A special meeting for Chenzhou City to build a National Sustainable Development Agenda Innovation Demonstration Zone was held recently, which is the third one of a series of press conferences held by the city to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

On May 6, 2019, the State Council approved the city to build a national sustainable development agenda innovation demonstration zone with the theme of “sustainable utilization of water resources and green development”. Over the two years, it has achieved good results.

The water protection has made new progress. Centering on Dongjiang Lake, a protection mode of “one lake, one policy” has been established. 91 good lake and river treatment projects in Dongjiang Lake area passed the review, and the water quality of Dongjiang Lake remains stable at Class I standard.  

The water control mode has been perfected. The city has strengthened ecological restoration for ecology destroyed by mining. Such projects as ground restoration, water restoration and farmland restoration were implemented to improve the drinking water, ecological environment and living environment of Linwu Sanshiliuwan Mining Area, Laizi Ridge and other areas.

New achievements have been made in water utilization. The city explored the sustainable utilization mode of water resources, promoted the development of aquatic industry and vigorously implemented the integration of urban and rural water supply. The construction of such projects as the Phase II water division of Dongjiang River and Mangshan Reservoir water diversion project have been accelerated. It effectively improved the quality of drinking water for nearly 2 million people.

New breakthroughs have been made in Chenzhou model of water saving. Chenzhou is speeding up to build a national water-saving city. It’s the first to carry out an water-saving evaluation for projects under construction. Suxian District becomes a county-level water-saving community. Enterprises were encouraged to vigorously carry out water saving, and Chenzhou Fluorine Chemistry Company launched water-saving transformation and used new water-saving technology to realize “zero emission” of industrial wastewater. The old pipe network in the central urban area has been reconstructed, and the leakage rate of water supply network has decreased by 7% in two years.

There has been a growing support from science and technology. The proportion of social R&D investment in GDP increased from 1.4% to 2.3%. The innovation platform—Chenzhou Branch of ASEM Water Resources Research & Development Center has been completed, and is focusing on studying water resource protection of Dongjiang Lake.

Chenzhou Green Technology Bank (the first of its kind in Hunan Province) and Chenzhou Sustainable Development & Innovation Center have been put into operation. Major breakthroughs have been made in key scientific and technological problems. The first batch of technology items in demonstration zones were implemented, and a number of advanced scientific and technological achievements at home and abroad were achieved. The city obtained 6 provincial scientific and technological progress awards and 63 invention patents.

There has been a more distinct path for mechanism innovation. The ecological compensation mechanism of “cross-border co-governance” was explored, and the cross-section assessment and compensation mechanism was specially established for Dongjiang Lake Basin. A co-construction and sharing mechanism for water protection was explored. A series of international and domestic activities such as the 4th ASEM Seminar on Urban Water Management and Hunan (Chenzhou) Water Resources Sustainable Utilization & Green Development Expo were successfully held to increase international exchanges.

Green development has seen noticeable effects. Chenzhou seized the development opportunity of “digital economy” and promoted the development of intelligent manufacturing and industrial internet. In 2020, more than 60 high intelligent production lines and 13 intelligent manufacturing demonstration workshops were built. 52 green mines have been built in the city, accounting for 36% of the whole province. The experience of green mine construction was promoted by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Since the construction of the demonstration area, there has been a new area of 432,000 mu (28,800 hectares) in artificial afforestation in the city, with a forest coverage rate of 68%. The water quality of drinking water sources above county level all reached the standard. The proportion of days with good air quality in urban areas increased from 89.8% to 95.4%, and the resource utilization rate of livestock and poultry waste increased from 70% to 92%. The per capita disposable income of all residents increased by 6.1%. Chenzhou won the ‘Blue Sky Award’ in the global green and low carbon field. And the comprehensive index of urban green development ranked first in the province.

Pan Zhikun, director of Chenzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, said that in the next step, the city will focus on building a demonstration area for lucid waters and lush mountains, a green transformation demonstration area, and an inclusive development pilot area. It will also focus on implementing actions in six aspects— comprehensive protection and utilization of water sources, treatment of heavy metal pollution in basins, garbage classification, comprehensive treatment for black and odorous water body, construction of national water-saving society, pilot action for “carbon peak and carbon neutralization”, and industrial green development and industrial chain extension.