Analysis of Foreign Natural Resources Management Mode and Choice Motivation

This article was originally published in the second issue of Land and Resources Information in 2005.

Throughout the management of natural resources in various countries, they have generally experienced passive, "late" and dispute-solving management, gradually rationalized and gradually entered active, "leading" scientific and legal management. Although countries have different levels of economic and social development and different institutional choices, they all attach great importance to the management of resources and have special departments and institutions to manage one or several types of natural resources. Based on the investigation and analysis of the establishment, function performance and evolution trend of some national resource management institutions, this paper puts forward three modes of natural resource management, namely centralized management, relatively centralized management and decentralized management; In order to deeply understand the management of a certain resource, this paper selects land, mineral, marine and forest resources for a more specific analysis, and some countries involve the management of water and grassland resources.

1 foreign natural resource management model

A comprehensive survey of natural resources management in various countries shows that it is difficult to find a country with exactly the same resource management methods because of the differences in resources themselves, management systems and development levels of various countries. That is to say, no matter what kind of country, we can't find a country that manages all kinds of natural resources in an absolutely centralized way, nor can we find a country that manages all kinds of natural resources in a decentralized way. Therefore, the centralized management mode and decentralized management mode mentioned in this paper are relative.

1. 1 centralized management mode and its characteristics

The centralized management mode is that the main resources such as land, minerals, oceans and forests are managed by a department of the central government in a unified, comprehensive and coordinated manner. For example, the United States, Canada, Russia and other countries implement a centralized management model. The land, minerals and forests in the United States are (in part) under the centralized and unified management of the Ministry of the Interior; Minerals, forests and land in Canada are (partly) managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Russia's minerals, oceans and environment are managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The characteristics of centralized management mode are as follows:

Asymptotic property of (1) process. This is related to the understanding and utilization of various natural resources. In the early stage of the development of human history, even in most modern times, because there are few people living on the earth, few land and many people, and rich resources, the human demand for nature is very limited, which is inexhaustible. With the progress of society and the increase of population, the balance between man and nature is gradually broken, and the use of some scarce resources needs to be controlled and managed, and the types of scarce resources will increase with the continuous expansion of social demand. In order to reduce the cost of resource management and improve management efficiency, it is inevitable to implement centralized management. In addition, there are internal relations between various resources, such as forests growing on land and minerals buried underground. Obviously, management activities such as forest cultivation and logging cannot be separated from land management. The development of minerals is not based on the possession and use of land. Therefore, it is the general trend that the coordination and comprehensive management of various resources gradually move towards centralization.

(2) the adequacy of resources. Resource development plays an important role in earning foreign exchange through export, increasing employment and stabilizing the economy. For example, the output of natural gas, copper and zinc mines in the United States ranks first in the world, second in coal production and third in oil production. The reserves of iron ore, potassium salt, phosphate and sulfur are among the highest in the world. Other minerals include lead, molybdenum, uranium, bauxite, gold, mercury, nickel, potassium carbonate, silver, tungsten, aluminum and secrets. Another example is Canada, which is also one of the largest exporters of mineral products in the world. 80% of its products are exported, and its rich minerals include more than 60 kinds of gold, silver, copper, uranium, oil, natural gas and coal. The number of people directly employed in the natural resources industry reached 969,000, and there were also 970,000 related indirect service personnel. Investment in natural resources industry accounts for 24% of the country's new investment. It is precisely because of the important role of resource development and utilization in the national economy that the government pays special attention to the resource management department and demands that all kinds of forces be concentrated to coordinate all kinds of relations.

(3) Adaptability of the system. It refers to the management system in which the ownership, disposal and management rights of state-owned resources are basically the same. Centralized management is a part of state-owned resources. The ownership of land, minerals, forests and other resources in the United States and Canada belongs to the federal government, provincial (state) governments and private individuals, and the power of disposal and management is also in three main bodies respectively. Of course, the leading role is still the federal and provincial governments, and the private sector is in a subordinate position.

