-Grassland resources. Improve institutional building for grassland protection and strengthen grassland management and law enforcement. Clarify the obligations, rights and interests in grassland protection; apply high technology to transform the way by which grassland resources are utilized: from quantity-based to quality and efficiency-based growth. Implement a series of projects to protect natural grasslands such as artificial grass-planting, grass-planting by airborne seed-sowing, imposing a moratorium on grazing, grassland improvement and pest control. Make double efforts to improve desertified, alkalized and degraded grasslands.

-Mineral resources. Improve legislation on mineral resources protection; scientifically draft and strictly implement plans for mineral resources development; strengthen macro-regulation of mineral resources development; and promote rational distribution of mineral resources exploration and development. Further improve work on mineral resources surveying, evaluation and exploration, and enhance security of mineral resources. Implement a protective development policy for strategic mineral resources. Improve the system of compensated utilization of mineral resources. Promote structural improvement and optimization for mineral resources utilization toward greater efficiency through advances in science and technology and scientific management. Make full use of domestic and international capital, resources and markets and build large mineral resource bases and overseas mineral resource bases. Strengthen ecological conservation in mineral-rich areas and gradually build environmentally sound mines.

-Marine resources. Develop plans for rationally utilizing and protecting marine resources. Strictly implement plans for allocation of marine functions; strengthen marine management; tighten examination and approval of marine resources utilization; and fully introduce the practice of compensated utilization of marine resources. Build up capacities for maritime monitoring and enforcement management. Conduct a nationwide study on the state of the country's maritime ecology. Develop marine high technology and exploit deep-sea and oceanic resources.

-Climate resources. Further enhance public awareness of climate resources. Improve legislation on climate resources utilization and protection. Develop plans for the reasonable utilization and protection of climate resources; revise and update climate resources plans in a timely manner. Adopt advanced computer information processing technologies and remote-sensing technology and improve climate resources monitoring and evaluation. Build up pilot bases for reasonably utilizing climate resources, in particular, focusing on the monitoring, planning and piloting of agricultural climate resources, wind energy and solar energy.

-Strategic mineral resources reserves. Establish a strategic mineral resources reserve system and improve relevant economic policies and management practices. Build up an early-warning system for the security of supply of strategic mineral resources and introduce a water reserve system of multiple water sources in large cities. Build up strategic reserves for oil and other major mineral resources through a combination of public and private efforts.

4. Ecological Conservation and Development

Build up a scientific and sound system for ecological monitoring and management and establish nature reserves of all types with rational distribution and appropriate sizes. Build up an anti-desertification system and reinforce efforts to combat soil erosion. Improve the ecological environment for farming; and improve afforestation in urban areas, thereby ameliorating the quality of ecological environment.

-Ecological monitoring and security evaluation. Build up a sound technical and standard system for ecological monitoring and security evaluation at different levels: national, regional and protection zone. Adopt remote-sensing and terrestrial monitoring technology to monitor and manage the following: forests, grasslands, wetlands, farmlands, nature reserves, deserts, soil conservation, agricultural ecology, biodiversity, large ecological projects, major resources development areas and changes in land use. Introduce emergency monitoring for disasters such as serious pollution accidents, red tides, oil spills and sandstorms. Build up an ecological security evaluation and early-warning system.

-Key ecological projects. Focus on the protection of natural forests in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River and the natural forests in northeast China. Curb soil erosion, alleviate damages caused by sandstorm, strengthen protection of biodiversity, build fast-growing and high-yield timber production bases, and gradually meet demands for ecological soundness and forest products. Step up implementation of six key projects: protection of natural forests and return unfit cultivated farmland to forest; remove sandstorm sources around Beijing and Tianjin; build shelter belts in north China, northeast China and northwest China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River; construction of wild animal and plant protection parks and nature reserves; and the construction of fast-growing, high-yield timber production bases in targeted regions.

-Nature reserves. Strengthen construction of existing nature reserves, including those of forest ecosystems, rare wild animal protection zones, desert ecosystems, inland wetland and water ecosystems, grassland and meadow ecosystems, marine and coastline ecosystems, wild plants, geological sites, and paleontologic sites. Build up a number of high-quality and highly-effective nature reserves in source regions for major rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow rivers and major natural wetlands in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and in ecologically volatile regions such as southeast, northeast and northwest China and habitats for rare and near-extinct species. Rationalize the distribution of nature reserves and step up construction of biological corridors.

-Ecological conservation zones. Strengthen construction and management of existing ecological conservation zones. Build up new conservation zones in source areas for rivers; important wetlands (lakes) in the valleys of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Songhuajiang River and inland river systems such as the Tarim River and the Heihe River; hilly red-earth regions in the south; the Loess Plateau; earth-rock mountainous areas in the north; areas where farming and animal husbandry are intermingled; drought-hit grassland areas; and coastal water fishing zones. Adjust the industrial structure in those conservation zones by developing environment-friendly industries and minimizing the impact of human activities on the ecosystem. Adhere to the principles of "conservation through moratorium on productive activities" and restore and rebuild the ecosystem.

