China’s natural resources are categorized into those owned by the entire people (or the state) and those owned collectively. Governments at all levels play a dominant role in the development, utilization, and management of these natural resources. As reform continues to deepen, ownership, usage rights, and supervisory powers over China’s natural resources have gradually been separated, a market for natural resource assets has begun to take shape, and the system for overseeing and managing natural resources has undergone several transformations.

　　Currently, China's natural resource asset management system exhibits... 5 A characteristic:

　　First, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws, a system has been universally established for state ownership and collective ownership of natural resources, as well as various forms of usage rights.

　　Second, the law establishes that state ownership is represented by the State Council, while governments at all levels and relevant resource management departments specifically exercise responsibilities for asset management and administrative supervision.

　　Third, a system for confirming and registering property rights over natural resources—including land, forests, minerals, and marine areas—has been established, providing a fundamental guarantee for legally protecting the rights of owners and users.

　　Fourth, promote market-oriented reforms in areas such as land, forestry, minerals, and marine resources. Building on the establishment of a system for paid use of natural resources, gradually introduce market-based trading mechanisms for the granting and transfer of resource rights.

　　Fifth, some regions are actively exploring new models for the management of state-owned natural resource assets, establishing specialized asset operation and management institutions as well as professional market trading platforms for natural resource assets such as state-owned land and mineral resources.

　　Under the current basic system of state and collective ownership of natural resources, clear agency rights or trust management rights are crucial components for realizing ownership. Therefore, the author suggests establishing a comprehensive and well-defined system of resource ownership, agency rights, and trust management rights, clearly specifying at which level of government, department, or institution each type of resource—whether owned by the entire people or by the state—is assigned for agency or management. The “Overall Plan for Reform of the Ecological Civilization System” proposes improving the property rights system for natural resource assets and has already clarified the scope of agency rights exercised by the central government. Specifically, the central government directly exercises ownership over such resources as oil and natural gas, precious and rare mineral resources, key state-owned forest areas, major rivers, lakes, and transboundary waterways, ecologically significant wetlands and grasslands, marine areas and tidal flats, rare wild flora and fauna species, and certain national parks. At present, however, the scope of agency rights exercised by governments at the provincial level and below still requires further clarification.

　　To this end, the author suggests continuing to carry out unified registration and confirmation of property rights over natural resource assets and establishing a tiered system of property rights agency. Building on the completion of unified real estate registration, we should gradually integrate the functions of various departments in determining and confirming property rights over different natural resource assets into the registration authorities. Once the conditions for defining and verifying property rights over environmental and resource assets are met, these assets should also be incorporated into the real estate registration system. On this basis, we should progressively establish a legal framework for the tiered agency of state-owned resource ownership by both the central and local governments, clearly specifying the particular objects and scope of authority for each level of government acting as agent or trustee. This will help minimize the risks and inefficiencies inherent in asset custody. “ Agency problem ”。

　　Given the significant differences in the nature and characteristics of various natural resources, after establishing a unified management system for natural resource assets, the author believes that the key lies in conducting a rational classification of these assets, clearly defining their purposes and functional roles, as well as their management principles.

　　Currently, the national and local planning for functional zones as well as related spatial plans and zoning schemes have largely defined the functions and uses of different regions. Building on these functional zones, it is necessary to classify natural resource assets according to their socio-economic attributes—such as whether they are public-benefit or commercially operated. One category comprises public-benefit assets, including special ecological protection areas like nature reserves, scenic spots, national geoparks, national forest parks, and public welfare forests, as well as various types of government-owned public land. The other category consists of commercially operated assets, which include commercially developable construction land, agricultural production land, and resources such as economic forests and minerals. Among these, certain resources used for public purposes—such as basic farmland—may be subject to stringent administrative controls and treated as special commercially operated assets. Based on these two major categories of natural resource assets and their socio-economic attributes, we should establish corresponding management systems and implement distinct management objectives, principles, and institutional frameworks.

　　From the perspective of basic objectives and management principles, various commercially operated natural resource assets—such as commercially usable construction land, mineral resources, and forest resources—that primarily serve to supply market products generally possess relatively complete rights of possession, use, benefit, and disposal. The fundamental purpose of managing these assets is to promote the development of related industries and generate corresponding national income, including revenues from direct asset transfers as well as tax revenues generated by the growth of these industries. For those assets that should be managed and operated using market-based approaches, their transfer and assignment must comply with market norms. As for certain natural resource assets—such as cultivated land and its designated basic farmland—that are primarily used for commercial purposes but are subject to stringent restrictions on their use due to national security and public interest, they require management objectives and principles that emphasize multifunctional utilization. Such assets should be managed and operated through a combination of public administrative measures and market mechanisms, with strict controls imposed on their intended uses. (Author: Wang Fengchun; Affiliation: Environmental and Resource Protection Committee of the National People's Congress)