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Speech by Director Li Qingrui at the “Environmental Protection and Ecological Civilization Construction” Forum 2009-02-18 Today, we are gathered here in large numbers to contribute our ideas and suggestions for the environmental protection efforts and ecological civilization development in Henan. As a person working in the field of environmental protection, I am very pleased. Just now, Governor David delivered a wonderful speech, and Academicians Jin and Wei, two former leaders from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, gave us excellent presentations. Yesterday afternoon, Academician Wei Fusheng even made a special trip to the Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau to give us a lecture on environmental monitoring. Listening to the three insightful presentations has greatly inspired and educated all of us. Next, I would like to share three points of view on emancipating the mind and being proactive in order to accelerate the development of ecological civilization in Henan. Please point out any mistakes. I. Emancipate the mind and deeply understand the great significance of building an ecological civilization (1) Correctly understand the relationship between ecological civilization and environmental protection The meaning of ecological civilization can be understood from both broad and narrow perspectives. In a broad sense, ecological civilization is a new form of civilization in human society that follows primitive civilization, agricultural civilization, and industrial civilization. It takes the coordinated development of humans and nature as its guiding principle, establishes a healthy and orderly ecological mechanism, and achieves sustainable development in the economic, social, and natural environments. This form of civilization manifests in various fields such as the material, spiritual, and political spheres, and represents the sum of humanity’s material, spiritual, and institutional achievements. In a narrow sense, ecological civilization is one of the forms of contemporary civilization, alongside material civilization, political civilization, and spiritual civilization. It emphasizes the level of civilization achieved by humanity in its interactions with nature, highlighting the interdependence and mutual promotion between humans and the natural environment. It is based on the respect for and preservation of nature, aims at harmonious coexistence among people, between humans and nature, and between humans and society, and entails the establishment of sustainable production and consumption patterns, guiding people toward a path of sustainable and harmonious development. The core of the concept of ecological civilization is the transition from \"humans dominating nature\" to \"harmonious development between humans and nature\". In terms of the political system, environmental issues have been incorporated into the political structure and legal framework, becoming one of the central topics in society ； In terms of material forms, new types of materials are created, traditional material production sectors are transformed, and new industrial systems are established, such as the circular economy and green industries ； In the spiritual realm, ecological cultural forms are created, including environmental education, environmental technology, and environmental **, among others. From environmental protection to the construction of an ecological civilization, this represents a refinement of our views on ecology and civilization. It elevates environmental protection from a purely technical level to a systemic one. This sublimation is an inevitable outcome of the industrial civilization’s own evolution and self-transcendence, as well as a wise choice in the face of real-world contradictions. With the elevation of concepts, the approach to environmental protection has also become more comprehensive: from the establishment of the principle of giving priority to environmental protection, to the rise of green administration, and to the creation of a system in which pollution emission comes with a cost while pollution control can generate revenue – all of these are outcomes of viewing ecological civilization as a whole. “The concept that \"environmental protection focuses on construction,\" as well as the emphasis on protecting the environment during development, are both outcomes of scientifically understanding the relationship between ecological civilization and material civilization and achieving their joint development. Adhering to a people-oriented approach, comprehensive and coordinated sustainable development, actively promoting the construction of an ecological civilization, and fostering harmony between humanity and nature have become the most important and fundamental tasks assigned to environmental protection in the overall context of China’s economic and social development. They constitute the foundation and essence of environmental protection work in the new era. All efforts in environmental protection should be carried out with the fundamental goal of building an ecological civilization. (II) Fully recognize the great significance of building an ecological civilization. Building an ecological civilization is a major strategic initiative of the Party and **. The report of the 17th National Congress of the Party included ecological civilization as one of the goals in the effort to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. This represents our Party’s new understanding of socialist modernization, a new understanding of scientific development, and at the same time an elevation of the concept of environmental protection. In