The Ecological Protection Red Line

Survey

The ecological protection red line in Lishui is drawn in more than one set of figures, differing in year, issuing body and scope. This entry sets them all side by side, choosing none and adding none.

The 2020 figure comes from the Lishui District Finance Bureau's 2020 Performance Self-Assessment Report on Jiangsu Provincial Transfer Payments for Key Ecological Function Areas (25 January 2021), made under the Jiangsu Provincial Plan for Ecological Space Control Areas (Su Zheng Fa [2020] No. 1): four national-level ecological red-line areas totalling 204.4 sq km, and ten provincial-level ecological space areas totalling 248.41 sq km. The four national-level areas are: the Wuxiang Mountain national-level forest park, 20.72; the Shijiu Lake (Lishui District) important wetland, 88.78; the Zhongshan Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 44.56; and the Fangbian Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 50.34, in sq km. The ten provincial-level areas are: the Donglu Mountain Scenic Area, 72.74; the Tiansheng Bridge Scenic Area, 1.27; the Laoyaba Reservoir drinking water source conservation area, 10.41; the Zheshantou Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 3.05; the Zheshantou Reservoir water source conservation area, 13.77; the Yaojia Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 4.27; the Yaojia Reservoir water source conservation area, 13.04; the Shijiu Lake (Lishui District) Scenic Area, 113.77; the Qinhuai River (Lishui District) flood storage area, 3.05; and the Lishui District ecological public welfare forest, 13.04, in sq km. The report lists the national-level ecological protection red line and the provincial-level ecological space control areas in two columns, which do not overlap.

The territorial spatial master plan figure (2021-2035): the public version of the Territorial Spatial Master Plan of Lishui District, Nanjing (2021-2035) records five ecological protection red-line areas in the district, totalling 119.7322 sq km and covering nature reserves (forest parks, wetland parks) and drinking water source protection areas. The People's Government of Jiangsu Province's reply approving the territorial spatial master plans (2021-2035) of seven districts of Nanjing, including Lishui (Su Zheng Fu [2025] No. 3, 24 February 2025), records that by 2035 the ecological protection red line of Lishui District shall be no less than 119.7322 sq km. The reply gives no breakdown by area, and the composition of the five must be taken from the body of the public version.

The ecological space control-area optimisation plan figure: the Plan for Evaluation and Optimization of Ecological Space Control Areas in Lishui District (draft for comment, September 2025) records nineteen ecological space control areas issued to Lishui District by the provincial natural resources department, totalling 17,392.1123 ha, of which 17,367.0598 ha lie in Lishui District and 25.0525 ha cross into it from other districts; the plan also records a current ecological protection red line in Lishui District of 49,679.9381 ha, of which areas of extremely high ecological protection importance make up 42,822.1744 ha (86.20 per cent), important areas 6,680.6103 ha (13.45 per cent) and former generally important areas 177.1534 ha (0.35 per cent). The plan's basis includes the Jiangsu Provincial Plan for the National Ecological Protection Red Line (Su Zheng Fa [2018] No. 74) and the Jiangsu Provincial Plan for Ecological Space Control Areas (Su Zheng Fa [2020] No. 1).

The ecological protection red line and ecological space control areas are two different figures and may not be conflated. The 2020 figure lists them in two non-overlapping columns; the five areas of the master plan and the nineteen of the optimisation plan likewise differ in scope. Adding the two 2020 columns, or adding either to the other two sets of figures, does not hold.

The relation to the district's features, taken on the red-line side and the control-area side. On the red-line side: the Wuxiang Mountain national-level forest park (20.72 sq km of national-level red line in 2020); Shijiu Lake (the "Shijiu Lake (Lishui District) important wetland", 88.78 sq km of national-level red line in 2020, and the Lishui District Culture and Tourism Bureau's 2022 reply records that 88.78 sq km within Lishui District is national-level red-line range); the Zhongshan Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 44.56 sq km, and the Fangbian Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 50.34 sq km, both on the 2020 figure. On the control-area side: the Donglu Mountain Scenic Area, 72.74; the Tiansheng Bridge Scenic Area, 1.27; the Shijiu Lake (Lishui District) Scenic Area, 113.77; the Qinhuai River (Lishui District) flood storage area, 3.05; the Lishui District ecological public welfare forest, 13.04; and the water source conservation areas and protection areas of the Laoyaba, Zheshantou and Yaojia reservoirs, all on the 2020 figure. The culture and tourism bureau's 2022 reply records that the Shijiu Lake provincial ecological control area adds part of the inland range on top of the national-level red-line range, reaching 113.17 sq km.

The Lishui District Water Development 13th Five-Year Plan records that the drinking-water function areas of Fangbian, Zhongshan, Laoyaba, Yaojia and Zheshantou and their upstream catchments were brought into the district's ecological red-line control area, with an ecological compensation mechanism; the list has five reservoirs and not Wolong Reservoir.

The optimisation plan also records a current natural reserved land area in Lishui District of 13,730.3490 ha, including Dongping Lake 571.3802, Shijiu Lake 11,175.2253 and Wuxiang Mountain 1,983.7435 ha, and records that all three natural reserved land areas "have been included within the ecological protection red line of Lishui District". This is the natural reserved land figure, not the red-line area figure, and this entry records only the wording.

