Accelerate the construction of water right trading system.
Li guoying
The establishment of water right trading system is of great significance to promote the optimal allocation and economical and intensive utilization of water resources. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out that to promote Chinese modernization, water resources should be taken into account; Promote the establishment of water rights system, clarify the ownership of water rights and cultivate the water rights trading market; Incorporate carbon emission rights, energy use rights, water use rights, emission rights and other resources and environmental factors into the overall plate of factor market allocation reform, and support market transactions such as transfer, transfer, mortgage and shareholding; Actively explore and standardize the promotion of water rights trading. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee put forward clear requirements for improving the property right system and management system of natural resources assets and implementing the rigid constraint system of water resources.
We should thoroughly implement the spirit of the important exposition of the Supreme Leader General Secretary on water control and the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, speed up the construction of a water rights trading system with clear ownership, clear powers and responsibilities and effective supervision, actively explore and standardize the promotion of water rights trading, promote the realization of "Pareto optimality" in water resources allocation efficiency and utilization efficiency, and provide a strong water security guarantee for comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation with Chinese modernization.
First, speed up the improvement of the initial distribution system of water rights. The General Secretary of the Supreme Leader emphasized that if the property rights are unclear and the rights and responsibilities are unclear, the protection will fail, and it will be difficult to widely implement specific measures for water saving and pollution control such as water rights and emission trading. The initial allocation of water rights is the most important prerequisite for the construction of water rights trading system. According to the constitution, the ownership of water resources belongs to the state, and the initial allocation of water rights must be implemented by the state. As a mobile, random and unstable resource, water resources should be distributed step by step to rivers across provinces, cities and counties in terms of river basins until they are distributed to water users. At present, 94 inter-provincial rivers and 373 inter-provincial rivers have been allocated water, the total groundwater intake and water level control indicators of 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) have been determined, and 630,000 sets of electronic licenses for water intake have been issued to water users.
It is necessary to follow the principles of openness, fairness and justice, unified planning and unified allocation of water resources, overall consideration of domestic, production and ecological water use, overall consideration of current water use and development water use, total control and quota management, and standardize and promote the initial allocation of water rights. In terms of regional water rights, the inter-provincial river water distribution will be fully completed, and the inter-administrative river water distribution in the province will be accelerated. On this basis, the available water consumption in each region will be determined, laying a solid foundation for further clarifying the composition and quantity of regional water rights. In terms of water rights of water users, we will study and formulate policies and measures to standardize the examination and approval of water permits, strengthen the management of electronic licenses for water permits, and further standardize and clarify the water rights of various water users. In terms of water rights of public water users, the determination of water rights of irrigation water users in irrigation areas should be promoted according to needs, and the determination of water rights of users in public water supply networks should be explored. In the aspect of dynamic management of water rights allocation, according to the changes of water resources conditions, ecological protection and the needs of economic and social development, the available water consumption in various places is optimized and adjusted, and the initial allocation account of water rights is dynamically updated.
The second is to speed up the improvement of the water resources monitoring system. Perfecting the water resources monitoring system is the most important basic work in the construction of water rights trading system. If the water resources monitoring system is not perfect and lacks scientific, accurate and objective monitoring and evaluation data, the water rights trading system will eventually become a castle in the air.
It is necessary to speed up the construction of a national water resources monitoring system in accordance with the requirements of careful use of water resources and strict management of water resources. We should set up monitoring stations for river and lake sections, install water intake metering facilities, encrypt the network of groundwater monitoring stations, strengthen the application of new monitoring technologies, improve the water resources monitoring information collection system and collection platform, further expand the coverage of monitoring and metering, and improve the online monitoring and metering rate. Strengthen the information sharing of water rights transaction and water resources management, realize the collection and sharing of water consumption monitoring and metering data, water intake information beyond the permitted plan, water intake and water users information, initial allocation of water rights, water rights transaction and mortgage pledge data, and open up the supervision chain of water rights before and after the event. Strengthen the analysis and application of monitoring and measurement data, and timely evaluate the transaction and use effect of water rights.
