CCTV News: Small watersheds are the basic unit of soil erosion and also the management unit of water source protection. The reporter learned from the Beijing Municipal Water Affairs Bureau that after continuous construction, as of now, Beijing has a total of 466 small ecologically clean watersheds, with a soil and water conservation rate of nearly 90%. The franchise and use rights for the pilot project of ecologically clean small river basin will be transferred for the first time. The economic benefits generated will continue to be invested in water ecological protection, while also helping to build rural areas in the river basin.

In the Balidian ecologically clean small river basin in Yanqing, Beijing, the tall and dense ecological forests and clear river water form an ecological picture of forests and water dependence.

Wang Weiye, director of the Water Affairs Bureau of Yanqing District, Beijing, introduced that Yanqing has abundant water resources and over the years, they have continued to carry out systematic governance of the water ecology of the basin. In 2024, Yanqing's soil and water conservation rate reached nearly 90%.

Recently, Beijing announced the first batch of pilot projects for realizing the value of soil and water conservation ecological products and held a signing ceremony. As one of the pilot projects, the local government introduced social capital and sold the franchise and use rights of Balidian Ecological Cleaning Small Watershed in the next six years to third parties as ecological products. On the premise of protecting the ecology, develop agricultural, cultural and tourism business in an orderly manner to promote farmers' income and employment.

The contract amount of the project reached 10.44 million yuan, which will benefit more than 3,800 local villagers. 70% of the transaction amount will be used for subsequent river basin ecological governance, and 30% will be used to improve the appearance of the village.

At the same time, the pilot projects announced this time also include the Hongluo Valley ecological clean watershed in Fangshan District. We will build an agricultural tourism complex integrating ecological agricultural tourism, picking, homestays and catering, broaden the path to realizing the value of ecological products, and provide strong support for rural revitalization.

Liu Dagen, director of the Water Conservation and Ecological Department of Beijing Water Affairs Bureau, introduced that through the transformation of ecological products' value, part of the economic benefits can be realized. At the same time, it feeds back environmental protection, achieves a virtuous cycle, and promotes sustainable development of regional economic and social.

In the next step, Beijing plans to continue to explore and improve the value realization path of government-led, enterprises and all sectors of society, market-oriented operation, and sustainable aquatic ecological products, and build a more powerful support system for the realization of ecological products.