<Back>

Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region People’s Government’s Notice of the Approval of Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region Development Planning Committee’s Bill for Implementing the Pilot Project of Ecological Immigration and Help-The-Poor Relocation

The “Tenth Five Years Plan” is the specific period of implementing the country’s Western Development strategy. In this period, combining with the environmental development, help-the-poor exploitation and urbanization development, our region shall implement a pilot project of ecological immigration and help-the-poor relocation, in accordance with the focal point of state investment, to improve farmers and herders’ living condition and production mode by strengthening rural pasture areas’ infrastructure development, in order to increase farmers and herders’ income and improve the quality of life of farmers and herders. For this purpose, following opinions are raised.

1.      Necessity of implementing the pilot projects of ecological immigration and help-the-poor relocation

Inner Mongolia, located in the mother nation’s northern border, stretching across the 3 vast areas, north east, northern China and north west, is one of the most important ecological defences in the north of our country. However, for long period, because of the impact of various factors, there occurred serious ecological destructions. According to statistics, approximately 60% of the whole region’s territory has become desert, and the desert is expanding with the speed of 100 million Mu ( 6.7 million hectare ) per year. Although the nation has strengthened our region’s ecological development since 1998, the artificial plantation of such a vast deserts is hardly being effective in a short term. Therefore, the “Encircling, Flying and Creating” measure shall be taken to speed up the ecological restoration in accordance with the policy of development-protection-equally-important and give-priority-to-protection. Meanwhile, farmer’s and herder’s households who are living in extremely bad ecological environments, serious water shortage areas, natural preservation zones and livestock prohibition areas shall be relocated to urban areas or water and soil resource relatively better areas. Practices proved that this is an effective way to restore ecological balances and to help the poverty-stricken farmer and herders to overcome poverty and achieve prosperity.

According to statistics, until the end of 2000, there were still 800,000 extremely poverty-stricken population and 3 million unsteady poverty-stricken population who are living in our region’s old liberation areas, minority areas, frontier areas and poverty areas, needed to be helped. Most of this population are living in desert areas and serious water shortage areas, and some of the areas even have lost the most basic living condition of human beings. If we carry out the help-the-poor on the spot, not only is the cost extremely huge but also in fact is it hard to help the poverty-stricken masses to completely overcome poverty and achieve prosperity. Therefore, in accordance with local conditions, steadily and effectively carrying out the project of ecological immigration and help-the-poor relocation is the only effective way to relieve the pressure of population on the move-out areas and give rest to the ecological environment; on the other hand, population transfer into the move-in areas and urbanization will help switching the production mode, improving intensive farming, developing highly productive agricultural and animal husbandry industries, fostering new economical growth, and motivating the second and third industries’ development. This kind of immigration mode not only could largely reduce the cost of investment for infrastructure development and help improve immigrants’ quality of life but also will extend the internal market demands and stimulate the economical growth so that farmers and herders’ income will be increased, local economy will be developed, and farmers and herders will get rid of poverty quickly.

2.      The general idea of implementing the pilot project of ecological immigration and help-the-poor relocation

In accordance with the policy of planning as a whole, adapting to local conditions, seeking truth from facts, giving different guidance after categorizing, and implementing step by step, we shall adhere to the principles of move-out and keep-stable to stipulate supporting policies and speed up the immigration work to reach the goal of sustainable development strategy of returning move-out areas green and making move-in areas rich.

In accordance with the idea mentioned above, combining the Autonomous Region’s actual situation, implementation of the pilot project of ecological immigration and help-the-poor relocation shall adhere to “three principles” and carry out “six combinations”.

Three Principles

1). We shall adhere to the principle of guiding the masses along the policies and encouraging the masses’ volunteer relocation. Various areas concerned shall stipulate preferential policies devoted to the immigrants and relocatee’s residential status, housing and infrastructure, land transfer, issuance of collective land registration certificate, small business and private enterprise registration, and taxation in accordance with the state and autonomous region’s related regulations. Meanwhile, we shall strengthen the propaganda to do the ideological social work deeply, meticulously, and realistically on the immigration and relocation issues. We shall carry out the immigration work steadily through policy guidance and interest motivation under the centralized guidance of various level of governments. During the whole process period, we shall respect the masses’ will of active and volunteer involvement of the relocation, and shall stress that settling the masses in comfortable live is the key point of the project.

