A circular issued by the State Council on Sept 28 adds 240 county-level regions across China to the nation’s major ecological function zones.

Efforts should be made to strengthen protection and restoration in the ecological function zones during the industrialization and urbanization process, the State Council said.

In addition to financial support, the system of negative list for industry access will be set up, and regular inspections will be carried out in the major national ecological function zones, according to the State Council.

The major national ecological function zones are defined as regions that are significant to ecological security in water and soil conservation, the prevention of wind erosion, and protection of biological diversity.

Submitted by the National Development and Reform Commission to the State Council, the newly added national ecological function zones are: 22 regions of Hebei province, eight in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, four in Liaoning province, two in Jilin province, 11 in Zhejiang province, nine in Anhui province, nine in Fujian province, 17 in Jiangxi province, 13 in Shandong province, eight in Henan province, two in Hubei province, 19 in Hunan province, 10 in Guangdong province, 11 in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, 14 in Sichuan province, 16 in Guizhou province, 21 in Yunnan province, 22 in Tibet autonomous region, three in Shaanxi province, 17 in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and two in the Xinjiang production and construction corps.