A team from the China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD) Central Committee and the Ministry of Finance conducted a joint survey in Southwest China's Sichuan province from Aug 26 to 28 on improving the funding mechanism for ecological protection and governance of major rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

Zhu Yongxin, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and executive vice-chairman of the CAPD Central Committee, headed the team.

The team went to Chengdu, Ziyang, Neijiang and Leshan, where they visited reservoirs, power stations, water resource protection sections and wetland protection sites to learn about work on water source protection, water conservancy engineering facilities and water pollution prevention and control. They also held a working meeting in Chengdu with local government representatives. 

The team pointed out that Sichuan is an important water source conservation area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and a crucial water source replenishment region in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. They lauded the province's efforts in promoting the continuous improvement of water quality, where the combined proportion of state-monitored water sections with good-quality surface water reaching Grades I, II and III is 10.6 percentage points higher than the national average. The team also noted that the water quality of the main streams of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers has remained at Grade II or above for seven consecutive years, while the reduction of water pollutants has achieved the target in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) ahead of schedule. 

The team called for full implementation of the guiding principles of the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee by consciously engaging in building harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. They said efforts are needed to intensify the protection and governance of major rivers, lakes and reservoirs, and steadily improve water quality, in a bid to resolutely safeguard the ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers.

The mechanisms for funding and ecological compensation need to be optimized, and the exploration of effective ways to cash in on ecological products needs to be accelerated, so that the building of a Beautiful China can better benefit the people, they concluded.