(4) the driving force for development. Including economic development, industrial level and the improvement of investigation technology. Economic development has increased the scale and types of demand for resources, the improvement of industrialization level has laid the foundation for the comprehensive utilization of resources and the comprehensive benefits of various resources, and the improvement of resource investigation technology has provided conditions for a comprehensive understanding of resources and information services. In addition, the level of marketization and the soundness of social organizations are also the same characteristics of such countries.

1.2 relatively centralized management mode and its characteristics

The relatively centralized management mode refers to the management of land, minerals, oceans, forests, water and other major resources by secondary institutions below the central government ministries or a few specialized central government ministries, which are typical in Britain, France, Germany, Japan and other countries. For example, France's energy and other minerals are under the unified management of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry, real estate is under the unified management of the State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China Real Estate Administration, and marine resources are under the centralized management of the French National Maritime Affairs Secretariat (Song Guoming, The Way of French Land and Resources Management and Industrial Management, Land and Resources Information, No.2, 2004). In Germany, the departments related to natural resources management include the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Economy and Technology, the Ministry of Consumer Protection of Food and Agriculture, and the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development. Federal agencies do not have a separate cabinet-level resource management agency, and resource management agencies such as land, minerals, oceans and water are located in departments or offices within relevant ministries (Fu Qingyun's German Natural Resources Management, Land and Resources Information, No.3, 2004). Japan's resource management organization is mainly the Ministry of Industry and Economy.

The characteristics of relatively centralized management of resources are as follows:

(1) Economic development has a strong demand for various resources. According to the data provided by the United Nations World Energy Statistical Yearbook, in the middle of the 20th century, the world consumed about 3 billion tons of standard fuel every year, reaching 8.7 billion tons of standard fuel by the end of 1970s and jumping to 654.38+0 billion tons of standard fuel in 1980s. It can be seen that the energy consumption of global economic development is gradually increasing. In addition, the research shows that with the improvement of economic development level, the consumption of mineral products per unit GDP decreases, while the per capita consumption of mineral products increases, as shown in figure 1 (Hu Xiaoping, Comparative Analysis of the Relationship between Economic Growth and Resource Consumption in Different Countries in Different Development Periods, Reference of Land and Resources Economic Research, 2003-3-25), and this elasticity coefficient for the intensity of resource demand is very small. It is precisely in the case of strong and even rigid domestic demand that government departments must organize powerful government agencies to expand foreign exchanges, so as to ensure that people's quality of life is not affected or less, and to meet the needs of all aspects of the country to the greatest extent. For example, Japan has set up the Department of Resources and Energy in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which is responsible for the development and management of minerals and energy.

Figure 1 1998 The relationship between per capita GNP and per capita primary energy consumption in different income countries in the world.

(2) Lack of resources and high dependence on imported resources. Countries with highly developed industries, such as Britain, France, Germany in Europe, Japan in Asia and other countries and regions, have experienced years of domestic resource development and low consumption elasticity, with a serious imbalance between supply and consumption, and the dependence of various resources on external supply has gradually increased.

France is not rich in natural resources. Most of the iron ore needed depends on imports; Non-ferrous metal reserves are very small, and almost all of them depend on imports; 99% of oil and 75% of natural gas are imported. The main industrial sectors are mining, metallurgy, automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, machinery manufacturing, textiles, chemicals, electrical appliances, electric power industry, consumer goods industry, food industry and construction industry. Nuclear energy, petrochemical industry, marine development, military industry, aerospace and other emerging industries have developed rapidly. The production capacity of nuclear power equipment, petroleum and petroleum processing technology rank second in the world, second only to the United States (/a/2004-03-24/63254.html).

Another example is Japan, once an exporter of copper, which is rich in lead and zinc and has some big and famous coal mines. However, compared with other countries with the same population in the world, it is relatively poor in terms of total mineral reserves and per capita reserves, especially in terms of energy resources such as oil, coal and uranium. In 200 1 year, Japan was the second largest oil importer in the world, with an oil import of 257.2 million tons and an imported copper concentrate of 1039700 tons. At present, although Japan's energy import rate has decreased, it is still around 80%. Japan's nuclear power accounts for 15% ~ 16% of the total energy supply, but all nuclear fuel is imported.