The third is to speed up the improvement of the water rights trading market system. Cultivating water rights trading market is an important task in the construction of water rights trading system. The generalized water market can be divided into three levels: the market between the state and water resource operators, the market between water resource operators and water resource users, and the market between water resource users. The water right transactions between water resource users can be divided into three categories: between administrative regions, between industries and between water users. Since the beginning of this century, China’s water rights trading has been explored and developed continuously. Since its establishment in 2016, China Water Rights Exchange has exceeded 15,700 single transactions, with a trading volume of 4.79 billion cubic meters, covering 29 provinces across the country. In 2023, Sichuan and Ningxia successfully realized the first single inter-provincial water rights transaction in the Yellow River Basin. But overall, China’s water rights trading market is not fully developed and the water rights trading is not active enough.
It is necessary to thoroughly study the problems faced by the development of the water rights trading market, clarify the policy orientation, and increase the cultivation of the water rights trading market. Improve the guiding mechanism of water rights trading, and put forward supporting measures around the trading situation, trading period, trading procedures and rights protection in accordance with the requirements of active exploration and standardized promotion, so as to reduce the cost of trading system and stabilize market expectations. Strengthen the reverse mechanism of water right transaction, strictly supervise after the event of water use, implement the differential management of water resources overloaded area, critical overloaded area and non-overloaded area, suspend the new water intake permit in the overloaded area, and force the overloaded area to revitalize the water stock and solve the new water demand through water right transaction. On the premise of ensuring life, basic ecology and reasonable irrigation water, we will explore the implementation of water rights trading for industries and services with high water consumption in some areas with serious shortage and overload of water resources. Innovate green financial measures for water rights, explore trading forms such as mortgage and pledge of water rights, and enrich and expand the ways to realize the value of aquatic ecological products.
The fourth is to speed up the improvement of the water rights trading platform system. Water rights trading platform is a service place to promote water rights trading and cultivate water rights market, and is responsible for water rights trading, collecting and publishing trading information. Generally, it can be divided into three types: national water rights trading center to meet the needs of cross-basin water rights trading, basin water rights trading center to meet the needs of inter-provincial trading within the same basin, and regional water rights trading center to meet the needs of different water users in the province. China Water Rights Exchange belongs to the national water rights trading platform.
It is necessary to give full play to the role of the national water rights trading platform, optimize the platform structure and functional design, and improve the system of river basin and regional water rights trading platform in accordance with the opinions of the CPC Central Committee on accelerating the construction of a unified national market and the work arrangements of the State Council on establishing a unified public resources trading platform. Improve the operating rules and trading rules system of water rights trading platform, establish an open, fair and just operating mechanism for water rights trading, and unify trading rules, technical standards and data norms. Promote the information construction of water rights trading, make full use of artificial intelligence, digital twinning and other technologies, collect and publish water rights supply and demand information, and form a unified national trading information network. We will promote the relatively centralized trading of water rights, and the trading of water rights across the first-level water resources areas, inter-provincial areas and water resources overloaded areas shall be conducted in principle on the national water rights trading platform.
The fifth is to speed up the improvement of the supervision system of the water rights trading market. Market supervision is an important link in the construction chain of water right trading system. It is necessary to study and establish a regulatory model and regulatory system that adapts to different types of water rights transactions, strengthen the approval and supervision of water rights transactions, and maintain a good order in the water rights trading market. Improve the supervision mechanism of water rights transactions, strengthen the supervision before and after water rights transactions, and further improve the management regulations on transaction methods, transaction procedures, transaction prices and transaction purposes for different types of water rights transactions. Formulate a negative list of water rights transactions, clearly list the relevant circumstances or requirements that prohibit or restrict transactions, and prohibit water rights transactions for those who change the use of water without approval, do not have the conditions for monitoring and metering, cause or aggravate the overload of water resources, and occupy the domestic water of residents, rational water for farmland irrigation and basic ecological water. Strengthen daily supervision, focusing on the authenticity of the water volume of water rights trading, the standardization of trading procedures, and the compliance of water use behavior of both parties after trading. Actively cultivate market intermediary service organizations, establish a third party for water rights trading and an ecological environment impact assessment and compensation mechanism, and effectively regulate water rights trading and management behavior.
(The author is Party Secretary and Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources)
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