recent years, the ****State Council has attached great importance to the development of ecological civilization; Prime Ministers ***** and ** have repeatedly expressed their strong hopes and clear demands regarding environmental protection. At the Sixth National Environmental Protection Conference, **the Prime Minister personally attended the meeting and delivered an important speech, calling for accelerated achievement of the “three transformations” in environmental protection. The State Council included the goal of reducing two major pollutants by 10% as a mandatory target in the Outline of the 11th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development. Meanwhile, it issued a separate decision on implementing the Scientific Outlook on Development and strengthening environmental protection, which further clarified the goals, tasks, and specific requirements for environmental protection in the coming period. In this reform of State Council agencies, the former **General Administration of Environmental Protection was upgraded to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, becoming a department under the State Council. This fully demonstrates that environmental protection and ecological civilization have become **central elements, key areas of struggle, and important platforms in political, economic, and social life. Building an ecological civilization is an inevitable choice for the comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable development of Henan’s economy and society. As we pursue accelerated development, we must also confront the reality that Henan’s ecological environment has an extremely fragile carrying capacity, and the environmental situation is very severe; the pressures associated with accelerating development are increasing day by day. Our province is the most populous in the country; its 167,000 square kilometers of land support a population of 98.69 million people, resulting in 591 people per square kilometer. It is yet another province with extremely limited environmental resources per capita. The average annual water resource volume in the whole province is 40.5 billion cubic meters, ranking it 19th in the country; the per capita water resource amount is 420 cubic meters, which is one-fifth of the national average, placing it 22nd in the country. At the same time, due to its high population density, underdeveloped industrial structure, and significant structural pollution, Henan is also a province with high levels of pollution emissions. The emissions of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) per square kilometer are 4.15 tons and 9.37 tons respectively, which are 2.88 times and 3.65 times higher than the national average. The per capita resource allocation is below the national average, while the total amount of pollutants emitted per unit area is above the national average. This issue has become a major \"bottleneck\" hindering Henan’s rapid development. To achieve scientific development, development that is both high-quality and fast, and to realize the goal of transitioning from a large economic province to a strong one, it is essential to firmly pursue an path of ecological civilization characterized by resource conservation and environmental friendliness. Building an ecological civilization is also a key experience for the comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable development of Henan’s economy and society. In recent years, the Henan Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government have thoroughly implemented the Scientific Outlook on Development, regarding environmental protection as the key area and breakthrough point for driving economic transformation, promoting structural adjustment, and changing the mode of development. By addressing the issues that are of concern to the public as well as the prominent environmental problems that affect economic and social development, they have taken comprehensive measures to tackle pollution, resulting in significant progress in reducing pollution levels. In 2007, the total emissions of the key pollutants COD and sulfur dioxide in our province decreased by 3.76% and 3.7% respectively. In the first half of this year, these decreases were 5.38% and 5.66% respectively, making our province the only one in the country where both figures exceeded 5% in terms of decline ； There has been a significant improvement in both water and air quality. From January to August, the average concentrations of COD and ammonia nitrogen in the water samples taken at the designated monitoring points for surface water across the province decreased by 20.7% and 30.6% respectively compared to the same period last year ； The proportion of days with excellent air quality in urban areas was 95.4%, an increase of 4.3 percentage points compared to the previous year ； The average compliance rate of water quality taken from drinking water sources remained at 100%. While positive progress has been made in reducing pollution and the ecological environment continues to improve, the province’s economy and society have also experienced sustained and rapid development. GDP has maintained double-digit growth for several years in a row; in 2007, the province’s GDP reached 1.5 trillion yuan, ranking it fifth in the country. There is a positive trend of mutual promotion between economic development and environmental protection. In the power industry, for example, while the total sulfur dioxide emissions across the province were effectively reduced, the installed capacity increased significantly – standing at 28.81 million kilowatts by the end of 2005, and reaching 41.15 million kilowatts by the end of 2007, an increase