29/04/2020
BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) — China has achieved much progress in environmental protection and taken the lead in green development in recent years.
The efforts have exemplified Chinese President Xi Jinping’s proposal of “working together for a green and better future for all” made a year ago in his speech at the opening ceremony of the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing.
In the keynote speech, Xi proposed a five-point initiative on promoting green development, namely pursuing harmony between man and nature, pursuing the prosperity based on green development, fostering a passion for nature-caring lifestyle, pursuing a scientific spirit in ecological governance, and joining hands to tackle environmental challenges.
China’s hard work on environment protection has paid off.
The ecological environment has improved significantly. People are enjoying more days of blue sky, cleaner water, and fertile land.
China has achieved the goal of zero growth of desertified land by 2030 set by the United Nations ahead of time. Besides, forest stock volume increased by 4.56 billion cubic meters compared with that of 2005.
Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2018 fell by 45.8 percent compared with that of 2005, exceeding the target set for the year.
After more than 30 years of hard work, the seventh largest desert in China, the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, once known as the “sea of death” difficult for birds to fly across, has turned into a green valley.
In January 2020, in a letter in reply to the student representatives of the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate, the Chinese president mentioned his thoughts about ecological civilization in his youth.
“Over four decades ago, I lived and worked for many years in a small village on the Loess Plateau in western China. Back then, the ecology and environment there was seriously damaged due to over-development and the local people were trapped in poverty as a result,” Xi wrote.
“This experience taught me that man and nature are a community of life and that the damage done to nature will ultimately hurt mankind,” said Xi.
China’s progress and achievements are recognized worldwide.
The ecological civilization and green development advocated by China are actually an endeavor to find a way to balance economic development and environmental protection, said John Cobb, Jr., the founding president of the Institute for Postmodern Development of China and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Noting that the endeavor is a remarkable exploration, he expressed his hope that it will succeed.
China is on the right path in dealing with global climate change and achieving sustainable development, said Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum.
In addition to making efforts at home, China has also rolled out a series of measures to support the global combat against climate change.
In September 2015, ahead of the Paris climate change conference, Xi pledged a 20-billion-yuan (3-billion-U.S. dollars) China South-South Climate Cooperation Fund, which was dedicated to help other developing countries combat climate change.
China has also been fulfilling the obligations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and achieved the goal of its intended nationally determined contributions submitted to the secretariat of the Climate Change Convention as scheduled.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his appreciation for China’s important contributions to addressing the climate change and building a green “Belt and Road,” and said he expects China to continue to play a leading role in addressing the climate change and other issues.
“Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,” a concept put forward by Xi in 2005 when he visited Yucun Village in southeast China’s Zhejiang Province as the party chief of the province, has become the motto of the Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
In March 2020, when Xi returned to Yucun, he said that economic development should not be achieved at the expense of the ecological environment. To protect the ecological environment is to develop the productive forces, he said.
The history of civilizations shows that the rise or fall of a civilization is closely tied to its relationship with nature, Xi said at the International Horticultural Exhibition last year.
Only by joining hands can the humankind advance a global ecological civilization and march towards the bright future of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Source: Xinhua
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10/04/2019
BEIJING, April 9 (Xinhua) — There are many ways to understand China’s ecological civilization, among which is the indispensable knowledge that top Chinese leaders are serving as role models in the country’s afforestation efforts.
A day after China’s Tomb-sweeping holiday, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other state and party leaders made a tree-planting tour in suburban Beijing. Xi called for wide participation in China to plant trees, stressing that tremendous efforts are needed to increase forests, improve vegetation and tackle fragile ecological environment.
Afforestation has long been a tradition in China, a country which once suffered severe desertification. Since the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress designated March 12 as the National Tree Planting Day in 1979, it has become an annual ritual for top Chinese officials to plant trees in suburban Beijing around the Tomb-sweeping Festival, which fell on April 5 this year, a perfect time for spring plowing and sowing according to China’s lunar calendar.
Actions like these by the top leadership are particularly meaningful as the country embarks on a carefully-designed journey of realizing an ecological civilization, a new catchphrase in the country, to make the world’s second-largest economy a more livable place.
Respect nature, follow its way and protect it. The Chinese leadership has been tirelessly promoting a simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon life for Chinese people, and asked them to treat the ecological environment with the same importance they treat their own lives.
While most industrialized countries in the world have bitter memories of pollution and environmental degradation in their early days of economic growth, it is not too surprising that doubts emerge on whether China, the world’s economic powerhouse, could keep its economy expanding at a reasonable pace while keeping its pollution and environmental degradation in check.
Chinese leadership’s rhetoric on ecological conservation is grounded in reality.
Thanks to painstaking efforts, the forest coverage rate of China has increased by nearly 10 percentage points since the late 1970s. In 2018, China planted 7.07 million hectares of trees, and the country is home to the world’s largest man-made forest in scale.
A recent Boston University study based on NASA satellite data shows that over the last two decades, “the greening of the planet represents an increase in leaf area on plants and trees equivalent to the area covered by all the Amazon rainforests,” with China and India leading the charge. China alone accounts for 25 percent of the global net increase in leaf area although the country holds only 6.6 percent of the global vegetated area. This remarkable progress is a result of decades of persistent efforts by the Chinese government and people.
Ancient Chinese philosophers believed the overriding purpose of life was to seek harmony in society and the universe, which could form the philosophical basis of an ecological civilization of today. Efforts must be made to blend ancient Chinese value with a modern undertaking to create an ecological civilization that fits with today’s economic, social and ecological environment.
China plans to add 6.73 million hectares of afforested areas in 2019 to further expand forest coverage. Spring is short, so plant trees and make a difference not only in China, but also the world.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in Amazon rainforests, Ancient Chinese philosophers, Boston University study, China alert, Chinese President Xi Jinping, ecological civilization, fragile ecological environment, lunar calendar, NASA satellite data, National Tree Planting Day, Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Uncategorized |
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06/03/2019
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attends a panel discussion with his fellow deputies from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)
BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) — President Xi Jinping on Tuesday stressed efforts to maintain strategic resolve in enhancing the building of an ecological civilization and to protect the country’s beautiful scenery in the northern border areas.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when attending a panel discussion with his fellow deputies from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress, China’s national legislature.
The president called for intensified protection of the ecological system, urging people to fight resolutely against pollution.
The Party’s theory on an ecological civilization has been constantly enriched and improved since the 18th CPC National Congress in late 2012, Xi said.
All localities and departments should earnestly implement the Party’s arrangement and requirements for building an ecological civilization, pushing it to a new level, Xi said.
Building Inner Mongolia into an important shield for ecological security in northern China is a strategic position set with full consideration of the country’s overall development and a major responsibility the region must shoulder, Xi said.
Fundamentally speaking, environmental protection and economic development are closely integrated and complement each other, Xi said.
In the Chinese economy’s transition from the phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development, pollution control and environmental governance are two major tasks that must be accomplished, he added.
The country should explore a new path of high-quality development that prioritizes ecology and highlights green development, Xi said.
With its diversified natural forms including forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, lakes and deserts, Inner Mongolia features a comprehensive ecological system formed over a long period of time. Integrated measures should be taken in ecological protection and rehabilitation in the region, he said.
Xi underlined a resolute and effective fight to prevent and control pollution, saying prominent environmental issues the people are strongly concerned about must be addressed properly.
Source: Xinhua
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