Three major rivers in Sichuan Province have now been formally registered for natural resource rights, establishing a clear legal and administrative framework for their management.

The rivers—the Sichuan section of the Fu River, the Litang River, and the Sichuan section of the Chuosijia River—have completed their first unified registration for natural resource ownership. This process effectively creates a dedicated administrative record, akin to a household register, for these water bodies. It precisely defines their jurisdictional boundaries, quantifies their resource base, and clarifies management and protection responsibilities across the entire river basin.

This registration initiative was a key provincial task for 2025. The process involved multiple government departments, including natural resources, ecological environment, water resources, and forestry and grassland authorities. These agencies jointly issued a public notice for the initial registration in the areas where the resources are located.

Subsequently, officials conducted cadastral surveys of the natural resources, utilizing existing data from resource inventories and real estate registrations. The registration details were then reviewed in conjunction with territorial spatial planning, ecological protection redline requirements, and other relevant regulatory documents and real estate records. Following a mandatory 15-day public announcement period, the registration units for the three rivers were officially entered into the record books, finalizing the first registration procedure.

Authorities from the provincial natural resources department indicated that the next step involves actively applying the outcomes of this resource registration. The goal is to leverage the clarified property rights to support comprehensive river basin management, ecological restoration, efficient water resource utilization, and the realization of ecological product value. This initiative aims to protect the clear waters of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and contribute to the province's ecological civilization construction and high-quality, coordinated development of its river basins.