From consensus to practice: What Guizhou can offer the world

As countries around the world search for practical ways to balance economic growth with environmental protection, China's southwestern province of Guizhou is putting its latest practices on display.

From July 4 to 6, the Symposium 2026 for Eco Forum Global Guiyang, with the theme "From Consensus to Practice – Guizhou's Response to the Global Agenda," brought international participants out of the conference room and into forests, rivers and villages, showcasing how ecological restoration and green development are being carried out on the ground. Instead of limiting discussions to presentations and panels, organizers designed field visits first, followed by roundtable dialogue, underscoring a simple idea: environmental consensus is strongest when it is rooted in practice.

Few places illustrate that practice more clearly than Guizhou, where one of China's most fragile karst landscapes has undergone a significant transformation.

Located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Pearl river systems, Guizhou serves as an important ecological barrier in southern China. Over the past decade, the province has pursued a path that combines environmental protection with development. By 2025, forest coverage had increased from 43.77% to 63.3%, while the share of land affected by rocky desertification dropped from 18.8% to 7.58%. Water quality at all major outbound river sections now meets the national Grade I-III standard, and native fish populations in the Chishui River are gradually recovering.

Behind these figures lies a broader shift in how people interact with the natural environment.

In Guanling County, efforts to control rocky desertification are tailored to local conditions. Severely degraded areas are closed off for reforestation, moderately affected land is used for grass-based livestock farming, and suitable areas are planted with economic forests. Among them, Rosa roxburghii, or chestnut rose, has taken root in rocky soil, helping stabilize the land while supporting a growing industry valued at more than 10 billion yuan (about $1.47 billion).

Guizhou has also been among the early movers in China to explore the commercialization of ecological assets. A pilot forest carbon credit system has turned carbon sequestration into tradable "carbon tickets." In Jianhe County, where forest coverage reaches 72.4%, a "judiciary plus carbon sink" mechanism allows environmental offenders to purchase carbon credits as part of ecological restoration, with the revenue reinvested in local forestry communities. By 2025, cumulative transactions involving ecological products across the province had exceeded 8 billion yuan.

For many residents, however, the transformation is most visible at the community level.

Huawu Village in Qianxi was once affected by pollution and sediment accumulation along the Wujiang River. After years of ecological restoration, green riverbanks have returned, and eco-tourism has become a key source of local income. In Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village in Leishan County, an integrated "scenic area + community" model has turned villagers into stakeholders, while locally produced Yinqiu Tea now carries both the ecological identity of Leigong Mountain and Miao cultural heritage to wider markets.

The Eco Forum Global Guiyang has evolved alongside these changes. Established in 2009 and upgraded to a national-level international forum in 2013, it has become an important platform for dialogue on ecological civilization. The 2025 edition attracted nearly 1,000 participants from 62 countries and regions. Over the past two editions, it has facilitated green industry investment agreements worth 18.43 billion yuan and green credit commitments totaling 9.99 billion yuan.

Guizhou's experience is shaped by its geography and development path, but the challenge it addresses is global: how to protect the environment without constraining growth.

While its model may not be directly replicable elsewhere, it offers a tangible example of how ecological protection and economic development can reinforce rather than contradict each other. As discussions in Guiyang continue, attention is shifting beyond what Guizhou has achieved to what lessons its experience may hold for other regions facing similar pressures.