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Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued a notice on the "Construction Plan for the Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Network." The notice clarifies that by 2020, the national ecological and environmental monitoring network will basically achieve full coverage of environmental quality, key pollution sources, and ecological status monitoring; interconnection and sharing of monitoring data systems at all levels and of all types; significant improvement in monitoring, forecasting, early warning, information technology capabilities, and support levels; and coordinated linkage between monitoring and supervision. A preliminary ecological and environmental monitoring network integrating land and sea, space and air, vertical coordination, and information sharing will be established, ensuring that ecological and environmental monitoring capabilities are adapted to the requirements of ecological civilization construction.
The "Construction Plan for the Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Network" document points out the need to improve the ecological and environmental monitoring system and support system, and actively cultivate the ecological and environmental monitoring market. It calls for opening up the service-oriented monitoring market and encouraging social environmental monitoring institutions to participate in environmental monitoring activities such as self-monitoring of pollution sources by polluting units, operation and maintenance of automatic pollution source monitoring facilities, ecological and environmental damage assessment monitoring, environmental impact assessment status monitoring, cleaner production audits, and self-investigations by enterprises and institutions. It also actively promotes government procurement of services in the field of basic public welfare monitoring, including the operation and maintenance of automatic environmental quality monitoring stations.
Furthermore, the document specifically points out that domestic research institutions and related enterprises are encouraged to develop environmental monitoring instruments and equipment with independent intellectual property rights, and to promote the localization of monitoring instruments and equipment; domestically produced equipment should be prioritized when needs are met, to promote the development of the domestic monitoring instrument industry. International cooperation should be actively carried out, and advanced experience in monitoring technology should be learned to enhance my country's technological innovation capabilities.
The original text is as follows:
Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Issuing
The Plan for the Construction of an Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Network
Guo Ban Fa [2015] No. 56
To the People's Governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and all ministries and commissions and directly affiliated institutions of the State Council:
The Plan for the Construction of an Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Network has been approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, and is hereby issued to you for your earnest implementation.
General Office of the State Council
July 26, 2015
(This document is publicly released)
Plan for the Construction of an Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Network
Ecological and environmental monitoring is the foundation of ecological and environmental protection and an important support for the construction of ecological civilization. Currently, my country's ecological and environmental monitoring network suffers from prominent problems, including incomplete coverage of scope and elements, inconsistent construction planning, standards and specifications, information dissemination, low levels of informatization and sharing, weak integration of monitoring and supervision, and the need to improve the quality of monitoring data. These issues make it difficult to meet the needs of ecological civilization construction and affect the scientific rigor, authority, and government credibility of monitoring. Therefore, it is imperative to accelerate the construction of the ecological and environmental monitoring network.
I. General Requirements
(I) Guiding Principles. Fully implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second, Third, and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee, follow the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, implement the requirements of the *Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China* and the *Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization*, adhere to the principles of comprehensive monitoring, nationwide networking, automatic early warning, and legal accountability, and form a new pattern of ecological and environmental monitoring characterized by government leadership, departmental collaboration, social participation, and public supervision, providing strong support for accelerating the construction of ecological civilization.
(II) Basic Principles.
Clarify Authority and Implement Responsibilities. Legally clarify the ecological and environmental monitoring authority of all parties, promote departmental division of labor and cooperation, strengthen monitoring quality supervision, and implement the responsibilities and rights of the government, enterprises, and society.
Improve the system and coordinate planning. Improve the legal, regulatory, standard, and technical specification system for ecological and environmental monitoring, and unify the planning and layout of the monitoring network.
Scientific monitoring and innovation-driven development. Rely on scientific and technological innovation and progress, strengthen monitoring research and comprehensive analysis, enhance the application of high-tech, advanced equipment, and systems such as satellite remote sensing, and improve the three-dimensional, automated, and intelligent level of ecological and environmental monitoring.
Comprehensive integration and coordinated monitoring and management. Promote the networking and sharing of national ecological and environmental monitoring data, conduct big data analysis of monitoring, and achieve effective linkage between ecological and environmental monitoring and supervision.
(III) Main objectives. By 2020, the national ecological and environmental monitoring network will basically achieve full coverage of environmental quality, key pollution sources, and ecological status monitoring; interconnection and sharing of monitoring data systems at all levels and of all types; significantly improved monitoring, forecasting, early warning, information capabilities, and support levels; coordinated linkage between monitoring and supervision; and the initial establishment of a land-sea integrated, space-air integrated, vertically coordinated, and information-sharing ecological and environmental monitoring network, ensuring that ecological and environmental monitoring capabilities are adapted to the requirements of ecological civilization construction.
