The National Development and Reform Commission recently approved the inclusion of Jixi County in Anhui Province into the national list of key areas for ecological comprehensive compensation.
Located at the source of the "Three Rivers" - Xin'an River, Shuiyang River, and Qingyi River, Jixi County has placed high priority on building inter-regional ecological protection compensation mechanisms in recent years. Through multi-dimensional efforts and integrated innovation, the county has accelerated the transformation of ecological compensation mechanisms from "blood transfusion" to "blood generation" functions.
The county has successively participated in China's first inter-provincial watershed ecological compensation mechanism pilot - three rounds of the Xin'an River Basin Ecological Compensation Mechanism pilot, the Xin'an River-Qiandao Lake Ecological Protection Compensation Experimental Zone, the Xin'an River-Qiandao Lake Ecological Environment Joint Protection Cooperation Zone, and cross-provincial boundary compensation initiatives.
From 2021 to 2024, the county has cumulatively received 190 million yuan in ecological compensation funding and implemented 35 ecological and environmental protection projects covering multiple fields including water environment management and ecological restoration.
In terms of cross-regional small watershed ecological compensation, Jixi County signed the "Shimentan Reservoir Area Environmental Management Agreement" with Lin'an District of Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province. Since the agreement was signed, Daoshi Town in Lin'an District has allocated a total of 850,000 yuan in ecological compensation funds to Jingzhou Township. Both parties have established regular joint patrols and collaborative management, improving the water quality of Shimentan Reservoir from Class II in 2019 to Class I.
This innovative approach was successfully selected as one of Anhui Province's Yangtze River Delta Integration Development Practice Innovation Cases (Third Batch), providing valuable experience for cross-regional ecological governance.
Currently, the "Jixi County Ecological Comprehensive Compensation Implementation Plan" has successfully passed the evaluation of the National Development and Reform Commission. Through three major initiatives - deepening vertical ecological protection compensation mechanism construction, exploring horizontal comprehensive compensation mechanism construction, and improving market-oriented comprehensive compensation models - the county aims to build a diversified and sustainable ecological comprehensive compensation system that promotes efficient transformation of ecological value into economic value.
Meanwhile, to internalize the economic value generated by ecological environment governance, the "Xin'an River-Qiandao Lake Ecological Compensation Experimental Zone (Jixi Section) Ecological Environment Governance, Restoration and Green Industry Upgrading (EOD) Project" with a total investment of 2.749 billion yuan has completed 600 million yuan in credit authorization from Agricultural Development Bank for its first phase. Zhentou State-owned Forest Farm completed the county's first "carbon sink subscription," restoring ecological environment damage through forest carbon sink transfer and completing the transfer of 555 tons of carbon emission reduction.