Germany's economy depends more on foreign countries. The output of agricultural products can only meet half of domestic demand, and oil is almost entirely imported. It is the second largest importer of pipeline natural gas in the world, and other mineral resources are also scarce. In western mining industrial products, Germany's consumption accounts for about 10%, while its own exploitation accounts for only 1%. Except for coal and potassium salt, other mineral resources are either quite short or completely absent.

(3) Coordination agencies have strong communication skills with the government and enterprises. The relatively centralized resource management method makes the communication between departments become the main obstacle, and it is an inevitable choice to play the role of coordinating agency. For example, in Japan, the members of the Comprehensive Investigation Committee on Resources and Energy are appointed by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. Its main function is to investigate and consider policies to ensure the stable and effective supply of energy and mineral resources and promote the effective utilization of resources at the request of the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. To investigate and consider important matters such as oil distribution at the request of the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry or other ministers. This kind of coordination organization understands the situation of enterprises and similar enterprises in the world, which often has a direct impact on the formulation of government policies and plays a good bridge role.

The French Water Resources Management Basin Committee is a legislative and advisory body on basin water conservancy issues. The Committee is composed of water users, local administrative officials, relevant persons of social organizations, especially water conservancy science and technology ecologists. The basin committee is a non-permanent organization, which holds 1 ~ 2 meetings every year and adopts some resolutions to give authoritative opinions on the long-term planning, development and utilization policies and charging schemes of the basin. The local water resources department is actually the executive body of the Committee's resolution. There is a relationship of consultation and restriction between the basin committee and the basin water resources administration. Without the approval of the basin Committee, the water resources project and the financial plan of the water management bureau cannot be implemented. The function of this management model is to strengthen the democratic decision-making of water resources development and utilization.

1.3 Decentralized management mode and its characteristics

Decentralized management means that major resources such as land, minerals, oceans, forests and water are managed by multiple departments of the central government. Brazil, Chile, Mexico and India all belong to this management mode, and India is more typical.

India's minerals, energy, land, water, forests and oceans are all managed by special departments, and forest resources are managed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Some resources are managed by multiple departments. For example, energy resources are managed by the Ministry of Oil and Gas, the Ministry of Coal and Minerals and the non-traditional Ministry of Energy. Land resources are under the responsibility of the Ministry of Rural Development, the Ministry of Urban Development and the Marine Development Bureau respectively; Marine resources mainly involve not only the Marine Development Bureau, but also the Ministry of Coal and Minerals (managing marine mineral resources), the Ministry of Oil and Gas (managing marine petroleum resources), the Ministry of Environment and Forests (managing marine environment) and the Ministry of National Defense (managing water and sewage, underwater structures, etc.). ) and the Geological Bureau of the coastal states. Another example is water resources management. The Ministry of Water Resources is the main department of the federal government, but its management also involves the Ministry of Environment and Forest (water quality management), the Ministry of Rural Development (rural drinking water management), the Ministry of Industry (industrial water management), the Ministry of Electric Power (hydropower management) and the Ministry of Urban Development (urban drinking water management). To sum up, there are 10 federal government departments for natural resources management in India: Ministry of Mining and Coal, Ministry of Oil and Gas, Ministry of Non-traditional Energy, Atomic Energy Bureau, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Urban Development, Marine Development Bureau, Ministry of Environment and Forest and Ministry of Water Resources.

In order to coordinate and manage all kinds of resources, the Brazilian federal government has established the National Commission for Energy, Nuclear Energy, Petroleum, Forest, Reclamation and Land Reform and the National Bureau of Mining Production respectively. Chile has not only a special minister of mining in the cabinet, but also the State Committee of Energy, Copper and Nonferrous Metals (Information Editing Room of International Department of Xinhua News Agency, Handbook of State Institutions, China Foreign Translation and Publishing Company, 1993).

