The Systematic Conception Embedded in Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization

On July 17, 2023, at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, General Secretary Xi Jinping summarized the “four major transformations” that have occurred in China’s ecological civilization construction in the New Era: a major transformation from piecemeal remediation to systematic governance, a major transformation from passive response to proactive action, a major transformation from a participant in global environmental governance to a leader, and a major transformation from practical exploration to guidance by scientific theory. These “four major transformations” constitute a comprehensive summation of the immense achievements in ecological civilization construction in the New Era.

2023年7月17日，习近平总书记在全国生态环境保护大会上总结了新时代我国生态文明建设发生的“四个重大转变”，即由重点整治到系统治理的重大转变、由被动应对到主动作为的重大转变、由全球环境治理参与者到引领者的重大转变、由实践探索到科学理论指导的重大转变。“四个重大转变”是对新时代生态文明建设巨大成就的全面总结。

As socialism with Chinese characteristics entered the New Era, China’s ecological civilization construction underwent historic, transformative, and overarching changes. The fundamental reason lies in the consistent adherence to “comprehensively strengthening ecological and environmental protection in all respects, across all regions, and throughout all processes,” and to “integrated remediation, systematic governance, and source-based treatment.” Whether it is the elaboration of the relationship of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, or the discussion of the interactive and mutually transformative relationship between lucid waters and lush mountains and mountains of gold and silver; whether it is the important thesis that mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts constitute a community of life, or the overarching principle of coordinating land and sea, urban and rural areas, and above-ground and underground spaces; whether it is the task of strengthening ecological civilization construction raised from an overarching and holistic perspective, integrating ecological civilization construction into all aspects and fields of economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction, and Party building, or the proposal of a strategy for global ecological cooperation and co-governance—all of these manifest the systematic conception embedded in Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization.

中国特色社会主义进入新时代，我国生态文明建设发生了历史性、转折性、全局性的变化，根本原因就在于始终坚持了“全方位、全地域、全过程加强生态环境保护”，坚持了“综合治理、系统治理、源头治理”。无论是阐述人与自然和谐共生关系，还是论述绿水青山和金山银山是相互作用、相互转化关系；无论是山水林田湖草沙是生命共同体的重要论断，还是陆海、城乡、地上地下空间统筹的总体原则；无论是从全局性整体性高度提出加强生态文明建设任务，将生态文明建设融入经济建设、政治建设、文化建设、社会建设、党的建设等各个方面和各个领域，还是提出全球生态合作共治方略，都彰显了习近平生态文明思想蕴含的系统观念。

From the perspective of the elemental structure within the system, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization embodies the internal unity of a comprehensive, multi-level approach, an all-region integrated approach, and a whole-process coherent approach. The theory of systematic governance and the comprehensive governance view, all-region governance view, and whole-process governance view it contains are a vivid summary of the inherent laws of ecological civilization construction in the New Era. Promoting ecological civilization construction “in all respects, across all regions, and throughout all processes” through a systems engineering approach not only indicates that Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization is a scientific system with rigorous logic, systematic completeness, and rich connotations, but also provides a methodological basis for planning and deploying ecological and environmental protection work. It is of crucial and far-reaching significance for realizing the modernization of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature and for creating a new form of human civilization.

从系统内部的要素结构来看，习近平生态文明思想体现了全方位层级式、全地域融合式与全过程贯通式的内在统一。系统治理理论及其内含的全方位治理观、全地域治理观、全过程治理观，是对新时代生态文明建设内在规律的形象概括。以系统工程方式“全方位、全地域、全过程”推进生态文明建设，不仅表明习近平生态文明思想是一个逻辑严密、系统完整、内涵丰富的科学体系，而且为谋划和部署生态环境保护工作提供了方法论依据，对于实现人与自然和谐共生的现代化和创造人类文明新形态具有至关重要的深远意义。

01 The Comprehensive Governance View

01全方位治理观

The fundamental logic of the modernization of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature lies in its dialectical unity: the unity of ecology and survival, the unity of ecology and life, and the unity of ecology and production. Following this logic, the basic characteristic of ecological civilization is that it emphasizes comprehensive construction, that is, the comprehensive development and coordinated consideration of the natural ecosystem, the ecological civilization system, and the human civilization system. To carry out ecological civilization construction comprehensively, it is necessary to transcend the fragmented governance model, maintain and strengthen the systematicity and sustainability of the constituent elements of ecological civilization, and thereby achieve a high degree of unity among the ecological rationality, social rationality, and legal rationality of environmental protection.

