From October 22nd to 23rd, the Work Promotion Meeting on Improving the Mechanism for Realizing the Value of Ecological Products and the Launch Meeting for the First Batch of National Pilot Projects on the Mechanism for Realizing the Value of Ecological Products were held in Lishui city. More than 200 guests, including comrades-in-charge from relevant national departments and development and reform commissions of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, as well as comrades-in-charge from municipal governments of the first batch of national pilot projects on the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products, gathered in Lishui to exchange local advanced experiences and typical practices, study and deploy key tasks for the next step, and accelerate the exploration of a new path prioritizing ecology and green development.

The meeting was held in the form of a “launch meeting + field research”. Yuan Da, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Development and Reform Commission, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech, while Zhu Linsen, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and Mayor, delivered a welcoming remark. During the launch meeting, participants watched a promotional video on the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products in Lishui. Relevant departments and bureaus of the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Ministry of Water Resources, National Bureau of Statistics, and National Forestry and Grassland Administration introduced the progress of reforms related to the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products. Representatives from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Jiangsu Province, Shangluo City in Shaanxi Province, Anji County in Huzhou City of Zhejiang Province, Changdao Comprehensive Pilot Zone in Yantai City of Shandong Province, and experts from Tsinghua University also made presentations, jointly discussing the exploration and practice of realizing the value of ecological products.

From lush mountains and clear waters to gold and silver mines, this represents not only a leapfrog development path prioritizing ecology and green development but also a path of reform and innovation. As an important birthplace and pioneering practice site of the concept “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”, Lishui became the first national pilot city for the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products in 2019. Over the years, the city has integrated ecological protection, value-added creation, and cash-in processes, focusing on breakthroughs in bottlenecks such as difficult measurement, collateralization, trading, and cash-in. Lishui has released the first local standard for ecological product value accounting in China, taken the lead in conducting GEP accounting at the municipal, county, township, and village levels, established the first regional ecological product trading center in the province, formed the “Cooperation between two mountains” and “Ecological Strong Village Company”, innovated 15 types of green financial products such as “Water Extraction Loans” and “Zhe-li Forestry Carbon Sink Loans”, and developed regional public brands such as “Lishui Shangeng”, “Lishui Shanju” and “Lishui Shanquan” to drive the development of the ecological industry. This has given “mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, and grasslands” “value tags” and conversion paths, marking a solid step from “pilot project” to “demonstration project” in the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products. It has also provided the “Lishui Experience” for national pilot projects.

After the meeting, participants will visit the Practice Exhibition Hall of the Mechanism for Realizing the Value of Ecological Products (Lishui), Nice Group, Jiulong Wetland, the lower South Mountain, and other locations in batches to conduct field research and learn about the experiences and achievements of Lishui in ecological civilization construction and the reform of the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products.