II. Comprehensive site establishment and improvement of the ecological and environmental monitoring network
(IV) Establishing a unified environmental quality monitoring network. The Ministry of Environmental Protection, in conjunction with relevant departments, will uniformly plan, integrate, and optimize environmental quality monitoring sites to construct a national environmental quality monitoring network that is rationally laid out and fully functional, covering elements such as air, water, soil, noise, and radiation. Monitoring and evaluation will be conducted according to unified standards and specifications to objectively and accurately reflect the environmental quality status.
(V) Improve the monitoring system for key pollution sources. Key pollutant discharge units identified by environmental protection departments at all levels must fulfill their legal responsibilities for self-monitoring of pollutant emissions and public disclosure of information, and strictly implement emission standards and monitoring requirements of relevant laws and regulations. Key national pollutant discharge units must construct and operate stable online pollutant emission monitoring systems. Environmental protection departments at all levels must conduct supervisory monitoring in accordance with the law and organize monitoring and statistical work on non-point source and mobile source pollution.
(VI) Strengthen the construction of ecological monitoring systems. Establish an integrated space-ground ecological remote sensing monitoring system; develop and launch a series of atmospheric environment monitoring satellites and subsequent environmental satellites and network them; strengthen unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing monitoring and ground-based ecological monitoring to achieve large-scale, all-weather monitoring of important ecological function zones and nature reserves.
III. Nationwide Networking for Integrated Sharing of Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Information
(VII) Establishing an Integrated Sharing Mechanism for Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Data. Environmental quality, pollution source, and ecological status monitoring data obtained by environmental protection departments at all levels, as well as departments and units such as land resources, housing and urban-rural development, transportation, water resources, agriculture, health, forestry, meteorology, and marine affairs, should be effectively integrated, interconnected, and shared. A national and local mechanism for sharing and releasing monitoring data on key pollution sources should be established, and key polluting units should promptly upload their self-monitoring results as required by environmental protection departments.
(VIII) Constructing a Big Data Platform for Ecological and Environmental Monitoring. Accelerate the construction of ecological and environmental monitoring information transmission networks and big data platforms, strengthen the development and application of ecological and environmental monitoring data resources, conduct big data correlation analysis, and provide data support for ecological and environmental protection decision-making, management, and law enforcement.
(IX) Unified Release of Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Information. Establish a unified ecological and environmental monitoring information release mechanism in accordance with the law, standardize the content, procedures, authority, and channels for release, and release national environmental quality, key pollution sources, and ecological status monitoring information in a timely and accurate manner to improve the authority and credibility of government environmental information releases and protect the public's right to know.
IV. Automatic Early Warning and Scientific Guidance for Environmental Management and Risk Prevention
(X) Strengthen Environmental Quality Monitoring, Forecasting, and Early Warning. Improve air quality forecasting and pollution early warning capabilities, and strengthen pollution source tracing and analysis. Strengthen water quality monitoring, forecasting, and early warning for important water bodies, water sources, source areas, and water conservation areas. Strengthen monitoring of persistent, bioaccumulative, and highly hazardous pollutants in soil. Improve automatic radiation monitoring and early warning capabilities.
(XI) Closely Monitor Enterprise Pollution Discharge. Improve the automatic monitoring and abnormal alarm mechanism for pollution discharge from key polluting units, enhance the ability to track, capture, and alarm information on pollutant exceedances, online monitoring equipment operation, and abnormal effluents from important nuclear facilities, and improve the intelligent monitoring level of enterprise pollution discharge. Enhance the environmental risk early warning and response capabilities of industrial parks.
(XII) Improve Ecological and Environmental Risk Monitoring, Assessment, and Early Warning Capabilities. Regularly conduct national ecological status surveys and assessments, establish an ecological protection red line supervision platform, and monitor, assess, and issue early warnings for human interference and ecological damage activities in important ecological function zones. Conduct monitoring of environmental health hazards such as chemicals, persistent organic pollutants, emerging characteristic pollutants, and hazardous waste to improve environmental risk prevention and control and emergency monitoring capabilities.
V. Legal Accountability and Establishment of a Linkage Mechanism for Ecological and Environmental Monitoring and Supervision
(XIII) Provide Technical Support for Assessment and Accountability. Improve the ecological and environmental quality monitoring and assessment indicator system, and utilize monitoring and evaluation results to provide scientific basis and technical support for assessing and holding local governments accountable for fulfilling their responsibilities in improving environmental quality, pollution prevention and control, total emission control of major pollutants, ecological protection, and nuclear and radiation safety supervision within their administrative regions.
(XIV) Achieve Synchronization of Ecological and Environmental Monitoring and Law Enforcement. Environmental protection departments at all levels shall perform their environmental supervision responsibilities over polluting entities in accordance with the law, conduct supervision and law enforcement based on pollution source monitoring, establish a rapid response mechanism linking monitoring and supervision and law enforcement, and implement on-site synchronous monitoring and law enforcement based on pollutant emission and automatic alarm information.
