The third round of ** ecological and environmental protection inspection cases.
The relationship between illegal water withdrawal and extreme drought in the Yellow River Basin.
Qinghai Province is located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, in an extremely arid region, with an average annual rainfall of only 83 mm in the Qaidam Basin. The development of the local salt industry is inseparable from water resources. However, inspectors found that some companies were taking water illegally, completely ignoring the finite nature of water resources. For example, instead of taking fresh water from the Quanji River in the lower Qaidam River, as required by the water withdrawal permit, the Golmud Zangge Potash Company illegally extracted brine from the restricted South Hobson Lake. This illegal water withdrawal brings the number of brine illegally taken between September 2019 and September 2023 to 12.6 billion cubic meters. Zhangye City, Gansu Province, also has a similar problem of illegal water withdrawal, and groundwater overexploitation is serious. The inspection team pointed out that the poor management of the Heihe River basin in Zhangye City has exacerbated the shortage of water resources and further exacerbated the risk of ecological and environmental deterioration.
Deforestation and ecological degradation.
In Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the inspection team also discovered the problem of illegal use of Yellow River water. The inspection team found that the Sanmenxia Urban-Rural Integration Demonstration Zone illegally took 250,000 cubic meters of Yellow River water without approval. In addition, the cities of Zhangye and Sanmenxia have illegally excavated lakes for environmental beautification. The Forest Law prohibits deforestation for reclamation, but deforestation often occurs in Zhangye during land consolidation projects. From 2012 to 2022, about 960,000 acres.
The local forestry and grassland authorities imposed penalties for these violations only for 1,592 hectares. In fact, the inspectors found that the problem of illegal reclamation of 369 hectares and 259 hectares of forest land in Dangzhai Township, Ganzhou District, Zhangye City, and Pujiazhuang Village, Suantan Township, has not really been corrected. In 2020, Linze County illegally implemented a land consolidation project in Xiwan Village, Banqiao Township, illegally cutting down 851 acres of forest, and on-site inspectors found that deforestation continued. The inspection team believes that the Zhangye area of Gansu Province has insufficient understanding of the importance of building a strong ecological security barrier in the northwest, and the fragility of the ecological environment in the Hexi Corridor is insufficient.
Mangrove protection and marine pollution.
In Wenchang City and Lingao County in Hainan Province, the inspection team drew attention to issues related to mangrove conservation. The inspection team found that hundreds of ponds had water intake pipes that ran through the central area of the mangrove reserve and extended to the beach, causing severe soil erosion. In Lingao County, the local ** has long turned a blind eye to the breeding ponds in the mangrove reserve, and has long ignored these problems on the grounds of historical legacies. Before the ecological and environmental protection inspection team conducted an on-site investigation, some places did not know that the mangrove forest had been destroyed.
The inspection team pointed out that the protection of mangrove forests in some places in Hainan Province is not effective, and there are problems such as illegal occupation of mangrove reserves and destruction of mangrove forests. For example, the Dongzhaigang National Mangrove Nature Reserve in Haikou City has been poorly managed, resulting in problems such as illegal farming in the mangrove reserve. In addition, the ineffective inspection and rectification of Wenchang District in Hainan Province has led to the continuous deterioration of the mangrove ecological environment. Qixing Seascape Area, Zhangpu County, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, was notified by the inspection team, 754 acres of shelter forest land were illegally occupied. The inspection team stressed that there are serious violations of laws and regulations in Zhangzhou City in the protection of coastal shelter forests, the rectification of historical problems left over from reclamation, and the control of marine aquaculture pollution. In terms of the problems left over from the history of reclamation, the Zhangzhou area of Fujian Province is often not effective in eliminating them, and the rectification is chaotic.
Summary. From the above summary, it can be seen that the third round of ** ecological and environmental protection inspectors found a number of typical cases of destroying the ecological environment and wasting resources. Illegal water withdrawal, over-exploitation of groundwater, and deforestation in the Yellow River Basin have exacerbated the risk of water shortage and deterioration of the ecological environment. In addition, inadequate protection of mangrove forests and illegal reclamation in maritime provinces further jeopardize the stability of marine ecosystems. The existence of these problems reflects that the local government does not pay enough attention to the protection of the ecological environment and has defects in the utilization and management of ecological resources. The report of the ecological environmental protection inspector on these problems is conducive to strengthening the rectification of local environmental protection work and improving the awareness and action of ecological environmental protection.