Green Economy Underway in Guizhou

Southwestern China’s Guizhou Province is attempting to become green economy and so far has made great progress. The Eco-Forum Global held in the provincial capital Guiyang during July 26-28 is Guizhou’s exploration of green economy.

In quick response to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio Centro of Rio de Janeiro， Brazil held in late June， the forum is an unofficial meeting with focus on green economy.

Green economy， a new concept at the Rio+20 summit， became one of the hot topics among participants， showing the world’s eagerness to have a more ambitious future for sustainable development， Xinhua reported. The final document entitled “The Future We Want”at the summit encouraged each country to consider the implementation of green economy policies.

The eco-forum themed with “A green transformation and inclusive growth in the face of global challenges”， consisted of nearly 30 sub-forms， such as ecological protection and technology innovation， green transition and inclusive growth， low carbon development and new energy revolution， etc.

Over 1，000 participants gathered at the fair to discuss the opportunities brought by the green economy transition and the challenges facing ecological security， according to the organizing committee. World well-known country leaders， officials， ecologic experts， scholars and entrepreneurs attended the fair.

The forum initiated in 2009， has been highly praised across the world for its effective practice of the concept of green development.

The past three years witnessed the meeting’s themes evolve from “It’s our responsibility to develop a green economy”， “We’re on the way to green” to “A green transformation means both opportunities and challenges”. There have been about 50 sub-forums where in-depth and heated discussions were held among the 3，000 participants， according to China Daily.

Guizhou is a less developed province with karst landform. In late 1980s， the leaders of Guizhou put forward the idea of ecological construction. In 2007， the government decided to build Guiyang as an ecologically-civilized city.

“The consensus of the city construction of Guiyang is in line with the achievements made at the forum，” Zhu Guiyun， vice mayor of Guiyang， told China’s Foreign Trade.

According to Yang， the polluting enterprises like cement companies in the downtown of Guiyang have been replaced by cultural companies and others. Presently the forest coverage in Guiyang is over 42 percent.

“If ecological civilization can take shape in Guiyang and Guizhou at large， it will have great demonstration effect across the country，”said Zhang Xinsheng， general counsel of China NGO Delegations and the secretary general of the forum.