Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) Recently, the Ministry of Public Security, in conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, and the China Coast Guard, issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of an Ecological Policing Mechanism" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"). This document aims to promote the establishment of an ecological policing mechanism led by public security organs and involving relevant departments, to severely crack down on environmental and resource crimes according to law, to focus on preventing and resolving major risks, to resolutely safeguard the bottom line of security for the construction of a beautiful China, and to ensure high-quality development with high-level security.
The "Opinions" emphasize that strengthening the construction of the ecological policing mechanism requires adhering to a systematic approach, upholding integrity and innovation, adhering to collaborative governance, adhering to adapting to local conditions, and adhering to the lawful performance of duties. Based on this, it proposes a two-step goal for promoting the construction of the ecological policing mechanism: by 2027, the ecological policing mechanism will be basically established; by 2035, a complete, scientifically standardized, and efficiently operating ecological policing mechanism will be mature and finalized. At the same time, it clarifies four main tasks: strengthening criminal crackdown, enhancing proactive prevention, promoting comprehensive governance, and serving value transformation.
Regarding strengthening criminal prosecution, the "Opinions" emphasize the need to consistently adhere to a strict crackdown policy, severely punishing prominent crimes such as environmental pollution, destruction of wild flora and fauna resources, damage to ancient and famous trees, illegal fishing, illegal mining of mineral resources, illegal extraction of river sand and gravel, and illegal occupation of agricultural land. In response to the professionalization, organized nature, long chains of operations, and cross-regional nature of these crimes, the "Opinions" call for improving and refining mechanisms for case supervision, cluster crackdowns, and collaborative investigation of leads, implementing precise, in-depth, large-scale, and coordinated strikes.
Regarding strengthening proactive prevention, the "Opinions" encourage local governments to explore the establishment of river and lake police chiefs, forest police chiefs, and ecological police chief mechanisms tailored to their specific circumstances. Drawing on the "ecological policing+" and "+ecological policing" practices of some localities, ecological policing joint operation centers and joint operation workstations can be established in areas with heavy ecological protection tasks and frequent environmental resource crimes, forming grassroots collaboration platforms to organically combine ecological policing with other routine policing and deeply integrate it with grassroots social governance.
Regarding comprehensive governance, the "Opinions" require adhering to a policy of promoting governance through crackdown, promptly reporting discovered risks and hidden dangers to relevant departments, promoting front-end governance, and plugging management loopholes. It also emphasizes the importance of both protection and restoration, identifying entry points and points of convergence, and guiding perpetrators to actively assume relevant ecological environment restoration responsibilities in handling environmental resource crime cases, achieving a unified political, legal, and social effect.
Regarding the transformation of service value, the "Opinions" require promoting the organic integration of crime fighting with ecological environment governance and green industrial transformation, helping to enhance economic development advantages and the total value of ecological products. It calls for severely cracking down on crimes infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises. It also calls for severely cracking down on crimes involving infringement and counterfeiting of famous and high-quality agricultural products and geographical indication products, and strengthening the protection of high-quality ecological resources.
The "Opinions" also put forward clear requirements for improving working mechanisms such as organizational coordination, practical operation, inter-departmental collaboration, and regional cooperation, as well as strengthening supporting and guaranteeing measures such as team building, digital empowerment, rule of law construction, and infrastructure construction. The "Opinions" emphasize giving full play to the functional advantages of public security organs, development and reform, judicial administration, natural resources, ecological environment, transportation, water resources, agriculture and rural affairs, forestry and grassland, coast guard and other departments, and promoting the linkage and cooperation of "public security + administration" departments at different levels and in different categories, so as to achieve the best results with the greatest synergy.
