Sustainable development nowadays is not only a fashionable term. It is becoming a requirement.

Despite China's impressive economic achievements, environmental officials warn that they have been for the most part gained through high consumption of resources and ecological degradation. The country's resources and environment will fail to be sustained if such a development models are continued.

But can sustainable development really be achieved or is it just a beautiful phrase?

Positive answers were given by participants at a national contest centred on sustainable development schemes.

Ten of them, including local governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and companies, received awards on Saturday as the best projects to explore new approaches.

Government's role

Ergun is a small and remote city in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Due to its remote location in the hinterlands, the local environment and ecological system have not been affected yet.

Will the city, covering nearly 30,000 square kilometres and with a population of less than 90,000 duplicate the conventional development mode which tends to exhaust resources and destroy the ecology?

Mayor Qian Ruixia said resolutely: "We do not want to turn our attention to protecting the environment only after terrible damage is already done."

In 2002, the city government worked out a long term development plan, which was greatly dependent on local ecological resources.

According to Qian, 90 per cent of the city's land area is covered by virgin ecosystems.

"Here you can find everything but maritime resources, including grasslands, wetlands, forests and rivers," she said.

Local farmers are encouraged to turn cultivated land back to grasslands and breed livestock such as cows. A dairy industry has been set up and eco-tourism is well-developed.

Ecological resources are the base of economic development and therefore any activities harmful to such resources are rejected, Qian said.

For example, the number of tourists entering the city is restricted because too many of them could be a heavy burden for local environment.

The development plan helps preserve the local ecological system, while achieving a double-digit annual rise in gross domestic product (GDP).

The city's development plan was listed as one of the 10 best practices for sustainable development, as selected by a panel of experts among more than 100 cases.

The experts' comments on the Ergun practices read: It effectively combines the protection of ecological resources with economic development, goes on step by step, and will build a beautiful home for generations to come.

NGOs' power

In pursuing sustainable development, NGOs play a role as important engines, said judge Sun Liping, a professor of sociology with the Beijing-based Tsinghua University, at a forum after the awards ceremony.

In this contest, six of the 10 winners were domestic and international NGOs.

The Participatory Watershed Management Research and Promotion Centre is one of them. The centre is based in Kunming of Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

In 2000, the organization began to work with local government and residents in seeking sustainable development for Lashi Lake, a major water source for Lijiang, a tourist attraction in Yunnan on the world heritage site list.

Local residents were included in the decision-making process and helped gain the capacity in making their own decisions on local development, said Yu Xiaogang, the centre's director.

The Lashi Lake region management committee is composed of government representatives, village committee representatives as well as individual villagers.

Liang Yaojun, of the Naxi ethnic minority, is a villager in the Xihu Village in the region, which is where the project is being implemented.

According to Liang, villagers used to fish in the lake and fell trees in forest in the nearby mountains. But gradually "there have been no fish and the ecology has been damaged."

In addition, local farmers cultivated farmlands along the banks of waterways of the lake, which narrowed the waterways.

Yu said the lands were often flooded in rainy seasons and each flood made the area more barren.

Since the project was introduced five years ago, local farmers stopped logging and started to plant trees, and retreated from the waterways to allow wider space to develop.

And shanyao, or Chinese yam, took the place of corn, which used to be the major crop in the village.

Liang said each mu (0.066 hectare) of corn can earn 700 yuan (US$84.6), but for shanyao, the earnings are more than 5,000 yuan (US$604.6).

Together with fruit trees he plants, Liang's annual income has risen from around 5,000 yuan (US$604.6) before 2001 to more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) now.

"We have realized that only when the local environment turns good can we live a better life," Liang said.

"At the beginning we thought environmental protection should not be the sole target. It should be combined with poverty elimination," said Yu.

"We want to achieve the goal that by the time the project is completed, such a development scheme can still be carried on by local farmers themselves," he added.

In addition to grass-roots domestic NGOs, many international NGOs are also joining the effort to promote the idea of sustainable development in China.

Among the 10 winners is the China Programme of US NGO The Nature Conservancy, which is carrying out a project to introduce substitute energy to rural areas in the northwestern region.

In the region, firewood picked from forests is local residents' major energy source for heating and cooking.

According to A Zhu, a native Tibetan with the China Programme, marsh gas, solar water heaters and solar ranges have been promoted in the region since 2001.

Cost is shared equally by the programme, local governments and residents who are willing to adopt the substitute energy ideas, A Zhu said.

The move aims to protect local forests, which are important for biodiversity, and improve indoor air quality, he said.

To date more than 1,000 families are using solar water heaters. About 3,500 are benefiting from marsh gas, while 2,500 have adopted solar ranges, according to A Zhu.

But still, more effort needs to be done because such families only account for 10 per cent of all the rural families in the region, he added.

Corporate responsibility

What should companies do to contribute to sustainable development?

Contest winner Novozymes, a Danish biotechnology company, has provided a possible way.

Since 1998, the company, which has a production base in the development zone of North China's Tianjin Municipality, has been co-operating with local Teda Gardening Co to make use of its production waste.

The company's sewage, after it is treated, is used by the gardening company for watering, while its waste residue is processed to fertilizer and then offered freely to local farmers and the development zone community.

Entrepreneurs should bear in mind ideas on sustainable development and companies should try to do good in the communities in which they are located, said Jiang Weiming, president of Novozymes China, speaking at the forum after the awards ceremony.

The comment of the judging panel on the effort read: Novozymes China and Teda Gardening have developed methods to achieve harmonious development in the economy and environment.

It exemplifies wha a circular economy is. It means to gain the maximum economic benefits through the most efficient use of energy and resources, while environmental pollution is avoided to the most extent.

The panel believes that the case demonstrates a partnership between companies and communities and the active role of corporate responsibility in practising sustainable development.