing a modernization of harmony between humanity and nature still faces many dilemmas that need to be resolved; it is a systemic project characterized by long-term duration and complexity.
Key Issues in Realizing Harmony Between Humanity and Nature
In the New Era and on the new journey, the people's aspirations for a better life are manifested, on the one hand, in a stronger desire for beautiful environments such as blue skies, emerald waters, and lush mountains [2], and on the other hand, in a more urgent desire for high-quality, safe ecological agricultural products, clean drinking water, and fresh air. This imposes higher requirements for achieving harmony between humanity and nature.
First, the ecological environment situation remains grim. For a long period, China's industrial structure dominated by heavy chemicals, energy structure dominated by coal, and transport structure dominated by highways have not undergone fundamental change. The risk of extreme pollution weather in specific regions and periods remains high, and the continued fight to "defend blue skies" has a long way to go. Pressure on the protection of ecological resources remains intense. In the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization, it is difficult to fundamentally reverse the occupation of arable land in the short term. The trend of allocating high-quality water resources to non-agricultural industries and urban-rural domestic life will become more obvious. Agriculture will face varying degrees of shortages in its use of high-quality water, which will affect national food security in certain regions.
Second, the leadership of ideas over action still needs to be strengthened. Grassroots research has found that concepts such as "ecology first, green development" and "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" [3] have not truly become the action guides for decision-makers in some local grassroots Party committees and governments. Consequently, regarding ecological civilization construction, these concepts are often reflected in documents and speeches but are not earnestly implemented in practice and action. On one hand, grassroots decision-makers have not accurately grasped, deeply understood, or thoroughly comprehended the aforementioned concepts or the idea that "mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and sands are a life community." [4] They find it difficult to plan development from the height of harmony between humanity and nature, and even more difficult to adopt green development technologies and models to achieve the economical and intensive use of various resources, leading to a series of ecological environment issues. On the other hand, grassroots decision-makers have long formed an inertia of thinking centered on GDP. Their understanding of the strategic status of the regional ecological environment is inadequate and non-systemic. They lack an awareness of ecological responsibility—being responsible, assuming responsibility, and fulfilling responsibility. They find it difficult to achieve coordination and effectiveness in handling the relationships between economic and ecological goals, short-term and long-term goals, or quantitative and qualitative goals, which leads to ecological environment problems.
Third, the task of green and low-carbon development is arduous. The Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed to synergistically promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, greening expansion, and growth, and to promote ecology-prioritized, economical, intensive, green, and low-carbon development. The tasks of accelerating the green transformation of development modes and promoting the green and low-carbon development of the social economy remain heavy. Regarding the green and low-carbon transitional development of enterprises, there is still a lack of effective systemic thinking; they have not considered greening from the perspective of the entire industrial chain—namely, the greening of raw materials, the cleanliness of the production process, and the recycling of waste. At the same time, under the long-formed "end-of-pipe" governance mindset, they have been unable to start from source governance for ecological environment issues, resulting in the difficulty of fundamentally resolving these problems.
Fourth, the support and guarantee systems still need improvement. Realizing the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature requires not only high attention from Party committees and governments at all levels but also support and guarantees from technology, capital, talent, and institutions. Relative to demand, there are still obvious shortcomings and weaknesses in these areas. Practice has revealed insufficient technical support, ineffective financial guarantees, weak talent team building, and a policy and institutional system that still awaits perfection.
The Path to Realizing the Modernization of Harmony Between Humanity and Nature
Realizing harmony between humanity and nature is a complex systemic project, a long-term project, and moreover, a project that requires strict adherence to ecological laws and the participation of the whole of society. To this end, we should accurately identify the objectives of harmony between humanity and nature, establish key areas based on these, and strengthen the support and guarantee systems to ensure effectiveness and sustainability, thereby better assisting the construction of a Beautiful China.
First, accurately identify the goals of harmony between humanity and nature. From the perspective of Chinese-path modernization, realizing the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature is the target orientation. Based on consideration of the imbalanced relationship between humanity and nature, the goals of harmony between humanity and nature encompass three levels of meaning: improving the service capacity of natural ecosystems, improving the carrying capacity of natural ecosystems, and improving the health level of natural ecosystems.
Second, clarify the key areas of harmony between humanity and nature. Persisting in the systemic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and sands, and respecting, conforming to, and protecting nature is an effective path for achieving the continuous optimization of ecosystems and the continuous enhancement of overall functions. This also points the way for promoting harmony. Based on a systemic review of the practice of ecological civilization construction, the key areas include three aspects: ecological protection, ecological restoration, and ecological construction.
Third, strengthen the support system for harmony between humanity and nature. The Report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC stated that science and technology are the primary productive forces, talent is the primary resource, and innovation is the primary driver. Realizing the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature requires strengthening technological innovation, focusing on the construction of professional talent teams, and increasing financial investment.
Fourth, improve the guarantee system for harmony between humanity and nature. To promote harmony and ensure that technical measures can be smoothly implemented and achieve results—and more importantly, to ensure the sustainability of those results—it is undoubtedly necessary to provide a guarantee through a perfected policy and institutional system. Therefore, focus should be placed on organizational construction, the improvement of institutions, and the perfection of laws and regulations related to harmony between humanity and nature. As previously mentioned, promoting harmony between humanity and nature is a strategic and long-term task. To effectively ensure the results and sustainability of this harmony, it is necessary to improve corresponding laws and regulations and incorporate harmony between humanity and nature into the framework of the rule of law.
(Yu Fawen is the Director and Researcher of the Eco-Environmental Economics Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and an expert at the China Ecological Think Tank)