The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council have issued guidelines on improving the natural resource asset management system, aiming for a more complete system by 2030 and a fully established, systematic system by 2035. Vice Minister of Natural Resources Zhang Wentong described the guidelines as a framework document that establishes the main structure for fulfilling the role of owner of all natural resource assets on behalf of the people, at a State Council Information Office press conference on July 14.
Inventory work is the first step in the reform. Wang Huabin, director of the Department of Natural Resources Survey and Monitoring, stated that continuous unified surveys have been carried out, covering land, minerals, forests, grasslands, wetlands, water, oceans, deserts, and national parks. A single-platform map has been built based on pilot programs in Zhejiang and Chongqing. The country has fully inventoried the quantity, distribution, and development of 164 types of minerals with identified reserves; forest coverage is 25.09 percent, with forest stock volume at 209.88 billion cubic meters; the sea area under jurisdiction is about 3 million square kilometers, and over 35 percent of the natural continental coastline is preserved.
On property rights, Hu Shanshun, director of the Bureau of Natural Resources Registration, noted that the guidelines introduce measures to improve the rights system and unify registration. The country plans to establish state-owned agricultural land use rights, explore separate deep underground space construction land use rights, and better connect sea use rights and land use rights after land reclamation. To date, registration has been completed for over 3,800 key areas covering 377,000 square kilometers, and reforms such as cross-provincial registration and mortgage-free transfer are being implemented.
New allocation models are also highlighted. Wang Wei, director of the Department of Natural Resource Owners' Rights and Interests, said the guidelines emphasize combining an efficient market with a proactive government. They promote competitive transfer of mining rights, increase the market-based allocation ratio for sea use rights, develop water rights trading markets, and improve the pricing system. The document also encourages a shift from single-resource allocation to combined allocation of multiple natural resource assets, enabling comprehensive operations through bundling rights and empowering them.
For supervision and assessment, the guidelines call for a unified revenue management system for state-owned natural resource assets, with all related revenues included in the government budget. Zhang Wentong mentioned that a resource inventory management system will be explored, and comprehensive responsibility assessments will be conducted, providing a precise evaluation of officials' performance.
The guidelines also cover ecological protection, restoration, and value realization. In protection, the three regulatory lines are strictly observed; in restoration, an integrated approach is taken, as seen in the Shibalianwei wetland project in Hefei, Anhui. In value realization, market-based trading mechanisms for resource rights indicators are being explored, and Shenzhen completed the country's first auction of mangrove conservation carbon credits.
According to Zhang Liming, deputy director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, China has 3.614 billion mu of forests, 3.912 billion mu of grasslands, and 834 million mu of wetlands. Efforts will focus on the Three-North Shelterbelt Program, forest quality improvement, grassland protection, reform of collective forest rights, and strengthened management of national parks.
Zhang Wentong stressed that the ministry will coordinate with regions and departments to implement the reforms, enhance working mechanisms, and strengthen technological support and talent development.