(China Institute of Land and Resources Economics, Beijing, 10 1 149)
First, basic and public welfare geological work
Geological work such as regional geological survey, regional hydrogeology, engineering geology, environmental geological survey, marine geological survey, regional geochemical survey and basic geological science and its application research are necessary geological work to promote national social development, strengthen economic construction and scientific, technological, cultural and educational construction, and are also the basic tasks of geological institutions in various countries. The in-depth development of national basic geological work is to promote the realization of social public interests and is limited to commercial interests. Therefore, the investigation and evaluation of mineral resources, environmental geological monitoring and evaluation, geological disaster monitoring and prevention, special geological investigation and evaluation, and corresponding scientific technology and applied research are the main contents of national public welfare geological work.
Second, the basic and public geological work in various countries in the world
All countries in the world have always attached great importance to and constantly strengthened the development of basic and public welfare geological work. Some developed countries, such as Europe and America, and some developing countries have different names for the subjects of public welfare geological work, but most of them undertake national basic and public welfare geological work in the form of setting up "geological surveys" and take this as their main function. For example, the national geological surveys in the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and South Korea all focus on national long-term, strategic and basic geological surveys, while paying attention to exploratory and cutting-edge scientific and technological research. Basic and public geological work provides scientific basis for resource exploration and evaluation, land planning, evaluation and utilization, environmental planning and protection, evaluation and prevention of geological disasters, and national medium-and long-term development strategy, and also provides public information services for economic and social development. From the perspective of funding sources and investment, the funding sources of geological survey institutions in these countries are diversified, the financial investment is increasing year by year, and the paid financing of project cooperation occupies an increasingly high position. In some countries, such as the United States, the proportion of "contract" funds in the total funds is getting higher and higher, even exceeding the national financial input.
Judging from the progress of public welfare geological work, western European countries have completed the national small and medium-scale geological survey of land; See table 1 for the proportion of regional geological surveys completed by several countries with large land area. Judging from the progress of marine geological research, coastal developed countries and many developing countries have made geological surveys of their continental shelves and exclusive economic zones to varying degrees, and have made many remarkable achievements in marine geological science theory, mineral resources and mineralization theory, paleoceanography research and so on. The United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and other countries have basically completed small and medium-scale marine geological surveys in their coastal shelf areas except the Arctic Circle of Russia and Canada. With the further increase of mining exploration and development potential, the trend of mining globalization and internationalization of mineral products market is becoming more and more obvious, and mineral exploration and trade are influenced by mining powers and multinational companies. More and more national geological survey institutions tend to get rid of exploration activities and commercial conflicts of interest and focus on the provision, management, acquisition, map publishing, information service and primary geological survey of unmanned investment areas. More and more countries are actively taking measures to further promote the development of basic and public geological work and meet the needs of national economic and social development.
Table 1 Percentage of geological mapping completed at various scales in major countries in the world (%)
Three, the basic and public geological work in China.
In the planned economy period, due to the urgent need of economic construction and the strong support of the state finance, geological institutions, including geological survey institutions, have developed rapidly, and basic geological work has also developed rapidly and achieved great results. In the period of socialist market economy, due to the "advance" and "overheating" of geological work in the planned economy period, the whole geological work is in a relatively "cooling" and "compression" state. The focus of state financial investment is the national geological survey and mineral exploration in a blank state. Up to now, 98.9% of 1: 1 10,000 regional geological surveys and 70% of1:200,000 regional geological surveys have been basically completed in China. At the same time, geological specialty, scientific research and regional comprehensive geological research have been continuously strengthened, and a large number of basic geological achievements have been compiled, which has attracted the attention of the international geological community.