人与自然和谐共生的现代化的基本逻辑在于其辩证统一性，即生态与生存的统一、生态与生活的统一、生态与生产的统一。依此逻辑，生态文明的基本特点就在于它强调的全方位建设，也就是自然生态系统、生态文明体系和人类文明系统的全面发展与统筹兼顾。全方位开展生态文明建设，要超越分散治理的模式，维护和加强生态文明构成要素的系统性和持续性，以此实现环境保护生态理性、社会理性与法律理性的高度统一。

Specifically, first, the systematic governance of the natural ecosystem. Nature is an organic chain in which various elements depend on each other to achieve a cyclical process. Natural elements such as mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts are interdependent and interlinked, forming a community of life where “if the lips are gone, the teeth will feel cold” [1]1 A Chinese idiom meaning that two things are closely interdependent; if one is harmed, the other is inevitably affected. and where all share weal and woe. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out, “Ecology is a unified natural system, an organic chain of interdependence and close connection.” If one ignores the internal relationships among the elements of the ecosystem and fails to adopt comprehensive measures in accordance with the inherent laws and holistic requirements of the natural system, one will attend to one thing while losing sight of another and create conflicts. This will not only trigger a “cascade effect” of pollution damage but may even lead to compound social consequences. Following this thread, as a theoretical system integrating timeliness, innovativeness, and systematicity, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization treats the battles to defend the blue sky, clear waters, and clean soil as an overarching strategy, effectively enhancing the overall quality of the ecosystem and continuously empowering “modernization” with “green.”

具体言之，其一，自然生态系统的系统治理。自然界是各类要素相互依存而实现往复循环的有机链条。山水林田湖草沙等自然要素之间唇齿相依、环环相扣，构成一个唇亡齿寒、休戚与共的生命共同体。习近平总书记深刻指出，“生态是统一的自然系统，是相互依存、紧密联系的有机链条”。倘若无视生态系统各要素之间的内在联系，不依循自然系统的内在规律和整体性要求综合施策，就会顾此失彼和相互冲突，不仅会触发污染损害的“级联效应”，甚至还会引致复合性社会后果。循此脉络，作为一个集时代性、创新性和系统性于一身的理论体系，习近平生态文明思想将蓝天、碧水、净土保卫战作为一项总体战略，切实提升生态系统整体性质量，不断为“现代化”赋能“绿色”。

Second, the systematic construction of the ecological civilization system. Ecological civilization has its own systemic composition. The ecological civilization system—namely, the ecological culture system, the ecological economy system, the target responsibility system, the ecological civilization institutional system, and the ecological security system—constitutes a concrete deployment for implementing the basic principles of ecological civilization construction. Environmental pollution often originates from the “negative externality” effects of human activities. These “negative externality” effects result from the combined subjective and objective actions of people. Only by systematically constructing and comprehensively utilizing the various tools or means provided by the ecological civilization system can we connect multiple social factors such as the environmental resource base, the economic development model, and environmental protection awareness, and truly cultivate the green foundation for high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “We must seek new ways of governance from a systems engineering and overall perspective. We can no longer treat the head when the head aches and the foot when the foot hurts, each minding their own business and hindering each other. Instead, we must make overall plans, take all factors into consideration, adopt multiple measures simultaneously, and carry out ecological civilization construction in all respects, across all regions, and throughout all processes.”

其二，生态文明体系的系统构建。生态文明有其自身的系统构成。生态文明体系，即生态文化体系、生态经济体系、目标责任体系、生态文明制度体系和生态安全体系，是贯彻生态文明建设基本原则的具体部署。环境污染往往内生于人类活动产生的“负外部性”影响，该“负外部性”影响是人们主客观综合作用的结果，只有系统构建并综合运用生态文明体系所提供的多种工具或手段，才能连接环境资源本底、经济开发模式、环境保护意识等多重社会因素，真正厚植高质量发展的绿色底色。习近平总书记强调，“要从系统工程和全局角度寻求新的治理之道，不能再是头痛医头、脚痛医脚，各管一摊、相互掣肘，而必须统筹兼顾、整体施策、多措并举，全方位、全地域、全过程开展生态文明建设”。

Third, the systematic construction of the human civilization system. Examined from the height of the history of human civilization, the human civilization system is a systematic category composed of several civilizational elements, including material civilization, political civilization, cultural-ethical progress, social civilization, and ecological civilization. As the concrete expression of the new form of human civilization in the ecological field, ecological civilization has a genus-species relationship with the civilization system. It both creates conditions for maintaining the continuation of the civilization system and realizes its functions through the evolution of the civilization system. In view of this, since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to ecological civilization construction, incorporating it at the strategic level into the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan. [2]2 The Five-Sphere Integrated Plan refers to China’s overall plan for promoting economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological progress simultaneously. The Five-Sphere Integrated Plan, the overall plan for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, is a scientific grasp of the inherent systematicity of the civilization system and constitutes the main content of “Chinese-path modernization” and the “new form of human civilization.”

