People's Daily published a signed article by Minister Chen Lei: Giving priority to Ecological and Green Development and promoting river governance through river chief system

Written on the occasion of World Water Day and China Water Week in 2017

Today marks the 25th "World Water Day" and the 30th "China Water Week" publicity activities also kicked off. The United Nations has decided that the publicity theme of this year's "World Water Day" is "Waste water". The publicity theme of China to commemorate "World Water Day" and carry out "China Water Week" is "implementing the concept of green development and comprehensively implementing the River chief system".

Green is a necessary condition for sustainable development and an important reflection of the people's pursuit of a better life.   Protecting the ecological environment means protecting the productive forces, and improving the ecological environment means developing the productive forces. We urge all regions and departments to earnestly implement the new development concept, foster a strong sense that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and strive to usher in a new era of socialist ecological civilization. Water is the controlling factor of ecosystem, rivers and lakes are important components of ecological space, and water conservancy is the core content of ecological civilization construction. In recent years, water conservancy departments all over the country and at all levels have actively implemented the concept of green development and the principle of water conservancy work in the new era of "giving priority to water conservation, spatial balance, systematic management and double efforts", fully implemented the strictest water resources management system, vigorously implemented the action plan for water pollution prevention and control, actively carried out water ecological treatment and restoration, and accelerated the improvement of modern water conservancy infrastructure network. Promote water control and water pipe development into a new stage.

The comprehensive implementation of river chief system is the necessary request to promote the construction of ecological civilization, the effective measure to solve the complex water problem, the fundamental solution to maintain the healthy life of rivers and lakes, the institutional innovation to ensure the national water security, and the major reform measure made by the central government.   The Ministry of Water Resources, together with other departments concerned, held joint meetings to make arrangements, formulated and issued implementation plans for the Opinions, established an inter-ministerial joint meeting system, and carried out all-round supervision and inspection. Major Party and government leaders in all localities attach great importance to this system, make timely arrangements, and personally organize and promote it. At present, the work plans of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have been fully formulated, and more than 20 provinces have made it clear that the river chief system will be fully established by the end of this year. On the whole, the comprehensive implementation of the river chief system started smoothly and made rapid progress.

The comprehensive implementation of the river chief system is a heavy task, high demand and great responsibility.  We will ensure that the river chief system is fully established nationwide by the end of 2018.

First, we need to raise our awareness and enhance our mission responsibility.  Rivers and lakes are precious green wealth and precious resources for survival and development. At present, the old and new water problems interweave with each other, some rivers and lakes health life has been seriously threatened. From the strategic and overall perspective of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieving sustainable development of the Chinese nation, we must fully understand the importance and urgency of strengthening river and lake management and protection, earnestly strengthen our sense of mission and responsibility, thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the central government, do a solid job in implementing all aspects of the river chief system, and promote the protection of river and lake systems and the overall improvement of the water ecological environment.

Second, carry out the responsibility of leadership, effectively play the role of river chief.  The core of comprehensively carrying out the river chief system is to carry out the Party and government leadership, especially the main leadership responsibility system, which is a direct reflection of the party and government leaders' spirit of responsibility and sense of responsibility. Mountains, rivers, forests, fields and lakes are a living community, and rivers and lakes are flowing living systems. The disease of the river and lake is in the water, the root is on the shore. To solve the problem of river and lake management and protection, it is necessary to carry out the project of "No.1 leader". In accordance with the requirements of the Guidelines, all localities should promptly identify river chiefs at the four levels of provinces, cities, counties and townships, and establish a river chief responsibility system with major Party and government leaders in charge. "River Chief" is a heavy responsibility. As a river chief, he must issue military orders, personally investigate important situations, personally deploy key work, personally check major programs, personally coordinate key links, and personally supervise the implementation of the situation, so as to truly be responsible, responsible and responsible for guarding the river.

Third, establish a problem - oriented, do a good job in river and lake protection. Guided by problems, the Guidelines set out the main tasks of protecting water resources, preventing and controlling water pollution, improving the water environment and restoring the water ecology, as well as the management and protection of coastal waters and the supervision and management of law enforcement. Rivers and lakes in different regions have different natural endowments and face different major problems. We must follow a problem-oriented approach, proceed from local conditions, adopt policies tailored to local conditions, and implement systematic governance. We must coordinate conservation and development, as well as water and land management, and strive to solve prominent problems in river and lake management and protection. For rivers and lakes with good ecology, prevention and protection measures should be emphasized, management of water functional areas should be strengthened, and ecological functions of rivers and lakes should be maintained. With regard to rivers and lakes whose ecology is deteriorating, we need to improve the mechanisms for controlling their source, coordinating water and land use, and coordinating prevention and control, step up efforts in governance and restoration, and restore the ecology of rivers and lakes as soon as possible. For urban rivers and lakes, the scope of management and protection should be defined, black and smelly water bodies should be completely eliminated, urban water systems should be connected, and clear water, green banks and beautiful environment should be achieved. For rural rivers and lakes, we will strengthen dredging, improve the environment and clean small watersheds. We will pay more attention to the treatment of domestic sewage and household garbage, and strive to build beautiful villages.

Fourth, we will strengthen oversight and inspection, and strictly assess and hold people accountable. Strengthening supervision and inspection and strict accountability are important guarantees to ensure the full implementation of the river chief system. It is necessary to establish the work ledger of the river chief system, clarify the handling time limit, quality requirements and assessment indicators of each task, strengthen supervision, strengthen tracking and efficiency, and ensure that all work is promoted in an orderly manner and completed on time with high quality. We should integrate the assessment of the river chief system with the assessment of the strictest water resources management system and the audit of outgoing leading officials' natural resources and assets. We should use the assessment results as an important basis for the comprehensive assessment and evaluation of local Party and government officials and force them to fulfill their responsibilities. The people have the most say in the protection and improvement of rivers and lakes, and they should take the initiative to accept social and public supervision through various means, such as river and lake management and protection information release platforms, river chief billboards, social media and social supervisors.

Fifth, strengthen coordination and cooperation to build synergy. River and lake management and protection involve upstream and downstream, left and right banks, trunk and tributaries, and involve different industries, sectors and departments. Local governments should proceed from the whole river basin. They should not only be responsible for one plan by one river, one section by one section, but also take into account the overall situation, actively link up and coordinate with each other. All departments should establish the concept of a holistic chess game, perform their own duties and responsibilities, cooperate closely and promote in synergy. All localities should take good care of the establishment of river chief offices, give full play to their important roles in coordinating, organizing, supervising, inspecting, and promoting the implementation of the system, and strive to form a work pattern of joint management and collective input. The press publicity and public opinion guidance should be strengthened, the public's awareness of responsibility and participation in river and lake protection and management should be raised, and the strong joint force of the whole society should be gathered to cherish and protect rivers and lakes, so as to implement the river chief system and promote river and lake governance.

(The author is Secretary of the Party Committee and Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources)

People's Daily (10th edition, March 22, 2017)