Decentralized management is characterized by:

(1) In developing countries, resource development plays an important role in their own economies. According to the classification standard of the World Bank, developing countries refer to countries with an annual per capita income of less than $70. The consumption of various resources in rapidly industrialized countries is very prominent, and the resource development industry has also made great contributions to the national economy. India, with an area of 65.438+0.6 billion hectares, is an important cotton-producing country and tea-producing country in the world. Rich in mineral resources, bauxite reserves rank fifth in the world, coal production ranks fourth in the world, and mica exports account for 60% of world exports; The forest is 53 million hectares, with a coverage rate of 16%.

Chile's industrial output value accounts for about 35% of GDP, and its employees account for about 25% of the total employed population. The main industrial sectors include food processing and mining, petroleum refining, paper making and chemical industry. Mining industry is the main pillar industry of national economy, and the annual output of copper accounts for about 15% of the world. The main industrial products are petroleum smelting products, crude copper and refined copper, cement, crude steel, pig iron and wine.

Mexico is the world's largest silver producer, accounting for about1/6 of the world's total output; Mining output value accounts for about 5% of GDP.

In South Africa, mining, manufacturing, construction and energy are the four major industrial sectors. The export of mineral products accounts for about 50% of export income, and about 12% of the country's labor force is engaged in mining. Agriculture, forestry and fisheries account for 5% of GDP, and their role in the national economy is decreasing. Export products include gold, metals and metal products, diamonds, food, beverages and tobacco, machinery and transportation equipment. It mainly imports machinery and equipment, transportation equipment, chemical products and petroleum.

(2) It is rich in resources and has the foundation to advance to the advanced stage of industrialization. For example, India has superior natural conditions, and its reserves of coal, iron, manganese, chromium, titanium, magnesite, beryllium, zirconium, thorium, monazite, mica and dolomite are among the highest in the world, and its reserves of oil, natural gas, bauxite, copper, gold, lead and zinc are also abundant. Mexico's reserves of silver, oil, bismuth, cadmium, lead, zinc, copper, mercury, antimony, sulfur, barite, fluorite, strontium, manganese, arsenic, trona and wollastonite rank among the highest in the world.

Chile is rich in mineral, forest and aquatic resources, and its copper reserves rank first in the world, accounting for about 30% of copper resources. In the 1990s, Chile's extractive industry exports accounted for 45% ~ 50% of the country's total exports, of which 82% came from the copper industry, and copper export revenue accounted for 40% of the country (Wu et al., Analysis and Comparative Study on Mining Investment Environment of Several Latin American Countries in China).

South Africa is famous for its rich mineral resources. At present, there are more than 70 kinds of minerals that have been proved and mined. The reserves of gold, platinum group metals, manganese, vanadium, chromium, titanium and aluminosilicate rank first in the world. The reserves of diamonds, asbestos, copper, vanadium, uranium, coal, iron, titanium, mica and lead are also extremely rich. Gold, diamonds, vanadium and manganese are also abundant. Abundant resources, cheap labor and advanced management make South Africa the most economically developed country in Africa today. South Africa is the largest gold producer and exporter in the world, and gold exports account for 1 1% of South Africa's total exports in 200 1 year. However, in recent years, due to the falling price of gold in the international market, platinum group metals have gradually replaced gold as the most important export mineral products. South Africa is also a major diamond producer in the world, accounting for about 8.7% of the world's output. South Africa's De Beers Company is the largest diamond production and sales company in the world, with total assets of $20 billion. Its turnover once accounted for 90% of the world diamond supply market, and it still controls 60% of the world rough diamond trade.

(3) The comprehensive coordination mechanism plays an important role in ensuring the rational development and utilization of resources. Brazil, Chile and other countries listed above have comprehensive coordination committees, which are important coordination institutions to ensure the rational development and utilization of their own resources. India has not set up a special coordinating body for resource utilization and management, but its planning committee, recommendation committee, budget committee and other comprehensive bodies can balance various issues from a macro perspective and play a comprehensive coordinating role when formulating national development plans and annual plans.

(4) The government plays a leading role in resource development and management. Because the economic development is in its infancy, the functions of various organizations have not been fully exerted, especially the production organizations are still moving towards competitive marketization, and there are still many places to be improved. Therefore, the government's guiding and even leading role in the economy is still difficult to quit the stage for a while, and the government's administrative intervention in the economy is a necessary means.