(XV) Strengthen Supervision of Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Institutions. Ecological and environmental monitoring institutions, environmental monitoring equipment operation and maintenance institutions, social environmental monitoring institutions, and their responsible persons under relevant departments at all levels shall strictly conduct monitoring in accordance with legal requirements and technical specifications, improve and implement monitoring data quality control and management systems, and be responsible for the authenticity and accuracy of monitoring data. The Ministry of Environmental Protection shall, in accordance with the law, establish and improve a regulatory system for different types of ecological and environmental monitoring institutions and environmental monitoring equipment operation and maintenance institutions, and formulate regulations such as measures for handling falsification of environmental monitoring data. Environmental protection departments at all levels shall strengthen the verification and inspection of monitoring quality and severely punish acts of deliberately violating environmental monitoring technical specifications and tampering with or falsifying monitoring data. Party and government leaders who instruct others to tamper with or falsify monitoring data shall be dealt with seriously in accordance with the "Measures for Accountability of Party and Government Leaders for Ecological and Environmental Damage (Trial Implementation)" and other relevant regulations.
VI. Improve the Ecological and Environmental Monitoring System and Guarantee System
(XVI) Improve the legal, regulatory, and standard system for ecological and environmental monitoring. Research and formulate regulations and rules such as the Environmental Monitoring Regulations, the Management Measures for the Ecological and Environmental Quality Monitoring Network, and the Management Regulations for the Release of Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Information. Unify the monitoring site layout, monitoring, and evaluation technical standards and specifications for atmosphere, surface water, groundwater, soil, ocean, ecology, pollution sources, noise, vibration, and radiation, and revise and improve them in a timely manner as needed. Enhance the comparability of ecological and environmental monitoring data from various departments and ensure that the monitoring activities of polluting units and various monitoring institutions comply with unified technical standards and specifications.
(XVII) Clarify the authority for ecological and environmental monitoring. Environmental protection departments at all levels are primarily responsible for ecological and environmental quality monitoring, supervisory monitoring of key pollution sources, environmental law enforcement monitoring, and environmental emergency monitoring and forecasting. The Ministry of Environmental Protection will appropriately centralize the authority for ecological and environmental quality monitoring to accurately grasp and objectively evaluate the overall national ecological and environmental quality. The focus of supervisory monitoring and regulation of key pollution sources will be shifted downwards, strengthening the management of local supervisory monitoring of key pollution sources. Local environmental protection departments at all levels will correspondingly centralize the authority for ecological and environmental quality monitoring, undertaking supervisory monitoring of key pollution sources and environmental emergency monitoring functions at each level.
(XVIII) Actively cultivate the ecological and environmental monitoring market. Open up the service-oriented monitoring market, encouraging social environmental monitoring institutions to participate in environmental monitoring activities such as self-monitoring of pollution sources by discharging units, operation and maintenance of automatic pollution source monitoring facilities, ecological and environmental damage assessment monitoring, environmental impact assessment status monitoring, cleaner production audits, and self-investigations by enterprises and institutions. Actively promote government procurement of services in the field of basic public welfare monitoring, including the operation and maintenance of automatic environmental quality monitoring stations. The Ministry of Environmental Protection should formulate relevant policies and measures to orderly promote the socialization, institutionalization, and standardization of environmental monitoring services.
(XIX) Strengthen monitoring technology innovation capabilities. Promote research on new technologies and methods for environmental monitoring, improve the ecological and environmental monitoring technology system, and promote and encourage the application of high-tech products and technologies in the field of environmental monitoring. Encourage domestic research institutions and related enterprises to develop environmental monitoring instruments and equipment with independent intellectual property rights, and promote the localization of monitoring instruments and equipment; prioritize the use of domestically produced equipment under the condition of meeting needs, and promote the development of the domestic monitoring instrument industry. Actively carry out international cooperation, learn from advanced experience in monitoring technology, and enhance my country's technological innovation capabilities.
(XX) Enhance the comprehensive capabilities of ecological and environmental monitoring. Research and formulate standards for the establishment of environmental monitoring institutions, and strengthen the construction of environmental monitoring teams. Accelerate the implementation of relevant plans for the development of ecological and environmental protection talents, and continuously improve the comprehensive quality and ability of monitoring personnel. Improve the financial guarantee mechanism adapted to the development needs of the ecological and environmental monitoring network, focusing on strengthening the capacity building of ecological and environmental quality monitoring, monitoring data quality control, satellite and UAV remote sensing monitoring, environmental emergency monitoring, nuclear and radiation monitoring, etc., and improve the capabilities of sample collection, laboratory testing and analysis, and rapid on-site analysis and testing. Improve the policy on allowances for environmental protection monitoring positions. According to the responsibilities of ecological and environmental monitoring, include the necessary funds in the key guarantee of the budgets of governments at all levels. Local governments at all levels should strengthen their leadership in the construction of the ecological and environmental monitoring network, formulate specific work plans, clarify the division of responsibilities, and implement all tasks.
