Painting the country green

Beihai Wetland is one of the best nature reserves in Yunnan province. Provided to China Daily

After lawmakers made the environment a priority last year, activists are eager to help create a Beautiful China, Erik Nilsson and Sun Yuanqing report.

Environmental NGOs and grassroots groups are voicing high hopes for the unprecedented environmental emphasis of the Beautiful China campaign announced at last year's 18th National Congress of Communist Party of China.

While lauding progress since then, they say now the focus should be on translating this new prioritization into specific actions. That should come from the intersection of top-down and bottom-up advocacy, grassroots groups say.

"The promotion of ecological civilization comes at a crucial time when China faces increasingly acute environmental challenges while its economy continues to grow profoundly," World Wildlife Fund China's species program director Fan Zhiyong said.

"The WWF believes the concept of building a Beautiful China will lay the foundation for the future sustainable development of the country. It's a long-term national strategic policy rather than a call for action. Concrete measures, effective executions and verifiable supervision mechanisms are needed to maximize this policy's benefits."

Then-President Hu Jintao's report is a milestone because it included the central government's highest-profile declaration of the importance of "ecological progress" alongside economic and social development. It is heralded as the clearest-yet sign of an attitude shift from development at all costs toward a better balance between GDP growth and environmental preservation.

"The emerging power of civil society would eventually be conducive to solving environmental issues," he said.

WWF-China hopes to see specific measures related to water, biodiversity, renewable energy, and sustainable consumption and production, Fan said.

The NGO is willing to share its 30 years of experience in China with all stakeholders, Fan added.

Wildlife Conservation Society China director Kang Aili said she has already seen more integration.

"The connection between our organization and the government has been closer since the Eco-China concept was raised at the 18th congress," Kang said.

"The government has been playing a dominant role in the process. Officials are more understanding when talking about environmental issues. They've also provided more support."

But improvements have extended beyond closer cooperation between government and civil society.

"(Officials) choose environmental protection over development, which wasn't the case in the past," Kang said.

This is true not only on the national but also local levels, she said.

Kang noted that the government of Jilin province's Hunchun agreed to install night-vision cameras to monitor Siberian tigers. The Tibet autonomous region pledged 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) for species protection and increased the Qiangtang Natural Reserve's patrol officers to 200.

While welcoming such advancements, Kang called for updating the more than 20-year-old wildlife protection law to "include more voices from society".

She also voiced concerns the Eco-China concept could become "distorted".

"The concept is good but shouldn't be idealized," she said.

"Eco-China doesn't mean turning natural scenery into artificial green belts."

Friends of Nature communications director Guo Jinghui said the Eco-China concept should not only focus on such "natural" areas as the countryside but also influence urban hubs.

"Whatever happens in the city is related to the countryside and rainforests," she explained. "We've been working on household garbage reduction, transportation, energy-saving and better living."

This, too, will require grassroots involvement combined with policy, Guo said.

"We've been trying to build a platform where everyone, including children and families, can participate in protecting their own communities," she said.

Friends of Nature submitted proposals suggesting this approach to this year's National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

"The environmental problem in China has not only been a public concern but also has become a source of social conflict," Guo said.

"The idea of Eco-China is to keep the bottom lines untouched - to ensure that people have safe drinking water and food. The fact that the government is paying more attention to the environment is definitely a positive thing. But we need more action."

Beijing Green Cross founder Sun Jun agreed that it is crucial to protect ecological foundations.

"The environment and agriculture is the soil from which modernization grows. Without them, civilization would have been impossible," he said.

"The government has been demonstrating a big shift in their attitude toward environmental issues."

Sun also pointed to urbanization practices as a potential reform from the Eco-China campaign.

"The government is building the countryside with the techniques and ideas derived from the urban areas, which could damage the rural environment," he said.

"Also, the think tanks and planning experts have to be more down to earth. About 35 years ago, 800 million Chinese farmers were organic farming experts. Now, they have to be taught organic farming by experts who don't really know how to farm. That means we have to better combine scientific research with practice."

Roots & Shoots Beijing communications coordinator Zhang Tianhao said Beautiful China's Eco-China accentuation signals a meaningful mentality shift among policymakers.

Zhang hoped the campaign would enhance education and focus on the youth.

"Young people's behavior defines the future," Zhang said.

"We're looking forward to seeing more young people participating in building a more beautiful environment."

Roots & Shoots has more than 600 groups in schools from the primary to higher education levels throughout the country. The NGO said it hopes the Eco-China concept will insert environmental issues into curriculums.

"Environmental education is very important in this campaign," Zhang said.

"Education takes more than one day, one month, even one year - but we all know that, once learned, the impact lasts a lifetime."

Zhang agreed that a blend of government and grassroots efforts is crucial to Eco-China's success.

"We can combine top-down with bottom-up," Zhang said.

"Environmentalism is something everyone has to take part in. If the places around us are beautiful, then we'll have a beautiful China."

Contact the writers through erik_nilsson@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 06/06/2013 page35)