Challenges remain to balance environment and economy

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Qiu Ruikang and his family recently built a new garden and renovated their house. The family, from Waitongwu village of Hangzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province, now has more disposable income.

Most of Qiu's money comes from harvesting and selling West Lake Longjing tea.

Farmers living near the West Lake in Hangzhou have benefited greatly from environmental protection. /CGTN Photo

Qiu says in the past his family could only make around 100,000 yuan per year (or 14,500 U.S. dollars) out of the tea they grow. But now that number has doubled.

Qiu told CGTN that the land is producing better quality Longjing tea because the environment has been better protected.

When they were asked to help protect the environment a few years ago, many local farmers did not understand why. They used to grow tea while neglecting the importance of environmental protection.

Today, after benefiting from balanced growth, most of the tea farmers have decided to keep following this green concept and pass it on to the next generations. /CGTN Photo

While protecting the environment and leading eco-friendly lifestyles are widely promoted today, some people face challenges adapt to these changes.

Hundreds of kilometers away, in Wenzhou City, the Wuyanling National Nature Reserve tells a different story.

He Zhenhong has been a forest ranger for 37 years. He told CGTN that to better protect nature, around 200 farmers in remote villages in the reserve are not allowed to do anything that could damage the ecology.

Without proper farming, it seems hard for these farmers to survive, he said, expressing hope that there would be some policies to help these villagers relocate elsewhere.

Experts believe nature protection should not compromise people's quality of life. Qian Wenrong, associate dean of the School of Public Affairs at Zhejiang University told CGTN that when the environment can't create enough market value, authorities should make certain ecological compensation to help local villagers overcome their problems.

Experts say the key is to take further measures for longer term support. /CGTN Photo

Most local villagers or enterprises prefer to focus on short-term benefits. Qian said once these farmers believe environmental protection will become the main channel for increasing their income, that will be a perfect balance. With a better environment, more visitors will come, boosting the growth of tourism and related services.

All of China's provinces highly value ecological and environmental protection, which will further boost other industries' sustainable growth, but different regions are expected to take appropriate measures to meet locals' growing demands for quality life.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at nature@cgtn.com.)