China ratifies National Ecology Day to enhance public awareness, actions

BEIJING -- China's top legislature on Wednesday voted to designate Aug. 15 as National Ecology Day.

The decision was made at the three-day session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, which ended on Wednesday.

The move is aimed at enhancing public awareness and actions to protect the ecological environment.

The decision also underscored the importance of enhancing publicity and education on ecological conservation through various forms.

It said that China has emphasized the importance of ecological progress in sustaining the development of the Chinese nation.

China has made historic, transformative and comprehensive changes in protecting its ecological environment and secured world-renowned achievements since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, bringing a strong sense of fulfillment and happiness to the Chinese people, the decision highlighted.

The concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets has evolved into a collective belief among all Chinese people, and green, circular and low-carbon development has become a joint endeavor embraced by all regions and authorities in the country, the decision noted.

China's commitment to ecological conservation has led to groundbreaking initiatives with long-term significance over the past decade.

Red lines for the protection of ecosystems, the quality of the environment, and rational resource utilization have been drawn for ecological conservation.

China has established and improved the systems in areas including property rights for natural resource assets, performance evaluation and accountability for ecological conservation, and compensation for ecological conservation. Corresponding laws and regulations have been formulated or revised.

In parallel, the country has redoubled its endeavors in multiple domains, such as protecting and improving the ecosystems of major rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastlines, safeguarding biodiversity and combating air, water and soil pollution.

Spatial layouts, industrial structures, and ways of production and living that help conserve resources and protect the environment have been developed in China.

Additionally, the country has played an active role in global environmental and climate governance, pledging to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

The efforts over the past decade to diversify the energy mix have yielded positive results, with a decreased share of coal consumption and an increased share of clean energy consumption within total energy consumption. By 2022, the installed capacity of renewable power had exceeded the impressive milestone of 1.2 billion kilowatts.

These endeavors have paid off, bringing tangible benefits to the Chinese people, who are enjoying blue skies, clear waters and lush mountains.

In Chinese cities, air quality was good or excellent on 86.5 percent of days in 2022, marking an improvement of 20.8 percentage points from 2013.

The proportion of surface water at or above Grade III in the country's five-tier water quality system reached 87.9 percent last year, up by 26.3 percentage points from 2012.

Forest coverage has risen to 24 percent in 2022, with a forest stock volume of 19.5 billion cubic meters, representing increases of 2.39 percentage points and 4.36 billion cubic meters, respectively, from 2012.