Eco-Compensation System

The decision to establish an eco-compensation system was made by the 18th CPC Central Committee at its third plenary session. The system aims to prevent damage to the environment, and enhance and promote ecological conservation and protection. It targets those involved in business and other activities, including production, exploitation, and use of natural resources, which has or might have negative environmental impacts. It represents a new approach to environmental stewardship that relies on market-based mechanisms and a legal framework to promote the management of ecosystem protection and restoration.

The eco-compensation approach can be understood in both a broad and a narrow sense. Broadly speaking, it involves compensation for environmental pollution or for damage to ecosystem functions. In a narrow sense, it refers specifically to compensation for damage to ecosystem functions and their value.

The Chinese government will implement the “polluter pays” principle to make those responsible for producing pollution and benefiting therefrom responsible for paying for the damage done to the environment. Efforts will be stepped up to improve the compensation mechanism for key ecosystem function conservation areas and to establish cross-regional eco-compensation programs.

生態(tài)補(bǔ)償制度

中共十八屆三中全會《決定》提出實行生態(tài)補(bǔ)償制度。生態(tài)補(bǔ)償制度，是以防止生態(tài)環(huán)境破壞、增強(qiáng)和促進(jìn)生態(tài)系統(tǒng)良性發(fā)展為目的，以從事對生態(tài)環(huán)境產(chǎn)生或可能產(chǎn)生影響的生產(chǎn)、經(jīng)營、開發(fā)、利用者為對象，以生態(tài)環(huán)境整治及恢復(fù)為主要內(nèi)容，以經(jīng)濟(jì)調(diào)節(jié)為手段，以法律為保障的新型環(huán)境管理制度。它可分為廣義和狹義兩種。廣義包括對污染環(huán)境的補(bǔ)償和對生態(tài)功能的補(bǔ)償，狹義則專指對生態(tài)功能或生態(tài)價值的補(bǔ)償。中國政府將堅持誰污染環(huán)境、誰破壞生態(tài)誰付費(fèi)，以及誰受益誰補(bǔ)償原則，完善重點生態(tài)功能區(qū)的生態(tài)補(bǔ)償機(jī)制，推動地區(qū)間建立橫向生態(tài)補(bǔ)償制度。