"Lush mountains and lucid waters are as valuable as gold and silver" has been a buzz sentence in China's environmental sector for more than a decade.
The government listed 30 examples of economic benefits brought about by environmental advantages at a seminar in Beijing on Saturday, in hopes of seeing similar efforts at conversion throughout the country.
The seminar was held by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration in Peking University (PKU) to discuss how China should turn environmental advantages into economic benefits.
The administration picked 30 examples of ecosystem preservation from various places in China and introduced five of them during the seminar.
Representatives from Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanxi and Qinghai provinces made keynote speeches on how people in these places made use of their environmental advantages.
"When President Xi Jinping worked in Fujian, he chose our town to pivot his new forest management policies," said a representative from Wuping.
"There used to be many farmers secretly cutting down big trees and selling the wood," he explained. "In 2001, we decided to evenly share the mountain areas and make each family responsible for their own area. Though there's no previous experiences, it worked quite well."
In 2008, the Chinese government implemented this method nationwide.
Forest area in Wuping /VCG Photo
"We also pivoted to a new funding method using forest rights as mortgage in 2013 to provide more money for local people to do businesses," the representative added.
Yin Weilun, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, also made his points.
"With the 30 examples, it's obvious that the 'golden hill' theory is practical," he said. "But we still need to apply these examples to the whole country. And it's not a simple copying process."
Yin Weilun talks about environmental efforts at a seminar in Peking University, September 22, 2018. /CGTN Photo
More efforts needed
"There are not enough forests in China," head of the administration Zhang Jianlong concluded. "More ideas and efforts are needed to preserve our environment."
Only 22 percent of the vast country is covered by forest, below the 31 percent global average.
Head of China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration Zhang Jianlong talks about environmental efforts at a seminar in Peking University, September 22, 2018. /CGTN Photo
"What's also important here is how we make use of the environmental advantages," Zhang added.
He pointed out two aspects that China should pay more attention to:
"We cannot focus only on short-term results ... and we need to boost sci-tech innovation in this area."