Pilot programs successfully restore local environment: Natural Resources Ministry

The Ministry of Natural Resources publicizes 10 pilot programs that have restored a local environment via introducing social capital, expecting those successful cases to set examples for other regions to tackle environmental pollution.

At a news conference on Thursday, the Ministry of Natural Resources announced those 10 pilots, which covered various cases from restoration of abandoned mines to comprehensive management on polluted land.

Those pilots have all been initiated since the ministry released a document on July 31, which encouraged local government to introduce social capital as a solution to environmental problems.

"Those historical problems resulted from decades of over-exploration that usually take a long time to solve and the profits are also limited. Introducing social capital can provide more creative solutions," said Zhou Yuanbo, director of the ministry's national territory environment restoration department.

The 10 successful cases covered several regions, including East China's Shandong and Zhejiang, Southwest China's Yunnan, and Henan and Hubei provinces, Shanghai and Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

In Zhejiang province, an abandoned mine that opened in 1915 in Changxing county has been restored by a company based in Shanghai and is now an amusement park.

With a total investment of more than 25 billion yuan ($3.76 billion), the park, Taihu Dragon Dream Paradise, covers 773 hectares and is now a popular destination for tourists, with multiple entertaining services, such as hotels, zoos, a botanical garden and water park.

In the past three years, it attracted more than 30 million visits annually and provided jobs to more than 30,000 local people.

Wang Lei, deputy director of the ministry's national territory environment restoration department, said they are currently working with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration to draft a specific plan encouraging the use of social capital to treat environmental problems.

"Property rights will be further specified and supportive financial policies also will be initiated to better implement the country's overall plan on environmental protection with a business model," he said.