of 43% over those two years. Thanks to the achievements in pollution reduction, environmental capacity has been freed up. Since the beginning of this year, 23 major projects, including those of Angang, Pingmei, Mengdian, and Haima, have received approval from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and 19 enterprises have passed environmental compliance audits for listing. The achievement of these results has accumulated valuable experience for our province in accelerating comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable economic and social development as well as advancing the construction of an ecological civilization. II. Clarify tasks and fully understand the inherent requirements for the construction of ecological civilization in our province. Ecological civilization is a theoretical system with rich connotations, which can be roughly divided into four levels. The first is conscious civilization. These include an awareness of ecological concerns, an understanding of ecological science, an appreciation of ecological values, an ecological aesthetic sense, and a sense of ecological responsibility. They are primarily reflected in adopting a worldview that emphasizes coexistence and mutual prosperity between humans and nature, establishing a development approach that ensures harmony among society, the economy, and nature, and choosing a lifestyle characterized by healthy and moderate consumption. Second is civilized behavior. Through the actions of governments, enterprises, the public, and others, by employing political, economic, technological and other means, practical and effective approaches are adopted to address various problems faced in the process of human development, thereby promoting the healthy development of humanity and the sustainable use of natural resources. Third is institutional civilization. This mainly includes improving the systems to promote ecological civilization, ensuring the full implementation of various regulations, maintaining a high level of environmental awareness among the public, and achieving significant results in ecological environment protection. Fourth is industrial civilization. Accelerate the development of ecological industries such as ecological agriculture, ecological industry, ecological services, and environmental protection industries, and build economic and social development on a foundation that the ecological environment can sustain. Expand economic reproduction while ensuring natural regeneration, thereby creating a socio-economic-natural ecosystem that features an optimized industrial structure, a rational economic layout, continuously improving resource renewal and environmental carrying capacity, growing economic strength, and efficient, sustainable, and healthy development. In outlining the goals for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the report of the 17th National Congress stated that it is necessary to develop an ecological civilization and essentially establish industrial structures, patterns of growth, and consumption habits that emphasize energy and resource conservation as well as the protection of the ecological environment. The circular economy has reached a significant scale, and the share of renewable energy has increased markedly. The emission of major pollutants has been effectively controlled, and the quality of the ecological environment has improved significantly. The concept of ecological civilization should be firmly established throughout society. The Outline of the 11th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of Henan Province states that the main goals for the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan include \"effective improvement of the ecological environment, as well as achieving phased results in building a society that makes use of resources efficiently and is environmentally friendly.\" The strategic tasks involve \"strengthening environmental protection and ecological development, promoting a shift from an extensive to an intensive mode of economic growth, and striving to achieve development that is resource-efficient, clean, safe, and sustainable.\" ”To ensure the achievement of the mandatory targets set by the State Council and to free up overall quotas for new major projects, our province has raised the reduction targets for COD and SO2 to 15.6% and 17.4% respectively, which is 4.8 and 3.4 percentage points higher than the reduction targets assigned by the State Council. III. Be proactive and accelerate the advancement of ecological civilization construction in our province. Building ecological civilization is a massive systematic project with lofty goals, wide-ranging implications, and arduous tasks; it requires sustained efforts from the entire society. It is necessary to focus on long-term objectives while taking immediate actions as well. In the period to come, we will focus closely on the development of ecological civilization as our core priority, fully implement the scientific outlook on development, and take action in several key areas to further strengthen environmental protection efforts and continuously improve environmental quality. We will strive to achieve the goals of \"two protections and one high efficiency\", that is, \"to effectively protect the ecological environment, ensure the needs of development, and achieve efficient use of environmental capacity\". (1) Taking total quantity control as the guiding principle, vigorously promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure. Eliminate, in accordance with the law, outdated technologies, processes, and equipment that do not conform to **industrial policies, and advance the technological