Exploration on Construction Planning of Ecotownship in Underdeveloped Regions with a Case of Luoshi Town,Fengxin County,Jiangxi Province

Xiaoyun LI,Rong YI

Jiangxi Normal University,Nanchang 330022,China

It is known that eco-environment lays foundation for economic and social development as well as human existence and development.Therefore,to achieve sustainable development is a fundamental principle should be abided by in China’s modernization.According to the 18thNational Congress of the CPC the emblem of the Communist Party of China,promoting ecological progress is a long-term task of vital importance to the people’s wellbeing and China’s future.Faced with increasing resource constraints,severe environmental pollution and a deteriorating ecosystem,we must raise our ecological awareness of the need to respect,accommodate to and protect nature.We must give high priority to making ecological progress and incorporate it into all aspects and the whole process of advancing economic,political,cultural and social progress,work hard to build a beautiful country,and achieve lasting and sustainable development of the Chinese nation.Environmental planning is a crucial part of environment protection of towns and villages.What’s more,it is basic references for town and village environment administration,as well as an important part of social and economic evolvement,playing a key role in regional sustainable development.Eco-township effectively promotes towns and villages’environment protection and advances construction of a beautiful country and coordination between rural and urban areas[1-2].China is a country with a vast territory,so that economic and social development tends to be volatile[3].Belonging to underdeveloped regions,Jiangxi,on basis of eco-environment advantages,carries out eco-township construction,which makes progress in terms of green eco-environment.The research explored the construction planning of eco-township in underdeveloped regions in order to provide thoughts and references for similar areas with a case of Luoshi Town,Fengxin County,Jiangxi Province.

Introduction of Eco-environment of Luoshi Town

Luoshi Town is located in the central portion of Fengxin County,32 km away from the county,bordering Huibu Town to the east,Gao’an City to the south,Shangfu Town to the west,and Yangshan Village to the north.Luoshi has an area of 122 km2,involving 16 km from south to north and 8 from east to west,and at the 2014 census,a population of 14 086 inhabitants.It administers two communities and 9 village committees.Besides,Luoshi is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges.To the northeast sit low mountain ranges and to the southwest flat plain.The highest point lies on the major mountain in the north,with an elevation of 1 027 m,and the lowest point is Yin Village,with an elevation of 80 m.The major river is Nanliao River that runs through east to west,supplying water for the town.Additionally,land resources tend to be volatile. Specifically, mountainous lands are more,but plains are few.In other words,farmlands account for a low proportion,and forest areas are moreextensive.Forexample,the town has 1 700 hm2farmlands and forest lands reach 6 500 hm2.

Luoshi Town is characterized by high vegetation coverage,rich species and stable ecosystems.Furthermore,the town is advancing urban and rural environment construction, covering natural forest protection,prevention forests and farmland and forest network construction,national land consolidation and environment comprehensive improvement.For instance,the town accelerates seedling and forest industry with floral and forest associations as a platform,supported by companies and farm households.Besides,Luoshi Town conducted human settlement construction characterized by beautification,afforestation,purification,hardening and brightening,and water,washroom and road improvements,and organized comprehensive improvement on environment dominated by improvement on environmental sanitation,with eco-township construction as a highlight,on basis of ruralvillage renovation,community construction,and settlement environment construction.

Nevertheless,some problems are still unsettled yet in terms of environment pollution and destruction,with economy evolvement,urbanization ad-vancement and population pressure.For example,because of capital,talent and technology constraints,lots of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are applied to soils,leading to soil pollution. What’s worse, uncontrolled sewage and rubbish piling-up deteriorate environment pollution.Generally speaking,ruralnon-pointpollution would be more and more serious,which requires overall planning and construction on eco-township.

Table 1 The construction planning of eco-township of Luoshi Town

Formulating Eco-township planning and strategy

Formulating target and index

The eco-township planning should be oriented by constructing sustainable and harmonious society,with developing eco-agriculture as a mainline and key project as a carrier in order to build eco-agricultural and ecoindustrial production bases and ecotourism bases.What’smore,the planning should aim at guaranteeing township eco-safety and improving rural eco-environmentto create ecotownship by advancing eco-environmentprotection infrastructure construction dominated by sewage treatment plant and refuse disposal plant,and capacity system construction dominated by environment administration and monitoring,and environmental enforcement.Besides,it is necessary to conduct eco-civilization construction from the perspectives of school,enterprises,government and society.Therefore,environment planning index systems in 2014,2016 and 2019 have been formulated with consideration of environment characters,environment planning targets and local government suggestions(Table 1).

Regionalization of ecological function areas

The regionalization of ecological function areas provides scientific references for formulating regional ecoenvironment protection and construction planning,maintaining regional ecological safety,rational use of resources,distribution of agriculture and industry and protection of regional environment.At first,major ecological problems and protection targets should be recognized by investigating people’s demands in different areas and maintenance of regional eco-environment in accordance with ecological characters,development modes and strength on natural resources,as well as the basic principles of co-existence between human and nature and people first. Hence, different areas would have specific ecological construction schemes based on characters of landscape ecology,and ecological economy.