2. Analysis of the reasons for the choice of foreign natural resources management mode.

In the process of choosing opportunities to develop, utilize and protect natural resources, influenced by the level of social development, human beings have completely different choices at different times. The internal reasons for its choice are mainly the improvement of understanding, the needs of economic development and system reform, the needs of management and the improvement of technical level.

2. 1 Raising awareness

The evolution from decentralized management to centralized management is itself a process of understanding, which is more important: the development and protection of resources. The development history of developed capitalist countries has repeatedly proved that at that time, for the sake of economic development, plundering resources at the expense of the environment in exchange for economic development was the same goal.

Take the United States as an example For most of the19th century, the American people thought that land, wood, water, minerals and wildlife resources were inexhaustible, and the government's development and management system of these resources ran counter to people's understanding. The main task of the Ministry of the Interior is to deal with the destruction of forests on public land by private individuals and cooperative companies, and to manage resources purposefully. In the 20th century, the Ministry of the Interior is increasingly committed to reversing the traditional way of treating these natural resources, and advocates rational development under the guidance of science and technology and national laws and regulations, in line with the principle of benefiting society. Farms and irrigation facilities can be leased to private enterprises and developed according to national standards; Mines can be leased for mining; Under the premise of ensuring the sustainable production of wood and grassland, grazing and logging are allowed.

In order to give full play to the role of wasteland and barren hills, the Ministry of Interior expanded the functions of reclamation service department under the Geological Survey in 1907, and established an independent bureau, which was named reclamation bureau in 1923. Later, the Bureau of Reclamation completed a large number of projects, including the world-famous Hoover and Gule Dam, the National Canal in California, the underground water supply tunnel in Colorado, flood control projects, power plants, and the development of leisure resources, planting and related industries on large areas of land that could not support immigrants before. 1903 The Roosevelt Dam, which began construction, made Phoenix and Arizona the first important agricultural centers in the United States. The evolution of the US Department of the Interior (Figure 2) does not consider the independence of many ministries (the independence of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Labor in 1882 and 1888; 1953 and 1977), or establish a new internal organization (1879), the establishment of the Geological Survey Bureau, the establishment of the Pension and Patent Management Office; In 2004, the number of institutions of the Ministry of the Interior increased to eight, including land, reclamation and fisheries. ), which reflects the centralized trend of resource management from different aspects.

Figure 2 Organization chart of the United States Department of the Interior

2.2 The needs of economic development and system reform

Economic development and system reform are the premise of resource management mode reform, so as to better ensure the demand of economic development for various resources.

For example, the central government agency in Japan is a provincial (the governor is a minister, called "Xiang") and departmental system established according to the Law on State Administrative Organization promulgated by 1948. In the decades after the war, it gradually evolved into a huge system of 22 provinces and departments headed by the Prime Minister's Office. Provincial staff in the central provinces range from tens of thousands to tens of thousands. Together with various subordinate institutions, the total number of civil servants in "special posts" and "general posts" reaches 165438+ 10,000. Figure 3. The evolution of Japan Energy Agency proves this point. From 1949 to the establishment of the resources department, 1952 divided the functions of the resources department into mining bureau, coal bureau, mining bureau and public welfare bureau, to 1973 to the merger of the mining bureau and public welfare bureau, and then to the establishment of the energy resources department in 200 1, the present situation has formed, all of which are like this.

Figure 3 Block diagram of comprehensive institutional reform of Japan Energy Resources Department

2.3 Management requirements

Institutional simplification is an important aspect of the government's commitment to reform. The usual practice is to reduce or merge government agencies and bring similar functions into a relatively centralized department. This will reduce the burden on taxpayers and allow the government to leave more benefits to the people. Compared with more than 20 central government agencies in Japan, more than 40 central government agencies in India reflect the difference in management concentration from one side.

2.4 technical guarantee

It is conceivable that without developed communication facilities or advanced investigation methods, centralized management can only be empty talk, at least it is unrealistic. Therefore, necessary technical support is the objective basis to ensure centralized resource management.