upgrading of traditional industries ； Strengthen efforts to reduce pollution emissions, advance the construction of second and third wastewater treatment plants in large and medium-sized cities as well as desulfurization facilities in non-electric industries, in order to free up environmental capacity for economic development. At the same time, consider in advance the goals and targets that may be set out in the emission reduction plan for the 12th Five-Year Plan, and take early preparations ； Strictly control the construction of projects with high energy consumption and high pollution, and provide strong support for high-tech industry projects in areas such as new energy, opto-mechatronics, and new materials ； By shortening approval times, simplifying approval procedures, supporting companies in going public, and promoting planning and environmental impact assessments, efforts are made to support the construction of major projects and facilitate the optimization and upgrading of the province’s economic structure. (II) Focusing on improving people’s livelihoods, efforts are made to address prominent environmental issues. Starting with those issues that pose threats to public health and hinder sustainable development, measures such as comprehensive environmental remediation and targeted environmental protection actions are taken. By concentrating resources and taking firm action, environmental violations are severely cracked down on, and progress is made in resolving key and difficult environmental problems, thereby effectively protecting the environmental rights of the public. (III) Raising the level of environmental supervision by relying on capacity building Within 2–3 years, it is necessary to establish in our province an automated environmental monitoring system that covers the entire province, features comprehensive functions and advanced technology, and ranks among the best in the country. This system should include monitoring of water and air quality, monitoring of key pollution sources, monitoring of radioactive sources, as well as provincial and municipal automatic monitoring centers and emergency monitoring systems, thereby promoting more scientific, standardized, and efficient environmental supervision. Recently, Governor Guo Gengmao presided over a regular provincial meeting, deciding to accelerate the development of environmental automatic monitoring systems. Yesterday afternoon, Vice Governor Zhang Dawei convened a special meeting of the provincial government, at which it was officially decided to invest around 670 million yuan to establish a comprehensive automatic environmental monitoring system across the province by June 30, 2010. Recently, the provincial ** authority will issue the \"Approval on Strengthening the Development of the Provincial Environmental Automatic Monitoring System\" as well as the overall plan ； In the near future, a large-scale mobilization meeting will be held to fully launch the construction of the provincial environmental automatic monitoring system. (IV) Utilize mechanism innovation as a means to comprehensively improve the efficiency of environmental management. Improve policies such as green credit, green securities, green finance, green pricing, green insurance, green trade, as well as those that rely on incentives rather than subsidies to encourage environmental protection efforts. Accelerate the establishment of an ecological compensation mechanism, carry out pilot projects for ecological compensation along the Shaying River, as well as in the water source areas of the Central Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, in the ecological function areas of the Huai River, and in areas affected by mining activities. Study and explore policies related to the trading of emission rights, and increase the use of economic measures to promote environmental protection efforts. (5) Using publicity and education as a means to continuously strengthen the concept of ecological civilization among the entire population. Through activities such as the Central Plains Environmental Protection Century Campaign and large-scale public consultations on environmental issues, efforts are made to promote ecological civilization, and to encourage and guide people toward frugal and green lifestyles as well as healthy and moderate consumption patterns. Promote government transparency to ensure the public’s right to know, participate, and supervise. Through social hearings, online consultations, and other means, experts, scholars, non-governmental organizations, and the general public are encouraged to take a greater role in environmental protection decision-making. This approach aims to gradually establish a comprehensive environmental supervision and management system that includes oversight by party committees and administrative authorities, legal supervision, supervision by the Political Consultative Conference, media supervision, as well as public and societal oversight. Distinguished academicians and experts, leaders, comrades, and friends, building an ecological civilization entails great responsibilities and a glorious mission. Under the correct leadership of the provincial Party committee and the provincial **, we will be innovative and resilient in the face of challenges, devote our full efforts to carrying out all environmental protection tasks conscientiously, and make solid progress in building an ecological civilization. We will contribute everything we can as environmental workers to ensure that the skies in the Central Plains region are bluer, the waters clearer, and the mountains greener, so that the people of the entire province can have access to clean water and fresh air