GEP accounting has become a prairie fire and is expected to be included in the relevant performance appraisal system in the future.

　　After about ten years’ exploration, the total value of ecological products (GEP) accounting has become a prairie fire, and it is expected to become an important yardstick to measure the effectiveness of one party’s economic and social development and ecological environmental protection.

　　"GEP accounting is a hot research topic at home and abroad, and it is also an important measure to establish and improve the value realization mechanism of ecological products and realize the modernization of ecological environment governance system and governance capacity." Experts from the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said.

　　The research team led by Wang Jinnan, academician of China Academy of Engineering and president of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, has just completed the GEP accounting of Xing ‘an League in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Through field monitoring and investigation, quadrat experiment simulation and model prediction, the research team has basically found out the ecological products of Xing ‘an League.

　　The accounting shows that the GEP of Xing ‘an League in 2020 is 471.87 billion yuan, accounting for 8.2% of the total GEP of the whole region (in 2020, the GEP of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is 5,745.403 billion yuan), the unit area GEP is 8.559 million yuan/square kilometer, and the per capita GEP is 333,000 yuan/person, which is 1.4 times and 5.7 times of the average water in the whole region and the whole country respectively. According to the comparative analysis, in 2020, the GEP of Xing ‘an League will increase by 17.6% compared with 2015, and the GDP will increase by 24% compared with 2015.

　　"Xing ‘an League in ‘ Thirteenth Five-Year Plan ’ During this period, ‘ Green mountains and green hills ’ And ‘ Jinshan Yinshan ’ Double growth in value. " Wang Jinnan said.

　　Xing ‘an League is an important production base of agricultural and livestock products in China, which is recognized as the "golden belt of rice in cold regions", "golden belt of corn planting" and "the best belt for raising cattle" in the world. This study found that with the enhancement of ecosystem supply and service capacity, the market share of rice and corn agricultural products brands in Xing ‘an League increased steadily.

　　Xing ‘an League is rich in water resources, ranking second in the whole region, and is the "faucet" in Northeast China. According to the research team, the research found that the flood storage and water conservation values in Xing ‘an League are relatively high, which are 71.818 billion yuan and 56.407 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 15.22% and 11.95% of the GEP of the whole league. Xing ‘an League has a natural secondary forest area in the southern foothills of Daxing ‘an Mountains, which is called Lin Hai, and its ecological carbon sink accounts for 2/3 of its carbon emissions, with a value of 330 million yuan, which has great potential for carbon neutrality.

　　In addition, the cultural tourism service value of the ecosystem in Xing ‘an League in 2020 is 7.784 billion yuan, accounting for 1.65% of the GEP of the League. As a national winter training base for freestyle skiing aerial skills, Aershan is endowed with unique ice and snow resources, and the advantages of ice and snow ecological resources will become an important support point for the development of ice and snow ecological industry in Xing ‘an League.

　　China is exploring to incorporate the total value of ecological products into the relevant performance appraisal system and implement the "double assessment" of economic development and total value of ecological products. Photography/Zhangke

　　In 2013, IUCN and other institutions introduced GEP accounting method for the first time in Kubuqi, Inner Mongolia, aiming at measuring and displaying the ecosystem status by calculating the gross output value of forests, deserts, wetlands and other artificial ecosystems such as farmland, pasture and aquaculture farms, and preparing for the next step to connect with the national economic statistics and accounting system.

　　In August, 2019, the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Supporting Shenzhen to Build a Pilot Demonstration Zone in Socialism with Chinese characteristics clearly stated that it is necessary to "explore the implementation of the ecosystem service value accounting system".

　　After that, the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Supporting the High-quality Development and Construction of Common Prosperity Demonstration Zone in Zhejiang, published in June 2021, proposed to "explore and improve the application system of ecosystem gross product (GEP) accounting with Zhejiang characteristics"; In January 2022, the State Council’s Opinions on Supporting Guizhou to Break New Trails in the Great Development of the Western Region in the New Era put forward that the total value of ecological products should be included in the relevant performance appraisal system, and the "double assessment" of economic development and total value of ecological products should be implemented.

　　Up to now, Zhejiang Province and Guizhou Province have issued their own GEP accounting technical specifications. Qinghai, Hainan, Inner Mongolia and other provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), 23 cities (prefectures and leagues) such as Shenzhen and Lishui, and more than 100 counties (municipalities and districts) such as Aershan and Chishui have launched GEP accounting pilot demonstrations. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has issued the GEP accounting standards such as "Ecosystem Assessment: Technical Specification for Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) Accounting", which laid a working foundation for the implementation of GEP assessment.

　　At the beginning of this year, the research team led by Song Youtao, Dean of the School of Environment of Liaoning University, completed the GEP accounting research in the three eastern provinces. The results show that the total value of GEP in the three northeastern provinces in 2019 was 6.12 trillion yuan. Among them, the adjustment service has the highest value, accounting for 67%; The value of material products and cultural services accounted for 22% and 11% respectively. The per capita GEP of the three northeastern provinces is 59,000 yuan/person.

　　Song Youtao told the first financial reporter that through research and accounting, the project team also put forward relevant suggestions for the future development of all parts of the three northeastern provinces.

　　"In 2019, the total value of GEP in the three northeastern provinces was 6.12 trillion yuan, 1.19 times of GDP." Zhu Jinghai, chairman of Liaoning Environmental Science Society, said. This accounting result also gives people a new understanding of the old industrial base of the three northeastern provinces.

　　"The improvement and degradation of an area’s ecosystem directly affects its ability to provide ecological products and services." Ouyang Zhiyun, director of the Center for Ecological Environment Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that GEP accounting can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of ecological protection. The increase of GEP indicates that ecological protection is effective; The decline of GEP indicates that the ecosystem is degraded and destroyed.

　　Some experts told the First Financial Reporter that GEP is expected to become a weather vane for high-quality development of a country or region in the "14th Five-Year Plan" or a longer period in the future, and become a "baton" as important as GDP.

　　During the two sessions of the National People’s Congress this year, the Central Committee of Jiu San Society submitted the Proposal on Accelerating the Comprehensive Establishment of the Double Assessment System of GEP and GDP. The proposal proposes to speed up the improvement of GEP evaluation technical guidelines and other related policies, clarify the accounting scope of GEP, formulate the classification list of ecological products, standardize the accounting method of ecological products, determine the index system for measuring the production value of ecosystems, and incorporate GEP into the national economic statistical accounting system. Guide similar areas and similar ecosystems to establish unified and standardized accounting evaluation standards, and provide a basis for GEP to be included in the performance appraisal of local leading cadres.

　　The proposal also suggests that the establishment of a dual assessment system for GEP and GDP should be gradually promoted from point to point, so as to push it out in an all-round way during the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period and establish a regular release system for the results of the dual assessment of GEP and GDP.