Plan sets 'red line' for key river basin

Comprehensive protection of Yangtze to be basically in place by next year

The first national-level territorial space plan tailored to a specific river basin was recently approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet, a senior environmental and territorial planning official said on Thursday.

"The plan provides comprehensive guidance and oversight for the protection, development, utilization and restoration of the spatial area in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Yangtze River Basin, acting as an important basis for local authorities to lay down and carry out spatial plans at all levels," Miao Ze, deputy director of the Ministry of Natural Resources' territorial space planning bureau, told a news conference.

The plan covers the land territory, inland waters and related territorial waters of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Yangtze River Basin. The land area of 2.4 million square kilometers includes 11 provinces or municipalities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and some county-level administrative regions in eight other provincial-level regions in the Yangtze River Basin. In total, it covers 1,173 county-level administrative regions.