An aerial photo shows Baiyangdian Lake in Baoding, north China’s Hebei province, in August 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]
In a move to ensure that government agencies take their environmental protection mandate seriously, the country’s central authorities recently issued guidelines stating that party committees at various levels and key government officials have Clarified that environmental protection activities are the first to be held accountable.
Provincial-level party committees and governments should hold regular meetings on environmental protection activities, documents issued by 18 central departments, including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Supreme People’s Court, said.
Key officials overseeing environmental protection activities should report to the meeting how they have performed their job duties, it noted.
Similar mechanisms should be set up in prefectural level commissions and governments, according to the document.
The guidelines stipulate that each state-level commission and government should develop a “responsibility list” detailing departments with lead responsibility for specific environmental protection issues. The list should be public.
It stipulates that departments of the State Council, the country’s cabinet, must report annually on their work on environmental protection to the Central Committee and Council of the Communist Party of China.
The report should detail how it has carried out environmental protection activities and taken leadership responsibility in the past year, the guidelines said.
Besides submitting such annual reports to local CCP committees and governments, government agencies in various fields should send copies of their reports to higher agencies and environmental departments at the same level, he said. I’m here.
In the selection of cadres of departments with important tasks of environmental protection, priority will be given to cadres who practice new development concepts and promote high-quality development in their work, it said.
The guidelines were published after being approved by the Central Committee to deepen overall reform, according to a news release from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held last month laid out new and higher requirements for environmental protection activities as it formulated a strategic plan to promote modernization characterized by harmony between man and nature. , said the report.
According to the ministry, the guidelines will help shape an environmental governance system featuring coordinated and coordinated actions from various sectors, ensuring that “responsibility is fully assumed” in building the country’s ecological civilization. It is expected that
The guidelines also call for the establishment of smooth coordination mechanisms between environmental authorities and public security organs, public prosecutors, courts and other agencies, and to strengthen crackdowns on environmental violations.
Stronger coordination between administrative law enforcement agencies and criminal justice agencies is needed to ensure that criminal cases suspected of endangering the environment are transferred, investigated, prosecuted and brought to trial in a timely manner. the report said.
There is also a need for a mechanism for information sharing between the prosecutors in charge of public interest lawsuits and administrative law enforcement agencies.
