Research On Ecological Functional Redline System

With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization in our country,the environmental carrying capacity is in an emergency and environmental problems have been emerging. At present, the situation of environmental pollution and ecological destruction in our country is grim. The environment in China is not satisfactory, which specifically demonstrated in the degradation of ecosystem function, the growing lack of natural resources and the steady decline of environmental quality. How to deal with the environmental crisis is a realistic problem in the course of our rapid economic development. The appearance and development of related theories such as the spaceship theory, the environmental carrying capacity theory, the principle of environment protection priority and prevention, the fairness of law provide a solid theoretical support for the establishment of ecological functional redline system. Ecological functional redline is not only the “bottom and the minimum subsistence line” of maintaining ecology security, but also the “life line” of ensuring public health, having an important strategic significance to advancing the construction of ecological civilization in our country.“Defining ecological redline” has been written into the revised Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China in 2014.It signals a shift from policy to legal system. Currently, most of the ecological functional redline regulations are too principle and be embodied as policy form. Parts of local legislations on ecological functional redline are still incomplete and have strong regional features. The implementation of ecological functional redline system is still facing national and local inadequate legislation, the concept use of confusion between ecological functional redline and ecological redline, the unclear basic principle of managing redline, the unclear ecological functional redline defining and managing subject, the insufficient public participation, the imperfection of legal guarantee mechanism and many other issues. Against the current problems of the ecological functional redline system in China and learning from local legislative experiences, we can improve the ecological functional redline system from the following aspects. Firstly, specific administrative regulations should be formulated to regulate all the ecological redline contents. Secondly, we need to straighten out the relationship between ecological redline and ecological functional redline and distinguish their concepts strictly. Thirdly, we should improve and perfect the cardinal defining and managing principles of ecological functional redline. That is, the cardinal defining principles need to be legalized. Meanwhile, we should make it clear that “environment protection priority and taking development into account” and “combination of management and control and graded protection” principles are the cardinal managing principles. Fourthly, we need to define the defining and managing subject of ecological functional redline and establish joint prevention and control coordination mechanism of redline. Fifthly, in order to assure public participation in the course of ecological functional redline, we should take some measures such as stipulating the public participation rights, improving the information disclosure system and strengthening advertising and educating, improving environmental public interest litigation,etc. Sixthly, for the sake of ensuring the implementation of the ecological functional redline system, several corresponding systems such as ecological environment standards, redline incentive measures, are supposed to be established and improved. Meanwhile, we need to confirm and strengthen ecological functional redline liability to legalize and normalize ecological functional redline system authentically.