Hubei casts eyes on green development along Yangtze River

A series of 10 strategic moves on green development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt was released by Hubei Provincial People’s Government in July 2018, setting ecology as a priority in regional development.

A total of 58 important issues and 91 major projects will be undertaken to improve Hubei’s industrial and regional competitiveness, with total investment reaching 1.3 trillion yuan ($189 billion).

The moves cover aspects as diverse as industry, transport, urban construction, tourism, finance, trade and daily consumption models.

To protect the ecological environment along the Yangtze River, Hubei has been pushing forward construction of a green livable urban environment, setting up areas for green development alongside the river and putting forward various objective indices.

A comprehensive plan for land utilization will be integrated with other plans for water resources, mineral resources, environmental protection, and urban and rural construction. All kinds of construction are forbidden in key protection areas such as the Yangtze River and nature reserves.

Efforts will also be made in the exploitation and utilization of mineral resources. Control of annual exploitation of Hubei’s advantages in mineral resources such as phosphate will be set and the number of phosphate mines will be limited to no more than 80 to control pollution caused by phosphate mining and processing.

Hubei will act to optimize the layout of urban public green space and build a complete and coherent system. Solid protection has also been offered to farmlands, setting a total area of 3.93 million hectares as permanent farmlands functioning as an extension of urban green space.

Restoring the ecological environment of the Yangtze River is also an important task for Hubei province. In the first half of 2018, funding of 3.3 billion yuan from central and provincial governments was put into the management to 237 mines and reforestation of 1,800 hectares.

Hubei’s investment in soil and water conservation management alongside major water conservancy projects has added up to 9.1 billion yuan since the 12th Five-year Plan period (2011-15), with 51 projects completed and Yichang and Enshi turned into demonstration areas.

Surveys on geochemistry and geological conditions have also been carried out to strengthen local ecological protection of natural resources.