其三，人类文明系统的系统建设。从人类文明史高度审视，人类文明系统是由物质文明、政治文明、精神文明、社会文明、生态文明等若干文明要素构成的系统性范畴。作为人类文明新形态在生态领域的具象化表达，生态文明同文明系统是种属关系，既为维护文明系统存续创造条件，又通过文明系统演进实现其功能。有鉴于此，党的十八大以来，习近平总书记高度重视生态文明建设，在战略层面将生态文明建设纳入“五位一体”总体布局。“五位一体”的中国特色社会主义事业总体布局是对文明系统内在系统性的科学把握，构成了“中国式现代化”和“人类文明新形态”的主体内容。

02 The All-Region Governance View

02全地域治理观

“All-region” emphasizes the extensiveness of the spatial layout of ecological civilization construction, that is, covering all aspects of the individual, the nation, and the international community with the field of action of ecological civilization, thereby maximally alleviating the imbalance, incoordination, and insufficiency of regional ecological development.

“全地域”强调生态文明建设空间布局的广泛性，即将生态文明的作用场域覆盖个体、国家和国际等方方面面，最大限度地纾解区域生态发展的不平衡、不协调和不充分问题。

First, the systematicity of the coordination of ecological and environmental spatial functions. Territorial space is the basic unit of ecological civilization construction and can be divided into three types: production space, living space, and ecological space (i.e., the “three-life” spaces). [3]3 “Three-life” spaces is a Chinese planning term for production space, living space, and ecological space. The “three-life” spaces are symbiotically integrated and inseparable. Production and living must both be based on, premised upon, and founded upon the optimization of ecological space. Under certain conditions, ecological space is limited, determining the boundaries and scope of production space and living space. If humanity touches the threshold of ecological space, it will trigger ecological and environmental risks.

其一，生态环境空间功能协调的系统性。国土是生态文明建设的基本单元，可划分为生产空间、生活空间、生态空间三种类型（即“三生”空间）。“三生”空间之间是共生共融、不可分割的关系。生产和生活都必须以优化生态空间为依据、前提、基础。在一定条件下，生态空间是有限的，决定着生产空间和生活空间的边界和范围。如若人类触及生态空间的阈值，就会引发生态环境风险。

Second, the systematicity of the domestic spatial structure of the ecological environment. At the domestic level, the spatial structure of ecological and environmental governance mainly involves complex relationships such as those between urban and rural areas, regions, and river basins, as well as the fair distribution of ecological products and the effective allocation of ecological services among different spatial units.

其二，生态环境国内空间结构的系统性。在国内层面上，生态环境治理空间结构主要涉及城乡、区域、流域等复杂关系，涉及不同空间单位之间生态产品的公平分配和生态服务的有效配置。

First, integrated urban-rural ecological development. In May 2017, when presiding over the 41st collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “We must intensify efforts for comprehensive urban and rural environmental remediation and build beautiful towns and beautiful villages.” [4]4 The 18th CPC Central Committee refers to the Central Committee elected at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012. This indicates that urban and rural functions and spaces are an internally unified and inseparable organic whole. Promoting the coordinated governance of urban and rural ecological environments and improving the integrated urban-rural green governance mechanism have become an inevitable trend and a concrete measure for integrated urban-rural development.

首先，城乡生态融合发展。2017年5月，习近平总书记在主持中共十八届中央政治局第四十一次集体学习时强调，“要加大城乡环境综合整治力度，建设美丽城镇和美丽乡村”。这表明城乡功能与空间是内在统一、不可分割的有机整体，推进城乡生态环境协同治理，健全城乡一体绿色治理机制，已然成为城乡融合发展的应然趋势与实然举措。

Second, regional ecological collaborative governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly pointed out that “we must increase the intensity of environmental governance and ecological protection efforts, investment, and policy, strengthen pollutant emission reduction, especially air pollution prevention and control, advance air pollution control in key industries and key regions, and strengthen regional joint prevention and control.” [5]5 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection” (May 18, 2018). The problem of cross-border environmental pollution is a major difficulty faced in the process of regional sustainable development; it is necessary to move from partial breakthroughs to overall linkage, from static management to dynamic governance, and from low trust to high participation in a continuous escalation, taking in all elements of the regional environment at a glance. Finally, watershed ecological holistic protection. The natural attributes of water are wholeness, fluidity, and boundlessness; water pollution has the characteristics of diffusivity, contiguity, and overlap. Hence, water pollution governance is a recognized stubborn problem of public affairs. The external effects it induces make “free-rider” psychology and congestion consumption phenomena highly likely to emerge, and conceal what Garrett Hardin calls the “tragedy of the commons.” Therefore, integrated watershed protection should logically become the development direction of comprehensive watershed management.