-Anti-desertification. Develop operational mechanisms and policies favorable to economic development in desertified regions; and study and apply appropriate farming techniques that can prevent or curb land desertification. Build up an anti-desertification system that combines prevention with control and utilization. Focus on conservation of existing vegetation in desert-bordering and oasis areas and build shelter belts in peripheral areas around oases; conserve and restore vegetation in semi-desertified areas; and for high-altitude desertified areas, improve desertified land in areas where there is a heavy concentration of human activities while ensuring conservation of existing vegetation. Fully improve and develop wherever possible desertified land in the semi-wet or wet parts of the Yellow-Huaihe-Haihe Plain; and comprehensively improve and develop desertified land in the south. Take measures to prohibit development of whole tracts of desertified land not appropriate for control or development.

-Soil conservation. Improve the soil conservation policy; implement state policies that encourage retirement of unfit farmlands and switching them to planting trees and grass; and improve water conservation for basic farmlands and grasslands. Integrate water conservation with development, anti-soil erosion efforts with efforts to fight poverty and develop the local economies; and introduce an integrated approach to fight soil erosion by treating large river systems as backbone and small river valleys as components, so as to prevent man-made soil erosion in the course of massive development and construction. Build up a comprehensive anti-soil erosion mechanism that combines engineering measures with biological and farming measures. Study, develop and apply appropriate techniques for soil preservation. Step up international cooperation and exchanges and introduce advanced technologies, superior varieties, management methods and means.

-"Green" agriculture. Step up enforcement of legislation on protection of wild agricultural biological resources; collect wild biological resources from key areas; and build pilot conservation areas or sites. Introduce protective farming techniques and continue to implement dry farming pilot projects in drought-hit counties. Develop effective policies and management mechanisms; develop and apply key technologies and models for "green" agriculture; and encourage farmers to adopt clean production technologies and use less chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Recycle agricultural wastes and build a sustainable ecosystem for agricultural development. Improve legislation, standards and testing procedures for organic or pollution-free farm products; better the testing, evaluating and pre-warning systems for the agricultural ecosystem; build up agricultural production bases and improve product safety management; and create demonstration bases and brands for organic or environment-friendly agricultural production.

-Scenic spots protection. Develop and implement plans for scenic spots in accordance with the principle of "strict protection, uniform management, rational development and sustainable utilization." Specify the scope of protection for the core part of a scenic spot (which includes ecological, natural or historic sites) when making plans for overall protection. Make special plans, identify key areas and take special measures to protect those key areas. Prevent any construction project unrelated to resources conservation from taking place within the core areas of scenic spots. Align the planning of scenic spots to local land use planning.

-Urban environment. Rationally plan land use for urban construction; and establish and strictly implement a "green line" rule for urban management. Ensure a certain portion of public green in urban planning and a sizable area of a shelter belt around large cities as befitting modern cities. Step up urban landscaping and improve the air quality in urban areas. Promote establishment of "Garden Cities" and alleviate the "urban thermal-island effect." Improve environmental protection management on urban construction projects and reduce dust and noise.

5. Environmental Protection and Pollution Control

Control the aggregate discharge of pollutants and curb water pollution in river systems. Reinforce air pollution control in key cities and water cleanup efforts in key sea areas. Improve legislation and law enforcement on environmental protection and revise technical standards for environmental protection. Vigorously apply clean production and environmental-protection industries and actively participate in regional and global environmental initiatives, contributing to global environmental conservation while improving the quality of China's environment.

-Valley water pollution control. Step up water pollution control along major rivers and lakes and tighten protection of drinking water sources; and clean up lakes and reinforce pollution control at water sources. Promote clean production and further reduce discharge of pollutants. Control the total discharge of pollutants and increase wastewater treatment. Introduce zero discharge of wastewater in selected industries. Continue to strengthen infrastructure for urban sewage and garbage disposal. Rationalize the industrial and product mix; develop high technology for environmental protection: speed up research and development of technologies and techniques for curbing heavy pollution in line with China's national conditions; and raise the overall level of industrial development and water pollution control.

-Marine pollution control. Improve the national marine monitoring network to boost monitoring of marine pollution and the ecological environment. Reduce discharge of land-based pollutants into the sea and sea pollution caused by marine production and development activities. Control the total discharge of pollutants into the sea. Clean up the environment in key sea areas and step up protection and construction of ecological environment along the coast.

-Air pollution control. Control the emission of acid rain-causing substances, and hazardous and harmful industrial gases. Control acid rain, particulate substances, optical chemical smog and indoor air pollution.

-Urban traffic management. Improve urban traffic structures by giving priority to public transportation. Develop rail transportation in mega cities and build a road network that favors public transportation. Control automobile exhaust emission and noise pollution in cities.

-Solid waste control. Gradually introduce garbage sorting, collection and recycling and increase environment-friendly garbage disposal rate and recycling rate. Further raise the recycling rate for solid wastes and step up ecological conservation and restoration efforts at mines. Improve the safe disposal of hazardous wastes.