2). We shall adhere to the principle of relocating in flexible and diversified forms and emphasizing practical results. Various related areas shall adopt individualization methods to solve the immigration problems in accordance with different situations. We shall not use “rigid uniformity” and “single type of regulation”. However, during the process of actual operation, we shall follow the policy to create and enlarge immigration towns as far as possible, and shall accomplish it at one move to avoid the second relocation. To the scattered population, we shall adopt a one-shot method to relocate them quickly and economically; to the concentrated population, in order to provide the immigrants with the most basic living condition, various areas concerned shall construct infrastructures in the resettlement areas by implementing a systematic method of “exploitation-first relocation-second”. In order to ensure the immigrants’ ability to self-independence, self-support, and self-development, the relocation shall be carried out after the most basic living condition is satisfied in the resettlement areas. 

3). We shall adhere to the principle of unified planning, rational distribution, active and safe on-the-spot solution. Various areas concerned shall focus on scientific planning, overall development, rational distribution, and long-term benefit to solve the current poverty in accordance with the local areas’ natural and geographical conditions and the demands of socio-economical development. Also, we shall consider the sustainable development of population, resource and environment to leave a space for future’s development and shall rationally define the scale and range of immigration. Henceforth, in principle, immigrants shall be resettled within the League ( Meng ), Banner ( Qi ) and County ( Xian ). However, if necessary, trans-League and trans-City immigration shall be carried out after the League and City’s application of this type immigration is approved by the Autonomous Region People’s Government.

Six Combination

1). Immigration work shall be combined with the arrangement of production structure. The Autonomous Region’s policy of the arrangement of production structure in agricultural and animal husbandry areas is to strengthen the large scale of intensive agriculture, improve the quality of characteristic agriculture, widen non-agricultural industries, to increase farmers and herders’ income. We shall fully recognize that, in fact, the immigration project is the most important part of production structure arrangement. Our region has extremely rich resources of farmland, grassland, forest, water, and uncultivated land and mountain. Because of our region’s sparse population and vast land, there are more space for future practices. Through population transfer within the region, optimizing the allocation of essential productive factors, shortening the production line of agricultural and animal husbandry, switching the management mode, creating conditions to help the immigrants to develop high quality, highly productive, and highly effective agricultural and animal husbandry industries, developing agricultural and animal by-product processing industries and circulation service industries, is the most effective long term and steady way to improve farmers and herders’ income.

2). Immigration work shall be combined with urbanization. In order to rationally distribute the regional economy, to some villages where living and production conditions are poor and hardly develop concentrated infrastructure constructions due to the scattered population distribution, we shall develop the concentrated towns as the center of local economy, politics, culture, technology, and social service, in accordance with urbanization plans, and shall make the immigration towns as a solder between urban economy and rural economy to strengthen the collective effects, expand the space of second and third industrial development, and solve the long-remained contradiction of dual economy to establish a sound and sustainable regional economy.

3). Immigration work shall be combined with the “five-unobstructed project”. The “five-unobstructed project” is a project implemented by the Autonomous Region for enriching the masses. This project has tightly been combined with the immigration project to comprehensively improve rural areas’ living condition.

Unobstructed Electricity Project

In concentrated residential resettlement areas, an electrical net work shall be set up; in relatively scattered residential resettlement areas, a wind-power or solar-power system shall be set up.

Unobstructed Traffic Project

In population and residents concentrated administrative areas, traffic ways shall be built up.

Unobstructed Telephone Project

Telephone access problems of farmers and herders shall be solved by using cable, wireless and satellite communications.

Unobstructed TV and Broadcast Project

Combining with the “every village is connected” project, we shall give a priority to the relatively population concentrated immigration resettlement areas.

Unobstructed Water Project

We shall consider the water usage of both human and livestock to evaluate water and land resources. Resettlement areas shall be given priority to meet the safe drinking water criteria. If possible, unified water supply shall be provided.

4). Immigration work shall be combined with social infrastructure. We shall emphasize social infrastructures such as education, culture, medical service, family planning, and technical service to improve the immigrants’ life quality and educational level. During the implementation of the relocation, we shall consider the problems of social infrastructures such as elementary and middle school, basic level entertainment station, basic level medical station, family planning service station, basic level technical service station. Meantime, we shall properly contract and concentrate elementary schools, middle schools, and service stations at basic level in accordance with the policy of replacing villages into towns. Quality of the services shall be improved in accordance with the general regional distribution plan and local development situation.

5). Immigration work shall be combined with the fairly well-off housing program. Immigrants housing development shall be combined with the fairly well-off housing program adhering to the principle of “plan first and develop gradually”. Resettlement areas’ construction plan shall be carried out by units who have rich experience of planning to improve the overall level of construction plan. Planning shall emphasize the rational distribution, perfect function, complete set of equipment, and shall consider the factors of electricity, communication, water supply, water drain off, traffic, environment, national characteristics and so on. In order to meet the fairly well-off criteria and economical development demands, we shall guide immigrants to build their houses in accordance with the fairly well-off residential design.

