The nation's first ecological product for soil and water conservation is auctioned off in Anji county, Huzhou, Zhejiang province, on March 20. [Photo/hz66.com]

Anji county in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, made history on March 20 by auctioning off the nation's first ecological product for soil and water conservation.

The auction, conducted online, resulted in the sale of the six-year operating rights of a section of a river in the county for 33.28 million yuan ($4.61 million). The winning bidder intends to utilize the section for the development of a drifting project.

Qiu Junlian, Party chief of Hegai village in Anji county, where the auctioned river section is situated, highlighted the transformation undergone by the watershed. Once neglected, the area had sparse vegetation and was prone to flooding during heavy rain. However, after attracting the attention of the local water conservancy department in 2012, the watershed underwent a 12-year transformation. Measures such as nurturing bamboo forests and reinforcing riverbeds revitalized the area and attracted outside investors.

As part of the agreement, the village, a significant contributor to the soil and water conservation project, is set to receive development funds of approximately 1 million yuan annually for the next six years.

Hu Chunhong, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, praised the initiative, stating that "It has resolved the problem of previous unproductive investment in soil and water conservation, and transformed the ecological functions of soil and water conservation into tangible economic value."

Valuing intangible ecological products for soil and water conservation has been a challenge in China. To address this, Anji, in collaboration with the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Research, has established a valuation system for ecological products for soil and water conservation. According to calculations, Anji's 38 soil and water conservation ecological products can realize a value transformation of 3.32 billion yuan.

Looking ahead, Li Rui, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Water Resources, expressed the intention select five to seven counties each year to pilot the transformation of the value of ecological products for soil and water conservation according to local conditions.