【Guangming Forum】Handing over the "green answer sheet" that the people are satisfied with the world's attention

  【Guangming Forum】 

  Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, China has continued to fight the battle of pollution prevention and control, promoted the green and low-carbon transformation of development mode, greatly improved the ecological environment and quality of life, built a more resilient ecological security barrier, and undergone historic, turning and overall changes in the construction of ecological civilization from theory to practice, and the construction of a beautiful China has taken major strides. The achievements of ecological civilization construction in the new era have attracted worldwide attention and become a significant symbol of the historic achievements and changes in the cause of the Party and the country in the new era. At the recent National Conference on Ecological Environmental Protection, General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly proposed to "accelerate the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature" and urge people to forge ahead.

  The environment is people's livelihood, and the blue sky is also happiness. The construction of ecological civilization highlights the people-centered development thinking and aims to meet the people's yearning for a better life. In the new era, China continues to promote the upgrading of pollution prevention and control, protects the ecological environment with the strictest system and the strictest rule of law, and through unremitting efforts, has handed over a "green answer" that is satisfactory to the people and attracted the attention of the world. Air quality continued to improve, the average concentration of fine particulate matter in cities at the prefecture level and above across the country has decreased continuously in the past 10 years, the average concentration of major pollutants such as inhalable particulate matter has been stable for three consecutive years, and the proportion of severe pollution days and above will be reduced to less than 1% for the first time in 2022, making China the country with the fastest improvement in air quality in the world. Soil environmental quality has remained stable on the whole, achieving full coverage of all counties (cities, districts) in soil environmental quality monitoring points nationwide, carrying out soil pollution source control and rectification in key areas, and effectively curbing the accelerating trend of soil pollution. The quality of the water environment is stable and improving, the proportion of sections with excellent water quality in the country is close to the level of developed countries, the black and odorous water bodies of cities at the prefecture level and above have been basically eliminated, and the water quality of key river basins and coastal waters has maintained an overall improvement trend. Through systematic ecological environment governance and the defense of blue sky, blue water and pure land, the people have truly felt the improvement of ecological environment quality, and the development concept of "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and has become a consensus.

  Heaven and earth are born with me, and all things are one with me. The construction of ecological civilization embodies the value concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and promotes the construction of a community of life between man and nature. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that "more and more human activities continue to touch the boundaries and bottom line of natural ecology. It is necessary to guard the safety boundary and bottom line for nature, and form a pattern of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. "The ecological environment is not a simple natural thing, but a composite ecosystem, and human protection of the ecological environment is actually protecting human beings themselves." Maintaining the diversity and stability of ecosystems through integrated ecological protection and restoration is actually building an ecological security barrier for the sustainable development of human society. In recent years, the central government has invested an average of about 10 billion yuan per year to carry out the integrated protection and restoration project of landscapes, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand in the overall layout of the country, forming a spatial pattern of ecological security dominated by "three districts and four belts". In 2022, China's integrated protection and restoration project of landscapes, waters, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand was selected as one of the first ten "World Ecological Restoration Flagship Projects" by the United Nations, and was named "one of the most promising, ambitious and inspiring examples of large-scale ecological restoration in the world". In the past 10 years, a total of 1.02 billion mu of afforestation has been completed in the country, and China has become the country with the fastest growth of forest resources in the world. Desertification prevention and control have achieved practical results, the area of desertification land has been reduced by 5 million hectares in the past 10 years, the key treatment areas have achieved a historic transformation from "sand into people retreating" to "green sand retreating", and China has completed the goal of land degradation zero growth proposed by the United Nations ahead of schedule... Through all-round, focused and multi-field ecological environmental protection and restoration work, China's socio-ecological system has become more resilient and dynamic, and harmony between people and land and "poetic habitat" have become a reality.

  The road is not far away, and there is no foreign country. China's ecological civilization construction helps promote the realization of global sustainable development goals and injects new momentum into global ecological environment governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that "building an ecological civilization is related to the future of mankind. The international community should work together to find a way to build a global ecological civilization." In the past decade, China's energy consumption structure has shifted to clean and low-carbon, the proportion of clean energy consumption has increased by at least 11 percentage points 10 years ago, and the proportion of coal consumption has decreased by more than 12 percentage points, becoming one of the fastest reducing energy intensity countries in the world. China has built the world's largest carbon market and clean power generation system, and the installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, solar power generation and biomass power generation ranks first in the world. The green supply capacity has been significantly enhanced, the production and sales of new energy vehicles have ranked first in the world, and the international market share of green power ships is close to half. Implement the classification of domestic waste according to local conditions, carry out actions such as saving food, opposing waste and opposing excessive packaging of goods, and green lifestyles have become fashionable. In the field of ecological civilization, China has achieved a major transformation from a participant in global environmental governance to a leader.

  The blueprint has been drawn and the time to fight is now. On the new journey, comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China and accelerating the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature is a sacred mission and arduous task entrusted to us by history. Let us take active action, deeply study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, be an active communicator and model practitioner of the concept of "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains", jointly draw a new picture of the construction of a beautiful China, and continue to contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese strength to global sustainable development.

  (Authors: Ye Chao and Liu Zhimin, respectively, professors of the School of Geographical Sciences, East China Normal University, distinguished researcher of Shanghai Xi Jinping Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and assistant researcher of the Institute of Urban and Population Development, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences)