On April 6th, Premier Li Qiang of the State Council signed State Council Order No. 779, announcing the "Regulations on Ecological Protection Compensation" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which will come into effect on June 1st, 2024. Recently, officials from the Ministry of Justice and the National Development and Reform Commission answered questions from reporters regarding the Regulations. It can be seen from this that the introduction of this fundamental and comprehensive administrative regulation on ecological protection compensation has established the basic institutional rules for ecological protection compensation, which is of great significance for solving prominent problems such as limited compensation coverage in China's ecological protection compensation work. Establishing the principle of ecological protection compensation, the ecological protection compensation system is an important component of the ecological civilization system. In 2016, the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Improving the Mechanism of Ecological Protection Compensation. In 2021, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Ecological Protection Compensation System. According to the person in charge mentioned above, currently, China has basically established the world's widest coverage, most benefited population, and largest investment ecological protection compensation mechanism, covering ecological and environmental elements such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts, oceans, water flow, and farmland. Significant progress has been made in cross regional and cross basin ecological protection compensation pilot projects, which have played an important role in consolidating the achievements of ecological civilization construction, consolidating and expanding poverty alleviation achievements, and promoting regional coordinated and sustainable development. While China's ecological protection compensation work has achieved significant results, there are also some prominent problems that need to be solved urgently, such as limited compensation coverage, insufficient emphasis, weak rewards and punishments, and difficulty in coordinating relevant parties. From an institutional perspective, the regulations related to ecological protection compensation are scattered in some documents, laws, and administrative regulations, and the relevant content is not comprehensive enough. It is urgent to develop a basic and comprehensive administrative regulation to play the role of the rule of law in consolidating the foundation, stabilizing expectations, and promoting long-term development. It is in this context that the Regulations were introduced. The Regulations have made clear provisions on the concept and methods of ecological protection compensation. According to the Regulations, ecological protection compensation refers to an incentive system arrangement that compensates units and individuals who carry out ecological protection in accordance with regulations or agreements through mechanisms such as fiscal vertical compensation, regional horizontal compensation, and market mechanism compensation. Ecological protection compensation can adopt various compensation methods, such as financial compensation, counterpart cooperation, industrial transfer, talent training, co construction of parks, and purchase of ecological products and services. As for the principles that should be followed in carrying out ecological protection compensation work, the Regulations stipulate that ecological protection compensation work should adhere to the leadership of the CPC, adhere to the combination of government leadership, social participation, and market regulation, adhere to the equal emphasis on incentives and constraints, adhere to coordinated development, and adhere to the unity of ecological benefits, economic benefits, and social benefits. Give full play to the role of market mechanisms, and the government and its relevant departments in ecological protection compensation work