A senior environmental protection official has urged for more supervision and participation from the public to ensure success in the country's fight against worsening pollution.

"The ultimate impetus to the solution to China's grave environment issue will come from the public," Pan Yue, vice-minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said.

"(The public) should fully implement their right to know, to participate, to express and to supervise, as granted by the Constitution, so that they can engage in deeper participation in the environmental protection campaign."

Pan, who is also head of the China Environment Culture Promotion Association, made the call on Saturday at the launch ceremony for "Green China Public Interest Day for Environmental Protection".

The event, which was held simultaneously in eight Chinese mainland cities, aimed to promote awareness for environmental protection among the public and encourage their participation.

Pan said attracting more public participation and upgrading environmental protection legislation were equally urgent and important.

He said that to encourage public participation the SEPA would enact the first regulation on environment information publicity in the first half of this year in a bid to improve transparency.

The new regulation will follow the implementation of the regulation on methods for public participation in environmental protection evaluation.

"All these moves are aimed at laying a base for cultivating the spirit of public interest (to participate in environmental protection," Pan said.

The official said China's economic development has been restricted by the rapid decrease in farmland, freshwater, minerals and forest, and the health of the people was at risk from water, air and soil pollution.

The number of lawsuits and collective crises caused by environmental issues is growing by 30 percent each year, he said.

Nearly 1,000 representatives from all circles planted 5,000 trees Saturday morning in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in southern Guangdong Province, Fuzhou and Nanchang in eastern Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, Zhengzhou in central Henan Province and Xi'an in northwestern Shaanxi Province.

In Beijing, Pan and other public figures from art, literature, academic circles and some NGO organizations have in all planted 2,008 trees at the foot of the Badaling section of the Great Wall.

The eight cities will also hold more events to propose the establishment of an environment protection public-interest day.

(China Daily 04/02/2007 page3)