其次，区域生态协同治理。习近平总书记明确指出，“要加大环境治理和生态保护工作力度、投资力度、政策力度，加强污染物减排特别是大气污染防治，推进重点行业、重点区域大气污染治理，加强区域联防联控”。跨界环境污染问题是区域可持续发展进程中所面临的主要难题，须从局部突破到整体联动、从静态管理到动态治理、从低度信任到高度参与的持续升维，将区域环境的各项要素尽收眼底。最后，流域生态整体保护。水的自然属性是整体性、流动性和无界化，水污染具有扩散性、连片性与交叠性等特征。因而，水污染治理是公认的公共事务顽疾。由其引致的外部效应，使得“搭便车”心理和拥挤消费现象极易出现，并隐藏着加勒特·哈丁所谓的“公地悲剧”。因此，流域一体化保护理应成为流域综合管理的发展方向。

Third, the systematic nature of the international spatial structure of the ecological environment. At the international level, General Secretary Xi Jinping, focusing on the common well-being of all humanity, has put forward the initiative of “building a community with a shared future for mankind,” calling for joint efforts to build a world of “lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness and inclusiveness, clean and beautiful.” Global ecological governance from the perspective of a community with a shared future for mankind embodies Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions, and Chinese strength in global ecological civilization construction, meaning that only by reshaping ecological values, ecological interests, and ecological responsibilities, and responding in a targeted manner to global issues such as climate warming, energy shortages, nuclear security, and marine pollution, can all countries build the foundation of ecological civilization and truly promote global sustainable development.

其三，生态环境国际空间结构的系统性。在国际层面上，习近平总书记着眼于全人类共同福祉，提出“构建人类命运共同体”倡议，呼吁携手共建“持久和平、普遍安全、共同繁荣、开放包容、清洁美丽”的世界。人类命运共同体视域下的全球生态治理体现了全球生态文明建设的中国智慧、中国方案和中国力量，意味着世界各国只有重塑生态价值观、生态利益观、生态责任观，有针对性地应对气候变暖、能源短缺、核安全、海洋污染等全球性问题，才能共筑生态文明之基，真正推动全球可持续发展。

03 The Whole-Process Governance View

03全过程治理观

In the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization organically integrates the scientific mechanisms of the temporal dimension and the process dimension of ecological governance, creating a new situation of “whole-process” construction of ecological civilization. “Whole-process” emphasizes the completeness of the operational procedures of ecological civilization construction, that is, taking the goal planning, information allocation, agenda setting, plan decision-making, and effective implementation of environmental policies as the practical chain, orderly promoting the dynamization and precision of pollution prevention and control; it is a transcendence of the ecological “discontinuous-point” governance of Western capitalist countries.

在开启全面建设社会主义现代化国家新征程中，习近平生态文明思想将生态治理时间维度和过程维度的科学机理予以有机统合，开创了“全过程”建设生态文明的新局面。“全过程”强调生态文明建设运转程序的完整性，即以环境政策的目标规划、信息配置、议程设置、方案决策、有效执行为实践链条，有序推动污染防控的动态化和精准化，它是对西方资本主义国家生态“断点式”治理的超越。

Second, regional ecological collaborative governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping has clearly pointed out, “We must increase efforts in environmental governance and ecological protection, investment, and policy support, strengthen pollutant emission reduction, especially in air pollution prevention and control, advance air pollution control in key industries and key regions, and strengthen regional joint prevention and control.” [5]5 Xi Jinping, “Speech at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection” (May 18, 2018). The problem of cross-border environmental pollution is a major difficulty faced in the process of regional sustainable development. It requires a continuous upgrade from partial breakthroughs to overall linkage, from static management to dynamic governance, and from low trust to high participation, taking in all elements of the regional environment at a glance. Finally, watershed ecological holistic protection. The natural attributes of water are wholeness, fluidity, and unboundedness; water pollution has characteristics such as diffusivity, contiguity, and overlap. Therefore, water pollution governance is recognized as a stubborn public affairs problem. The external effects it induces make “free-rider” psychology and crowding consumption phenomena highly likely to appear, and conceal what Garrett Hardin calls the “tragedy of the commons.” [6]6 “Parallel-type” (并联式) refers to China’s approach of pursuing industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization simultaneously, rather than sequentially as in the Western model. Hence, integrated watershed protection should logically become the development direction of comprehensive watershed management.

