The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council have issued the “Guidelines on Improving the Natural Resource Asset Management System,” outlining systematic measures for natural resource asset management.
The guidelines set phased targets: by 2030, the natural resource asset management system will be more robust, with clear responsible entities, transparent asset inventories, strong overall protection, efficient asset allocation, and improved assessment and supervision, ensuring effective protection of all natural resource assets and territorial spaces and notably raising management levels. By 2035, management systems and mechanisms will operate smoothly, and a fully established, comprehensive natural resource asset management system will be in place, with management capacities significantly enhanced.
The guidelines call for ascertaining natural resource asset inventories. A unified survey, monitoring, and evaluation system will be improved, covering land, minerals, forests, grasslands, wetlands, water, oceans, deserts, and national parks. Coordinated national land surveys, special surveys, and dynamic monitoring will be conducted to fully grasp the natural resource baseline. A new basic surveying and mapping system will be advanced, forming a “single map” for natural resource management and territorial spatial planning. An asset inventory and statistical accounting system will be refined, with regular inventories to ascertain physical quantities and explore value accounting, with an annual update mechanism. The balance sheet compilation system will be improved and normalized, and natural capital accounting will be explored.
Regarding property rights, the guidelines specify improving the system of usufructuary and other rights, promoting the separation of ownership and use rights, and resolving issues of unclear rights when resource categories overlap. Exploration will be made to separately establish construction land use rights for deep underground spaces, establish state-owned agricultural land use rights, improve the mechanism for converting sea use rights to land use rights after land reclamation, construct a right system for uninhabited islands, and advance water rights reform. Unified registration of natural resources and real estate will be fully promoted, clarifying property right subjects and boundaries, and forming a unified property base.
For overall protection, the guidelines require strict adherence to the red lines for farmland and permanent basic farmland, strengthening the bottom-line constraints of ecological protection red lines, and strictly controlling urban development boundaries. Mixed land development, compounded spatial use, and lawful conversion of land uses will be promoted. The functional zoning system will be improved to leverage comparative advantages and enhance asset value. Mechanisms for realizing the value of ecological products will be refined, exploring market-based trading of resource rights indicators, balance between occupancy and restoration of natural continental shorelines, and incentives for trading construction land withdrawal indicators within ecological protection red lines. The reserve and custody mechanism will be optimized, incorporating all state-owned construction land whose users are undetermined into reserve management. Comprehensive acquisition and storage of natural resource assets will be explored, with categorized custody, which may be undertaken by professional operating agencies.
To promote efficient allocation, the guidelines propose improving market institutions and rules, deepening the reform of paid use systems, and establishing allocation rules including allocation, leasing, transfer, equity injection, joint operation, and contract operation. Competitive transfer of mining rights will be fully advanced, the proportion of market-based allocation of sea use rights will be gradually increased, and a water rights trading market will be cultivated. A price system will be improved, market dynamics will be monitored and regulated, and a market credit system will be established. New allocation models and paths will be constructed, exploring the formulation of asset allocation plans that distinguish public welfare and commercial assets, designating reserve areas and allocation units according to local conditions, and forming asset portfolio targets. Rules for combined allocation of multiple natural resource elements and valuation techniques will be refined. When the same user requires holistic use of multiple natural resource assets within a specific space, combined allocation can be implemented, with conditions, requirements, and ecological protection and restoration requirements included in the target plan, publicly announced, and contracted.
The guidelines stipulate supervision and assessment measures, including strengthening revenue management, establishing a unified revenue management system for state-owned natural resource assets, incorporating all such revenues into government budgets, and improving the distribution mechanism for incremental revenues from market entry of rural collective commercial construction land. Management supervision will be enhanced by formulating measures for managing ownership resource lists, consolidating protection responsibilities, conducting comprehensive performance assessments for asset management, and leveraging the national natural resource supervision mechanism. The establishment of a state-owned natural resource asset damage compensation mechanism, linked with public interest litigation and eco-environmental damage compensation systems, will be explored. A unified reporting system will be improved, with governments reporting specifically to the standing committees of the people’s congresses at the same level, and management and performance reporting mechanisms will be established, with information disclosed to the public in accordance with the law.
In terms of implementation, the guidelines stress the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, advancing work in line with the requirements of central coordination, provincial overall responsibility, and city/county implementation. A correct performance view should be fostered, risk monitoring and early warning should be strengthened. Legislation should be improved, with strict law enforcement and impartial judiciary. Scientific and technological support and information sharing should be enhanced. Green financial services should be improved in quality and efficiency. An incentive mechanism will be established to encourage differentiated reform explorations in various regions. The Ministry of Natural Resources will work with relevant departments to promptly address emerging issues during implementation, and major matters should be reported to the Party Central Committee and the State Council as required.