Strategic resolve key to progress, president says amid events marking first National Ecology Day

Farmers move trays of aquatic vegetables in Qiandao Lake used to enhance the purification capacity of the water body in Chun’an county, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Aug 15, China’s first National Ecology Day. (YANG BO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

President Xi Jinping emphasized the need to maintain strategic resolve to advance ecological progress while calling on the whole society to vigorously promote and act as role models in practicing the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in instructions released on Aug 15, China’s first National Ecology Day, which was marked with events and several announcements.

Xi said efforts should be made to maintain strategic resolve to advance ecological progress on the new journey of building China into a modern socialist country in all respects, urging efforts to enhance environmental protection while promoting high-quality development.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, decided at a session in June to designate Aug 15 as National Ecology Day to promote the construction of an ecological civilization.

In his instructions, Xi said that ecological conservation is of vital importance for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation.

He described ecological conservation as “a major political issue” that concerns the mission and purpose of the CPC as well as “a major social issue” that bears on the wellbeing of the public.

With a focus on achieving the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, the country should facilitate the gradual transition from dual control over the amount and intensity of energy consumption to dual control over the amount and intensity of carbon emissions, he said.

Xi urged consistent efforts to promote the transition toward green and low-carbon production methods and lifestyles, accelerate the advancement of modernization featuring harmony between humans and nature, and build a Beautiful China in all respects.

He called for concrete and constant efforts throughout society to make greater contributions to jointly build a clean and beautiful world.

An event to mark National Ecology Day was held on Aug 15 in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, the place where Xi first put forward the concept of “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” during an inspection tour of Yucun, a village in Anji county of Huzhou, on that date in 2005.

Xi’s instructions were conveyed at the opening ceremony by Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

National Ecology Day was also marked with a blue book released by the Ministry of Natural Resources, which announced China has drawn red lines for its crucial ecological conservation areas of 3.19 million square kilometers covering more than 90 percent of typical ecosystems.

The red lines refer to the minimum conservation area with crucial ecological functions requiring prioritized conservation efforts.

The areas can include nature reserves, scenic spots, forests, and wetlands.

In 2011, the country came up with the idea of drawing red lines and began work on developing them in 2017.

The “Blue Book on Ecological Protection Red Lines” was released as part of the ministry’s commitment to preserving the nation’s valuable ecosystems. Ecological conservation red lines cover about 3.04 million sq km, or about 30 percent of the country’s land area.

China’s marine ecological conservation red lines cover an area of about 150,000 sq km. About 77 percent of the red line areas are located in the western regions of the country.

The blue book emphasizes the critical need to protect endangered species and their habitats.

By drawing the red lines, the country aims to prioritize the conservation of areas with significant functions, including water conservation, biodiversity maintenance, soil and water conservation, and coastal protection.

China’s progress toward meeting its carbon emissions targets was also praised on National Ecology Day.

The country is striving to meet its strategic goal of reaching carbon peak and becoming carbon neutral while advancing the building of an ecological civilization.

Guided by Xi’s philosophy on ecological civilization, China has given greater prominence to green and low-carbon development since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, and the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions has continued to decrease.

In September 2020, Xi announced that China would strive to reach carbon peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, which is described as the country’s “dual carbon” goal. He emphasized that achieving such a strategic goal “is not something that others ask us to do, but something we must do ourselves”.

During his inspection tours nationwide, Xi has emphasized time and again that adhering to green development is the only way forward. 

Zhu Liyang, president of the China Association of Circular Economy, said the work on the “dual carbon” goal is not just a climate issue.

“General Secretary Xi Jinping’s decision to include the achieving of the ‘dual carbon’ goal in the overall structure of ecological civilization helps to promote a comprehensive and in-depth systematic green transformation of our country in terms of development mode, industrial structure, energy structure, and public awareness,” Zhu said.

A wide-ranging and profound transformation of the economic and social systems is accelerating around the “dual carbon” goal. A series of approaches in terms of green and low-carbon production and lifestyle are being practiced at an accelerated pace in China.

Optimizing its energy structure is one of China’s major steps toward meeting its carbon reduction goal. Over the past decade, the country has secured an average annual economic growth rate of 6.2 percent and an average annual energy consumption growth rate of 3 percent, making it one of the countries with the fastest reduction in energy consumption intensity.

Zhao Xiaolu, senior director of the Climate Environmental Defense Fund’s Beijing Representative Office, said that China has taken measures to increase renewable energy. 

“We see the Chinese government and industry are making a lot of progress. For example, China has built the largest carbon market in the world and is improving it ... By doing that, China can reduce greenhouse emissions at a faster pace and lower cost.”

Over the past decade, China has sought to expedite legislation aimed at protecting the ecological environment, the country’s top legislature said.

China has in place more than 30 laws, over 100 sets of administrative regulations, and many local regulations focused on eco-environmental protection. These efforts contribute to building sound ecological conservation systems, according to the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee.

The legislation has increased penalties for violations of relevant laws and regulations, the NPC said.

Xu Anbiao, deputy head of the NPC Standing Committee’s Legislative Affairs Commission, said that the establishment of National Ecology Day would enhance ecological understanding among the public and help the nation better participate in global environment and climate governance.

This in turn would promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, he added.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the NPC Standing Committee has formulated and revised 19 laws concerning the environment and ecology, with one piece of legislation being reviewed, Xu said.

In April, the committee adopted a law on ecological conservation for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as “the roof of the world”, to protect its fragile ecosystem. 

It is a new addition to China’s laws for special regions, following the enactment of the Yangtze River Protection Law in 2020, and the Yellow River Protection Law and the Black Soil Protection Law last year.

More importantly, ecological civilization was upheld as a basic principle when the NPC amended the Constitution in March 2018.

“We fully eliminated content inconsistent with the construction of an ecological civilization in existing laws, in order to ensure the uniformity of legal documents and make them more powerful in the fight against pollution,” Xu said.

The country’s laws and administrative regulations involving the environment and ecology “have laid a solid legislative foundation for the ecological civilization”, he added, noting amendments to laws on wildlife protection and pollution of water and forests to meet new demands.

Data released last week by the Supreme People’s Court, the country’s top court, showed that Chinese courts heard 110,000 environmental and ecological cases from January to June, down 7.9 percent year-on-year.

The timing of National Ecology Day could not be more apt. Last month was the hottest July in 174 years, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the world is likely heading toward an even warmer 2024, scientists warned, underlining the urgency to cap greenhouse gas emissions.

“The extreme weather, which has affected many millions of people in July, is unfortunately the harsh reality of climate change and a foretaste of the future,” World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said, according to a press release from the United Nations agency on July 31.

“The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever before. Climate action is not a luxury but a must,” Taalas said.

In China, temperatures in July averaged 23 C, which is 0.9 degrees higher than in normal years, the China Meteorological Administration said early this month.

Contact the writers at caodesheng@chinadaily.com.cn