Since 1999, the state has launched a new round of land and resources survey, and the basic geological survey has been strengthened. 1999 completed the geological survey from 2003, and completed the regional basic geological surveys of 1595728 square kilometers and 12 12865538. 1:200,000 ~1:250,000 regional hydrology is 767,940 square kilometers,1:500,000 regional environment is 4,984,897 square kilometers,1:200,000 ~1:250,000 regional environment is 470,760 square kilometers. But up to now, China's small-scale geological and geophysical survey area only accounts for about half of China's continental shelf area, and the medium-scale geological survey has just started, which is far from other countries. Actively carry out investigation and evaluation of oil and gas resources and solid mineral resources. At the same time, the basic geological work has been broadened to serve the society, and the public welfare geological work such as agricultural geology, urban geology, environmental geology and geological disaster prevention has been intensified, and considerable achievements have been made. Generally speaking, China's basic and public geological work has made great achievements, but there is still a certain gap compared with advanced countries, and it can not meet the needs of national construction and development in many aspects. In the future, the state should increase investment in marine geological survey, environmental geological survey and strategic mineral resources exploration, and actively promote the comprehensive development of basic and public welfare geological work.
Four, actively promote the basic and public geological work suggestions
1. Further clarify the key points of basic and public welfare geological work.
The investigation and analysis of the basic functions of national geological survey institutions around the world show that obtaining national mineral, energy and water resources, ensuring people's health and safety and protecting human living environment are the core functions of modern geological survey institutions. Specifically, it includes: geological mapping, mineral exploration, collection, processing and dissemination of geoscience information, management of private sector exploration, hydrogeological investigation, environmental geology, and public geological exploration to attract private investment. Among these seven contents, geological mapping and investigation are the main ones, and mineral exploration is gradually transferred from national geological survey institutions to social exploration companies. Therefore, the focus of basic geology and public geology in China should also be on geological mapping and geological investigation, and gradually develop in depth. The state should guide commercial geological exploration into the field of mineral exploration with good policies and information services, and the state geological survey institutions will gradually withdraw from the field of mineral exploration.
2. Guided by the national demand, promote the development of basic and public geological work.
National basic and public welfare geological work should be guided by national demand, including two major contents: first, it conforms to the national macro-control policy; The second is to serve the development of the socialist market economy. First of all, the national geological survey institutions should conscientiously do a good job in the compilation of the eleventh five-year plan proposal for geological survey and the demonstration of major national projects. Secondly, it is an urgent task to improve the security level of important energy and other mineral resources related to the national development strategy, and it is a long-term strategic task to carry out prospective investigation and deep exploration of mineral resources. Third, while doing a good job in the organization, implementation and management of major projects and key projects, we should increase the integration, transformation and application of achievements.
3. Basic and public geological work should better serve economic and social development.
In the market economy environment, all aspects of national construction need more extensive and in-depth geological surveys to provide more and more reliable information services. In the process of building a well-off society in an all-round way, accelerating industrialization, urbanization and modernization in China, geological survey is needed to provide basic geological basis for the layout of productive forces and the adjustment of economic structure, and provide basic geological information for industrial development and urban and rural planning and construction. With the population growth and the expansion of the scale of economic construction, natural and man-made geological environment problems have more and more influence on the national economic construction and social development. Whether it is national construction projects or agricultural production, geological environmental pollution and disaster control need geological survey to provide services. Therefore, the basic geological work must face the society and the market, constantly broaden the service fields, and be more closely combined with local economic construction and social development, fully embody the supporting role of the foundation, and more actively serve the economic construction and social development.
4. Deepen the reform of institutional mechanisms.
In order to ensure the performance of functions and the realization of work objectives, the national geological survey institutions must keep pace with the times, adapt to the needs of economic and social development, and constantly deepen the reform of institutional mechanisms. The national geological survey team will be built into a highly coordinated and unified organization, and coordination among various departments and professions will be strengthened to realize the unified deployment and organization and implementation of basic and public welfare geological work.
5. Improve the professional support system to ensure the healthy development of basic and public geological work.
Geological work not only involves many professional fields, but also is a very theoretical and practical work. At present, agricultural geological survey, urban geological survey and new energy gas hydrate survey are in urgent need of corresponding professional and technical personnel, as well as multidisciplinary comprehensive talents and advanced geological science and technology. To improve the professional support system, we must make great efforts in long-term strategic planning, geological science and technology development, organizational team building and operation mechanism, and ensure the healthy development of basic and public welfare geological work with strict, flexible, moderate and innovative systems as the guarantee.
Brief introduction of the author
Zheng Min is a researcher at China Institute of Land and Resources Economics.