Aerial photo taken on Aug. 24, 2022 shows a section of the Yangtze River in Chaisang District of Jiujiang City, east China's Jiangxi Province. Photo:Xinhua

The regions encircled in red lines for ecological protection should be no less than 143.32 square kilometers in the eco-green integrated development demonstration zone in the Yangtze River Delta, and the overall area of planned construction land should be controlled within 803.6 square kilometers by 2035, according to the national territorial-space plan from 2021 to 2035 in the region which has been approved by the State Council, the authorities said on Tuesday.

The proportion of blue and green space in the demonstration zone should be no less than 66 percent, and the surface freshwater ratio of rivers and lakes should rise from 20.3 percent to 20.61 percent by 2035, according to the territorial-space plan.

The territorial-space plan is an important institutional innovation of China's cross-provincial planning and management system, and is also the first cross-provincial legal territorial space plan approved by the State Council, Zhang Zhongwei, deputy director of the executive committee of the Yangtze River Delta demonstration zone, said at Tuesday's press briefing.

The plan will "play a vital role" in leading ecological priority and green development in the zone as well as being a demonstration for other similar regions in future development, Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

In addition to the integration of concepts of green development, the plan has requirements for further implementation, to coordinate the cooperation of different regions across the demonstration zone, said Ma.

It brings eco-friendly expectations and concepts based on the rich regional resources and unique geographical features in the zone, Ma noted. 

The demonstration zone is not the traditional idea of building a city, and nor is it the mode of development zone seen in the past; the plan specifically requires that large-scale and high-intensity development should not be carried out, Zhang said on Tuesday.

The plan stresses that there will be no large-scale development. The focus will be on high-quality development, so as to better protect the environment and let people enjoy a more green and eco-friendly life, according to Ma.

The plan also says that the demonstration zone must include at least 766,000 mu (51,066.67 hectares) of farmland by 2035, including no less than 665,400 mu of permanent farmland.

The zone will promote innovative measures to build a harmonious ecological environment and ecological system between man and nature. The plan calls for a rise in forest coverage from 8.6 to 12 percent, and an increase in the per capita area of park greenery from 10 square meters to 15 square meters.

The plan has been guided by the Ministry of Natural Resources and jointly developed by Shanghai municipality, East China's Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. It took more than three years from its launch in July 2019 to its approval by the State Council in February 2023.

Global Times