What is China's strategy on green development?

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In his report at the opening session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, stressed the need to build a "beautiful China" and ensure harmony between humans and nature.

Efforts include promoting green development, solving environmental problems, intensifying the protection of ecosystems and reforming the environmental regulatory system.

"We must do our generation's bit to protect the environment," Xi said.

Xinhua Photo

Promoting green development

China will step up efforts to establish a legal and policy framework that promotes green production and consumption, and encourages a sound economic structure that facilitates green, low-carbon, and circular development.

"We encourage simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyles, and oppose extravagance and excessive consumption," Xi said.

Solving environmental problems

Xi said everyone should be involved in improving the environment and addressing environmental issues at the root.

"We will continue our campaign to prevent and control air pollution to make our skies blue again," he vowed.

Xi called on the country to establish an environmental governance system in which government takes the lead but enterprises assume the main responsibility.

Meanwhile, China will get actively involved in global environmental governance and fulfill commitments on emission reduction.

National Forest Park, China's largest man-made woodland, in Weichang Manchu and Mongolian autonomous county in Chengde, Hebei Province, north China. /Xinhua Photo

Intensifying protection of ecosystems

"We will complete work on drawing the red lines for ecological protection and the preservation of permanent basic farmland, and on defining boundaries for urban development," Xi said in his report.

Chang Jiwei, a researcher at the Institute of Resources and Environmental Policy of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the Economic Observer that Xi's pronouncements not only clarify the way to accelerate the reform of ecological civilization, but also map out work tasks for the coming five years.

A new move is to set up regulatory agencies performing various duties in a unified way. These agencies will manage state-owned natural resource assets, regulate the use of all territorial space, protect and restore ecosystems, monitor the discharge of pollutants in urban and rural areas, and conduct administrative law enforcement.

"The report to the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012 can be seen as the top design of ecological civilization, while the report to the 19th National Congress in 2017 accelerates reform of that system. We have also proposed a Chinese model on solutions to global environmental problems," Wang Jinnan, dean of the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, told the Economic Observer.