Green Commitment

Global eco forum held to promote sustainable development

"Cool Guiyang welcomes you," a phrase splashed across posters greeting visitors to the capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, is a testament to the city's status as a self-proclaimed home to forestry and green living. Locals boast that Guiyang acts as a natural air conditioner to visitors during summer time, referring to the favorable eco-environment and pleasant climate. It was also this year's summer resort for the environmentally conscious, as host to an international conference on ecological conservation from July 19 to 21.

The conference, the Eco-Forum Global (EFG) in Guiyang, was first launched in 2009. It is China's first and only national-level forum focusing on the environment.

Designed to promote the sharing of knowledge and experience in the implementation of policies regarding green economic transformation and ecological security among international community members, the forum is well received by a global range of members. The 2013 annual meeting carried the theme of Building Eco-Civilization: Green Transformation and Transition and emphasized green industry, green urbanization and green consumption, attracting about 4,000 scholars, reporters, politicians as well as representatives from NGOs and multinationals.

During a media interview ahead of the event, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger hailed the forum as a platform that will affect the future of humanity.

Zhang Xinsheng, head of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and Secretary General of the EFG, said that the upgrading of the forum to a national-level event this year shows China's commitment to its international obligations in promoting ecological conservation.

As the Chinese Government has incorporated building an eco-friendly society into its national development strategy alongside economic, political, cultural and social development, participants claim the forum is instructive of China's future development trends.

China's role

Ever since the first Declaration on the Human Environment was released in 1972 at the UN Conference on Human Environment, people have begun to realize that industrial revolution in the past 300 years has generated not only great material prosperity, but also great damage to world resources and the environment. And in 1992 during the Rio Summit, the UN Conference on Environment and Development upgraded sustainable development as a strategy of joint development for humankind, integrating for the first time economic development with environmental protection.

"Although global achievements have been made in the provision of healthcare, education and the alleviation of poverty in the past 20 years, progress has been very slow in terms of goals set by the Rio Summit," said Zhang. "And the world has been faced with increasing challenges in eco-security, climate change, biodiversity protection and sustainable development since then."

Therefore, Zhang said, achieving sustainable development and eco-conservation is no longer an option—it is an inevitable course of human development.

As the world's second largest economy and one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gasses, China's progress in eco-friendly initiatives concerns the future of the human race. Thus the EFG came into being to build a bigger platform for the shift to green and inclusive growth in the post-Rio era.

"The Chinese leadership is changing views and adopting international perspectives," said Patrick Haverman, Deputy Country Director of the UN Development Program in China. He added that such a forum is necessary because environmental problems cannot be solved by individuals or a single country.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a special advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals, affirmed during an introductory report at the forum that China plays a key role in promoting economic globalization and global sustainable development. China's achievement in reducing poverty has also contributed greatly to global development, he noted.

Participants lauded China's leading role in south-south climate change cooperation.

Su Wei, Director of the Climate Change Department of China's National Development and Reform Commission, said the country will continue to share its experience and consider setting up a south-south cooperation fund for climate change.

In one of these cooperation projects, China has promised to invest 200 million yuan ($32.6 million) since 2011 to help small island states and least developed countries tackle climate change.

According to Su, in the next two years, China plans to expand cooperation even further by training 2,000 more officials and technical staff in those countries.

In the meantime, China is also accelerating the process of building a nationwide carbon emissions trading market. One month prior to the forum, China launched its first regional market for compulsory carbon trading in the southern city of Shenzhen in Guangdong Province after more than two years of preparations. Pilot carbon emissions trading schemes will be launched successively in another six provinces and cities later this year and in 2014. China is gaining momentum in curbing greenhouse gas emissions with a market mechanism, Su said.

Pooling wisdom

During the three-day annual meeting, the EFG has held more than 50 sub-forums and activities concerning eco-industry, sustainable consumption, sci-tech innovation and green urbanization.

In a sub-forum on environmental judicature, participants discussed environmental legislation and related issues.

Brian Preston, the Honorable Justice of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales in Australia, said that environment courts should have sufficient right of jurisdiction and accreditation of the public. Insufficient jurisdiction is the major problem behind the operation of these courts, according to him.

In another sub-forum, Pan Yunhe, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, outlined the future development trend of "intelligent cities." He believes intelligent city construction is an effective measurement for promoting eco-conservation as well as one of the important directions for green development.

In a round-table meeting on international cooperation on environment and development, Daniel Joseph Dudek, Vice President of the U.S.-based Environmental Defense Fund, suggested that it is very necessary to directly link emissions control to environmental objectives of greenhouse gases, as well as establishing environmental and scientific pollutant inventory systems. He also stressed the importance of allowing the market mechanism to play a guiding role in environmental improvement.

To achieve a green transition of Chinese consumption, Xu Qinghua, chief engineer for Nuclear Safety of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that China should integrate the legal, economic and educational aspects of sustainable development by utilizing the combined forces of government departments, businesses and the public.

In the Guiyang Consensus 2013, the document released by the forum, participants agreed to accelerate the development and transition to a green economy and vowed to promote social harmony and inclusive development as well as restore the natural environment and address environmental problems with the strictest possible measures.

Green growth

During this year's forum, the China-Germany City Dialogue and Guizhou-Switzerland Dialogue gave Chinese participants opportunities to learn from world pioneers in ecological development.

China and Germany share similar backgrounds in developing heavy industry such as mining and manufacturing. Environmental experts said that the re-utilization experience of German cities is an inspiration to China's own mining cities.

The mining industry in the German city of Herten provided 15,000 jobs during its peak, but these opportunities are disappearing along with the depletion of resources. With careful planning, the mining zones of the city have been developed into a new energy industry zone, creative industry zone as well as a scenic spot.

Volker Lindner, Vice Mayor of Herten, said that the mining area of Herten has become a world cultural heritage site and the city is focusing on the development of new energy industry as well as education. Mining cities should transform through the transition of industry and vocational education together with public participation, he said.

Vice President of the China Association of Mayors Tao Siliang said that the transformation process of Germany's heavy industry cities bears great significance for the areas of China that are pursuing sustainable urbanization as well as Chinese cities that are planning a green transformation.

Guizhou, one of China's less developed provinces, hopes to become "China's Switzerland."

Guizhou and Switzerland are both landlocked and mountainous. Both are rich in ecological and cultural tourism resources as well.

Li Jun, Deputy Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that Switzerland's experience in becoming a wealthy country can be applied to Guizhou as well. In the years ahead, "Cool Guizhou" could become a hotbed for green development.

By Yu Lintao 29/7/2013 Beijing Review