6). Immigration work shall be combined with environmental development. We shall properly resettle the households and livestock who need to be relocated from the livestock prohibition areas in accordance with the request of environmental development. We shall strictly carry out the environmental development in the moved-out areas, meantime, shall combine immigration projects with environmental protection and restoration projects in the resettlement areas, and shall give priority to bring the population who need to be relocated from the grass-and-forest-returning areas, livestock prohibition areas, seriously desertificated areas, and serious soil erosion areas, into line with the immigration plan.

3.      Organizational Implementation of the Pilot Project of Ecological Immigration and Help-The-Poor Relocation

1). To carefully design the immigration plan

Because of the vast territory and different local situations of our region, carefully designing the immigration plan is the key link of successful implementation of the pilot immigration project. In the light of general idea of the Autonomous Region, various areas and cities concerned shall size up situations, raise funds, make plans, and adopt measures in accordance with the local environmental development and the masses’ production demands. The Autonomous Region shall design a comprehensive immigration plan for the whole region in accordance with various Leagues ( Meng ) and Cities’ ( Shi ) overall plan of land use and other related plan. In terms of the way of project fund raising, we shall adhere to the principle of relaying mainly on immigrants’ own efforts, enlisting the state aid as a supplement, seeking the truth from facts, implementing actively and steadily but avoiding unrealistic and headlong rush into mass action. State investment shall mainly be used for development of basic living condition, infrastructure, and production start-up.

2). To strengthen the cooperation of authorities concerned and social services

First of all, we shall fully utilize the funds on hand in the light of the pilot project “six combination” idea. For example, the project of developing agricultural network, project of human and livestock water use, project of mending road by using surplus labor, project of providing every village with services of radio broadcasts and TV, project of environmental development, project of saving water for irrigation, project of popularizing 9-year compulsory education, project of comprehensive agricultural development shall be combined with ecological immigration and help-the-poor relocation works. Taking the Autonomous Region’s whole situation into account, various authorities concerned shall actively cooperate during the implementation in accordance with their actual situation.

We shall speed up the development of rural areas’ social service system. First, shall emphasize the popularization of agricultural techniques and the combination of material and techniques to develop high quality, highly productive, and highly effective agricultural and animal husbandry industries; second, shall emphasize the development of agricultural and animal by-product circulation system to exchange information, organize the product transportation and sales, to provide farmer households with an overall production services; third, shall emphasize the development of quality standardization of agricultural and animal husbandry by-product to produce high quality, characteristic, and pollution-free products. Meantime, we shall give a bitter strike to fake and substandard products, and shall provide farmers and herders with timely and accurate information to guide their production arrangement through the market demands in order to let them benefit from the project.

3). To meticulously organize immigration plan and implementation

The ecological immigration and help-the-poor relocation is a policy directly related to immigrants’ immediate interest. Therefore, we must strengthen the project guidance and administration. Banners ( Qi ) and Counties ( Xian ) shall become the main area of immigration project, and the goals, tasks, funds, and responsibilities shall truly become practicable at Banner and County level. The administrative top leader at Banner and County level shall become the first person who is responsible for the implementation of immigration project.

Sumu ( Su mu ), Village ( Xiang ), Township ( Zhen ), and Gachaa ( Ga cha ) shall become concrete implementation units. Ideological social work to the masses shall be done well for organizing the masses and motivating the masses to avoid forceful implementation. Authorities concerned must closely cooperate for the three-level plan at Autonomous Region level, League and City level, and Banner and County level to allocate the responsibility of actual implementation to households, individuals to ensure that the immigration project will be successfully carried out. Immigration project proposals at Banner ( Qi ) and County ( Xian ) level shall be evaluated by the authorities concerned at League ( Meng ) and City ( Shi ) level and finally shall be approved by the Autonomous Region Development Planning Committee.

Before the approval of the proposal of ecological immigration and help-the-poor relocation, professional and technical issues, shall be discussed and testified by the professional institutions, especially the evaluation of water and land resources shall be in detail and reliable to ensure the project is not obstructed and not repeated. We shall form an idea of “ ensuring the best quality for the long-range project”, holding our responsible to the country, to the masses, and to the coming generations, to properly handle the relationship between ecological benefits, social benefits, and economical benefits, ultimately to reach the strategical goal of “developing the region and enriching the people”.

At the current stage, in the light of the general idea mentioned above, Leagues ( Meng ) and Cities ( Shi ) concerned shall guide and organize the related authorities to design a proposal for the pilot project of immigration at Banner ( Qi ) and County ( Xian ) level and shall submit it to the Autonomous Region Development Planning Committee by the end of July 2001.

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Information Center  

August 29, 2001

<Back>