Harmonious coexistence a common task

Promoting harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature is a common responsibility of all humanity, and China is willing to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in this regard with countries around the world, a senior official said.

Liu Guozhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and vice-premier of the State Council, China's Cabinet, said that under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, China has witnessed historic, transformative and comprehensive changes in environmental protection over the past decade.

Liu made the remarks on Saturday while addressing the opening ceremony of the Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2023 in Guiyang, Guizhou province.

He said the Chinese government attaches great importance to advancing ecological civilization and will continue to accelerate the greening of its development patterns, strengthen control of pollution and enhance the diversity, stability and sustainability of ecosystems.

The country will make more solid and orderly progress to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, he added.

Liu noted that the two-day event, as a national-level and international forum, has been successfully held for 10 years and has become an important platform for promoting global ecological civilization construction and sustainable development.

The forum, with the theme of "Pursuing modernization of harmony between humanity and nature — promoting green and low-carbon development", will have a positive and far-reaching impact through in-depth exchange of experiences and broad consensus building, he said.

Guizhou Governor Li Bingjun said the forum, China's only national-level and global forum focusing on ecological civilization, has become a showcase of the country's sweeping ecological conservation efforts and an important platform for global exchanges in the field.

Li said he wished that the forum this year will serve as a starting point for more international environment-conserving collaboration, and help accelerate a type of modernization that prizes the coexistence of humans and nature.

"Let's make greater contributions to build a cleaner and prettier world," he said at the forum's opening ceremony.

Authorities in Guiyang hosted the first edition of the forum in 2009, and it emerged as an international gathering with a focus on promoting ecological civilization in 2013.

Over time, the meetings have become a platform to forge global partnerships and exchanges on environmental protection, curb carbon emissions and fight climate change.

This year, the forum brought together more than 2,500 government officials, diplomats and business leaders, among others, according to organizers.

Thorjorn Larssen, managing director of the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, said he first went to Guiyang more than 30 years ago, when he was still a student majoring in the environment. At the time, his trip was to study the acid rain common in the region.

"Here I see that Guizhou has developed a lot and contributed a lot to reducing the pollution situation from the old mining and trying to take action to improve the local environment," he said.