The research took the importance of eco-service function and sensitivity of eco-environment as references according to the principle and index system of regionalization of eco-function areas and divided Luoshi Town into water source protection eco-function area in the north,water and soil conservation and agricultural eco-environment protection area in the west,central towns eco-function area and water source conservation and ecoforest protection area in the south,with consideration of eco-function orientations, eco-environment characters,natural resource distribution,and social activity of Luoshi Town,as well as demands from ecological construction,agriculture,forestry,water conservancy,water and soil conservation,and urban system.

As shown in Fig.1,water source protection eco-function area in the north is mainly distributed in Lantian and Dianqian,where rivers and lakes scatter here and there,and vegetation is under strict protection,which plays a key role in water conservation.Therefore,it is necessary to continue and reinforce protection on forests and tourism resources and water conservation,by creating closure of fishing areas and non-irrigation areas.Gangxia,Yecheng and Wugang are classified into water and soil conservation and agricultural eco-environment protection area in the west,which belongs to major crop producing area,so that it is necessary to prevent eco-environment from deterioration or water and soil losses,and to renovate destroyed ecosystem.The central towns eco-function area includes Luoshi Community,Tianbei Community and Henan Village,which belongs to political,economic,cultural and commercial center of Luoshi Town,and it is planned to transform the agricultural eco-environment into urban eco-function.Bayuan,Zhuxi,and Pingshan are classified into water source conservation and eco-forest protection area in the south,characterized by extensive ecological public?welfare?forest,which palsy a crucial role in maintaining eco-environment of Luoshi Town.Therefore,it is planned to take the area as a key eco-function area for protection.

To implement supporting measures Guarantees from policy and laws and regulations

To establish legal status of the planningThe construction planning of ecological towns and villages is an important part of construction of ecotownship,playing a crucial role in social and economic sustainable development in Luoshi Town.Therefore,it is necessary to incorporate the specific construction contents and targets into national economic and social development.What’s more,on basis of expert’s demonstration,the construction contents and targets should be officially approved by local government,which would become a guidance file for eco-township construction of Luoshi Town,so that the enforcement regulations can be further formulated for the town construction and administration.

To integrate with present environment administration systemsIt is necessary to integrate the ecological construction planning with target-oriented responsibility system.Specifically,the overall objective of the planning should be shared by corresponding departments,with consideration of specific annual plan,different regions and industries,so that the objectives in different phases can be undertaken by major leaders in the form of liability statement.Meanwhile,eco-construction should proceed in accordance with varying environment administration laws or regulations,including environment influence assessment,pollution-discharge fee system,and the System of Pollutant Discharge Permit.

To formulate corresponding policyoriented measuresOn basis of local policies,laws and regulations,it is important to formulate industrial policy accommodating to eco-township construction in order to advance cleaner production,protection and rational use of resources.Besides,it is urgent to sort out and improve policies inappropriate for eco-construction in order to establish sounding policy system during eco-township construction and guarantee implementation of the planning.Additionally,it is recommended to establish incentive policy and accelerate eco-compensation system in accordance with national,provincial,municipal or county standards.

Capitalraising forconstruction fundsIn the process of constructing eco-township,it is crucial to win financial supports from our nation,province or city under the principles of earmark a fund for its specified purpose only and environment protection first.What’s more,it is necessary to increase local investments and make use of environment protection capitals in a rational way.Meanwhile,the proportion of environment construction investment can be improved of GNP and relevant capitals should be well made use of,covering technology-improved capitals, retained profit, pollution charges and environment protection capitals at advancing Luoshi economy.Furthermore,it is recommended to broaden financing channels to reform towns’ infrastructure and original management system oriented by government,andpromote cooperation between government and company,as well as private enterprises and foreign enterprises to advance environment and municipal constructions.

Technologyandmeasures-based guarantee

To enhance science and technology investmentIt is necessary to establish eco-environment expert consultancy and technology supporting system to improve science and technology promotion,information service system and technology communication network,giving supports for ecotownship construction.Furthermore,it should reinforce technology cooperation with R&D institutions and underscore research on priority areas and key technology related to eco-environment construction.In addition,preferential policy and supports should be given to high-tech eco-industrial projects and technologies conductive to improving eco-environment.

To reinforce talent introduction and cultivationThe role oftalents should be recognized.Therefore,it is important to introduce talents and establish an employment mechanism accommodating to market-oriented economy.Meanwhile,more attentions should be paid to talents cultivation in order to establish a team skillful in technology and management,to meet eco-construction and reinforce development of eco-economy.

To improve environment monitoring capacityOn one hand,it should build a sophisticated environment management system by improving administration function of environment protection institutions and reinforcing technology team construction.On the other hand,it should insist on the principle of laying equal stress on ecological protection and pollution control and carry out all-around environment monitoring works in order to improve environment monitoring capacity.

Conclusion

Eco-township construction is an import part of advancing building a well-off society and harmonious society,which is of great significance for sustainable development of underdeveloped areas.Empiricalanalysis shows that economy does not necessarily develop at the cost of environment[4].For example,in the context of coordinated rural and urban development,good planning and controlling will further improve regional environment quality and create a better living environment,so that a win-win for economy and environment can be accomplished in underdeveloped areas.

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