There was a forum as part of the larger Eco Forum Global, on July 19, in Guiyang, the capital of China's Guizhou province, that drew in specialists both China and abroad to share their ideas on ecological restoration of coal mining areas around the province.

This particular forum, whose theme was "Green mine - the fulcrum of Guizhou's Eco Civilization", had Carlo Rubbia, a particle physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize for physics discussing green mining through a green transformation, land rehabilitation and construction of ecological towns.

Rubbia said that because of the world's explosive population growth, the development mode needs to be changed and greenhouse gas emissions controlled for sustainable development and research on alternative energies and resource-efficient methods can help.

Also, on hand were officials from China's Ministry of Land and Resources and the municipal government officials and corporate representatives. Wu Haiyang, head of the Ministry's Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation department, noted that China needs to perfect the land rehabilitation system and urge enterprises to rehabilitate and improve scientific innovation to improve mines and the ecology and environment around them and sustainable development of the economy.

Liu Yaping, the GM of Aluminum Corp of China's Guizhou branch, said that eco-restoration in the province's coal mining area is the responsibility of every mining company and a must for sustainable development.