On control requirements, the public sources give no complete list of provisions, so this entry does not set them out item by item and records only two instances and one case of overlap. The environmental impact report for the Changle Agricultural Park river water environment improvement project in Dongping Subdistrict records that the project lies 5.98 km from the grade II control area of the Donglu Mountain Scenic Area and 5.85 km from the grade I control area of the Zhongshan Reservoir–Fangbian Reservoir drinking water source protection area; the two grades of control area appear in that document. The optimisation plan records that the district's current permanent basic farmland of 21,410.0297 ha overlaps the ecological space control areas by 3,104.3033 ha, and that the current public welfare forest of 7,522.9906 ha overlaps the designated results by 4,011.3103 ha. On funding, in 2020 the district received 54.1 million yuan in provincial and municipal transfer payments for ecological red-line areas, used to close or remove 29 livestock and poultry pollution and agricultural non-point-source pollution projects and two polluting industrial enterprises, and for ecological restoration of important water bodies (Lishui District Finance Bureau, 25 January 2021).

Periods and areas

This entry is not divided by period: the three sets of figures are designations in different years and different documents, not the evolution of a single red line over the years, and the sources give no comparable basis for dating changes in the red line itself. It is divided two ways, by figure and by scope.

By figure, all three side by side:

• The 2020 figure (district finance bureau, 25 January 2021, under Su Zheng Fa [2020] No. 1): four national-level ecological red-line areas, 204.4 sq km; ten provincial-level ecological space areas, 248.41 sq km.
• The territorial spatial master plan figure (public version, February 2025; Su Zheng Fu [2025] No. 3 gives "no less than" as a floor): five areas, 119.7322 sq km.
• The ecological space control-area optimisation plan figure (draft for comment, September 2025): nineteen ecological space control areas, 17,392.1123 ha; a current ecological protection red line of 49,679.9381 ha.

By scope, the key distinction:

• The ecological protection red line: four areas in 2020 (national level, 204.4 sq km) and five areas in the master plan (119.7322 sq km).
• Ecological space control areas: ten areas in 2020 (provincial level, 248.41 sq km) and nineteen in the optimisation plan (17,392.1123 ha). The two do not overlap and differ in scope; they may not be added into an "area of ecological land in the district".

By relation to the district's features, each class attached to a feature:

• Mountains and forest: the Wuxiang Mountain national-level forest park (20.72 sq km of national-level red line in 2020; natural reserved land at Wuxiang Mountain, 1,983.7435 ha, in the optimisation plan); the Lishui District ecological public welfare forest (13.04 sq km of provincial-level control area in 2020).
• Lakes and wetland: Shijiu Lake (88.78 sq km of the national-level red line "Shijiu Lake (Lishui District) important wetland" and 113.77 sq km of the provincial-level control area "Shijiu Lake (Lishui District) Scenic Area" in 2020; natural reserved land at Shijiu Lake, 11,175.2253 ha, in the optimisation plan); Dongping Lake (natural reserved land 571.3802 ha in the optimisation plan).
• Reservoirs and water sources: the Zhongshan Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 44.56, and the Fangbian Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 50.34 (2020 national-level red line); the Laoyaba Reservoir drinking water source conservation area, 10.41, the Zheshantou Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 3.05, the Zheshantou Reservoir water source conservation area, 13.77, the Yaojia Reservoir drinking water source protection area, 4.27, and the Yaojia Reservoir water source conservation area, 13.04 (2020 provincial-level control areas).
• Scenic areas and flood storage: the Donglu Mountain Scenic Area, 72.74; the Tiansheng Bridge Scenic Area, 1.27; the Qinhuai River (Lishui District) flood storage area, 3.05 (2020 provincial-level control areas).

Open questions

• The three sets of figures differ in year and scope and may not be conflated: the 2020 figure (204.4 sq km in four areas plus 248.41 sq km in ten), the territorial spatial master plan figure (119.7322 sq km in five areas) and the ecological space control-area optimisation plan figure (17,392.1123 ha in nineteen areas; a current red line of 49,679.9381 ha). This entry chooses none and adds none.
• "No less than 119.7322 sq km" (Su Zheng Fu [2025] No. 3) is a binding floor set in a provincial reply, not a measured area for any year, and the words "no less than" must be kept; the reply gives no breakdown by area, and the composition of the five must be taken from the body of the public version of the master plan.
• The ecological protection red line and ecological space control areas may not be conflated: the 2020 figure lists them in two non-overlapping columns, and the five areas of the master plan and the nineteen of the optimisation plan differ in scope, so they are not one set of numbers.
• The current ecological protection red line of 49,679.9381 ha (optimisation plan, September 2025) is far larger than the 119.7322 sq km of the master plan figure; this entry records the wording as it stands, does not explain the difference on the plan's behalf, and does not rewrite other figures from it.
• The optimisation plan is a draft for comment and may not be written up as "approved"; its nineteen areas are a figure awaiting correction, and the plan itself states that the issued results are inconsistent with the statutory ranges (the Donglu Mountain, Tiansheng Bridge and Shijiu Lake scenic areas are not statutory protected areas), so it may not be treated as a settled list.
• The 88.78 sq km "important wetland" and the 113.77 sq km "scenic area" at Shijiu Lake are two statuses of the same lake and may not be added into an area for Shijiu Lake; the culture and tourism bureau's 113.17 and the finance bureau's 113.77 differ, and the two are recorded side by side without being reconciled.
• The 2020 figure comes from a finance bureau funding-performance document, not from an ecological regulator, and the culture and tourism bureau's 2022 reply is likewise not from an ecological regulator; both must be cited with their issuing body and year.
• No complete list of ecological protection red-line control provisions has been verified in public sources, so this entry does not set them out item by item; the two phrases "grade II control area" and "grade I control area" come from the Dongping Subdistrict environmental impact report and serve only as an instance, not as a basis for control grades across the district.
• The three sets of figures use sq km, sq km and hectares; this entry keeps the units of the originals and does not convert them.
• The Periods and areas section sets out no periods in time: the sources give no comparable basis for dating changes in the red line itself, and every year in the body is a document year.