Guiyang advances moves to develop as green city

The city of Guiyang – capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province – is continuing its concerted moves on the environmental front, to develop as a so-called ecological civilization.

The push for cities to become ecological civilizations is part of a national program to, among other things, vigorously pursue the path of sustainable development while protecting the environment. Some leading international environmentalists say China has committed itself resolutely to a sustainable development path and has taken the lead in global ecological civilization efforts. 

Yang Bo, director of the Guiyang bureau of ecology and environment, delivered a lecture on April 30 on the city's development as an ecological civilization. A total of 90 students from the Municipal Party School of Guiyang listened intently to his ideas.

Yang said Guiyang had stuck to the right economic and environmental development path and had emphasized its green and high-quality development since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) took place in Beijing in 2012.

Guiyang is also believed to be shouldering its environmental duties and is continuing to boost its construction as an ecological civilization, which Yang said would yield it fruit going forwards.

In order to achieve greater results, Guiyang needed to roll out five measures, he said. The first was to optimize its ecological and environment quality and strengthen pollution controls via the comprehensive use of satellite remote sensing, aviation telemetry and ground monitoring.

The second involved a series of strict pollution prevention measures. The continual improvement in the environment stood out, Yang said – especially in Guiyang's achievement of blue skies, clear water and clean land, as well as the proper treatment of its waste and its observation of strict rural governance.

Another area was the need for continuous efforts in ecological protection. Protection of biological diversity and the establishment of an evaluation system of resources and environmental carrying capacity needed further exploration.

In addition, Guiyang needed to take a new path to green development and strive for peaking its carbon emissions by 2030. Apart from energy-saving and emission reductions, Guiyang had the potential to undertake a new developmental philosophy and valid environmental assessment method.

Last but not least, Yang said the construction of efficient ecological civilization systems called for innovation.

To make it happen, ecological and environmental organizations and governmental departments needed to collaborate with each other.

This would help establish better land and space development patterns, the greener transformation of production and lifestyles, more reasonable allocations of energy resources, less emissions of major pollutants and more beautiful urban and rural living environments.

Through these moves, Yang added, Guiyang was realistically expecting more progress and a better future.