China News Service, Beijing, November 5 (Reporter Ruan Yulin) The reporter learned from the Ministry of Natural Resources that from November 3 to 4, the China-Island Countries Ocean Cooperation Forum with the theme of "Building Harmony and Sharing Blue Prosperity on Islands" was held in Pingtan, Fujian.
In 2022, the Ministry of Natural Resources will launch a demonstration project for the creation of Hemei Island. In 2023, 33 islands stood out and successfully won the title of Harmony Island. As an island model for the construction of a beautiful China, Hemei Island vividly interprets the profound connotation of the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. After three years of construction, the first batch of Hemei Islands has achieved positive results in ecological protection, improvement of people's livelihood, and green development.
During the forum, the Island Research Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources released the "Phase Results Report on the Construction of Islands in China and the United States". The report shows that in the past three years, the construction of the first batch of 33 Hemei islands has achieved phased results.
First, the island’s ecological security barrier has been further strengthened. Strengthen the ecological protection of islands and surrounding sea areas, systematically carry out the protection and restoration of typical ecosystems, important ecological corridors, rare, endangered and endemic species and their habitats, and implement 14 island ecological protection and restoration projects. A total of more than 200 kilometers of coastline, about 1,600 hectares of vegetation, and about 1,800 hectares of coastal wetlands have been restored. About 660,000 cubic meters of beach sand have been replenished, and more than 70% of the damaged island ecological areas have been restored. At present, more than 73% of the islands have vegetation coverage of more than 60%, and more than 79% of the islands have natural coastlines of more than 70%. The ecological functions of the islands and surrounding sea areas have been systematically restored, and biodiversity has been steadily improved.
Second, the livability and quality of the island have been further improved. We have continued to make up for the shortcomings in the island's infrastructure, implemented multiple submarine cables and cross-sea networking projects, and basically achieved full coverage of power communications; we have upgraded and renovated more than 40 docks and roll-off berths, and built more than 380 kilometers of ring-island highways and coastal slow-moving greenways. Land and sea transportation conditions have continued to improve.
Third, the transformation of the island's green and shared wealth industry has begun to take shape. Promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional fisheries according to the island's conditions, build more than 30 national and provincial marine ranch demonstration areas, create ecological breeding models such as shellfish and algae cultivation, three-dimensional polyculture, and deep-sea intelligent cages, and explore a path to synergize ecological protection and production efficiency.
Fourth, the island’s disaster prevention and reduction capabilities have been further improved. Coordinate and promote island disaster management, implement a series of geological hazard investigation and control projects, carry out dock reinforcement, dismantling of disaster-causing levees, ecological seawall construction and reconstruction, landslide emergency management, etc., explore and build an ecological disaster reduction pattern that integrates "beach buffering-bank protection-mountain stabilization", and improve the level of marine disaster prevention through sand dune restoration, beach maintenance, pebble pond dam reinforcement, backshore vegetation reconstruction and other systematic methods.
The main person in charge of the Sea Area and Island Management Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources said that in the next step, the preparation and implementation of the Hemei Island construction plan will be accelerated, the creation demonstration management system will be improved, the differentiated evaluation index system will be optimized, a cross-departmental collaborative promotion working mechanism will be established and improved, the demonstration and experience promotion of the creation of Hemei Island will be deepened, the story of China's Hemei Island will be well told, and the international influence of Hemei Island will be further enhanced. (over)