首先，全过程加强生态保护修复。生态保护修复是关乎国家生态安全和民生福祉的重大国家战略任务。在习近平生态文明思想指引下，以“全生命周期”理念推进生态保护修复，提供了一种以公共性为纽带的“源头严防—过程严管—后果严惩”机制，有助于破解传统修复无序化、碎片化、条块化、短效化等难题。其核心机理在于：一方面，此理念高度关注“人民性”，倡导生态治理中的利益协调、责任分担和资源整合，有利于修正传统自上而下的绩效主义政绩观，更好地推动各级政府部门“眼睛向下”。另一方面，这一观念聚焦“过程性”，在很大程度上修正了“以结果论英雄”的行政发包制局限，有利于提升环境监管的科学化、规范化与精细化水平。

Third, the systematic nature of the international spatial structure of the ecological environment. At the international level, General Secretary Xi Jinping, focusing on the common well-being of all

其次，全过程推进生产关系的绿色化。马克思主义唯物史观将社会关系归结为生产关系，就其内容而言，包含着生产、流通、消费、分配四个环节。伴随中国特色社会主义进入新时代，生态文明建设的核心要旨在于生产关系的绿色转型，即在实践的王国中大力建构和完善绿色化的生产体系、流通体系、消费体系、分配体系。习近平总书记指出，“要坚持和贯彻新发展理念，正确处理经济发展和生态环境保护的关系，像保护眼睛一样保护生态环境，像对待生命一样对待生态环境，坚决摒弃损害甚至破坏生态环境的发展模式，坚决摒弃以牺牲生态环境换取一时一地经济增长的做法，让良好生态环境成为人民生活的增长点、成为经济社会持续健康发展的支撑点”。

Finally, the whole process ensures the continuity of civilizational evolution. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that “a sound ecology is vital to the prosperity of civilization. We must stand high on the responsibility of human civilization, respect nature, follow nature’s ways, and protect nature, exploring a path of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.” From the synchronous resonance of material civilization and cultural-ethical progress, to the prominent display of the strengths of political civilization and social civilization, and then to the rapid improvement of the level of ecological civilization construction, the modern civilization of the Chinese nation is by no means a static existence; it is always in a process of dynamic evolution and development, with its connotation constantly deepening and its extension constantly expanding. This iterative effect not only presents the new characteristics of ecological civilization as a higher form of civilization but also shapes a complete, coupled whole-process governance view. The whole-process governance view is a kind of ecological strategic thinking that simultaneously takes into account the present and the future, aiming to advance the sustainable evolution of civilizational forms in a stepwise manner through the unified approach of “parallel-type” [6]6 “Parallel-type” (并联式) refers to China’s approach of pursuing industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization simultaneously, rather than sequentially as in the Western model. and greening (ecologization).

最后，全过程保证文明演进的持续性。习近平总书记多次强调，“生态兴则文明兴。我们要站在对人类文明负责的高度，尊重自然、顺应自然、保护自然，探索人与自然和谐共生之路”。从物质文明和精神文明的同频共振，到政治文明和社会文明的优势张扬，再到生态文明建设水平的快速提升，中华民族现代文明绝非静态性存在，而是始终处于动态演进和发展过程之中，其内涵不断深化、外延不断扩展。这种迭代效应既呈现出生态文明作为更高级文明形态的全新特质，还形塑了一套完整的、耦合式的全过程治理观。全过程治理观是一种同时兼顾当前与未来的生态战略性思维，旨在依托“并联式”和绿色化（生态化）相统一的方式梯次推进文明形态的可持续演进。

Looking at the overall picture, these three aspects are mutually coupled and mutually confirmed, forming a benignly interactive, whole-process, through-type procedural chain, avoiding the “modernization trap” of the West’s “pollute first, treat later” approach.

综观纵览，这三个方面相互耦合、相互确认，形成了良性互动的全过程贯通式的程序链条，避免了西方先污染后治理的“现代化陷阱”。

Source: *Chinese Scholarly Circle*, July 26, 2024

文章来源：《中国学派》2024年7月26日

Online editor: Jing Mu

网络编辑：静穆