And a press conference held by the ongoing Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) yesterday has added to the sense of urgency on this issue.

China's expanding appetite for everything from grain to gas, from oil to ore has aroused mixed feelings around the world in recent years.

While optimists see a huge consumer market in China, the sceptics feel deeply worried about the impact the development of this economic power might impose on world resources.

It should be good news to all that inside China, a developing country with the world's largest population, a domestic consensus has already been reached on the necessity to depend mainly on its own resources in the pursuit of sustainable growth.

The 1.3 billion mainland population and the below-world-average per capita resources of water, land, energy and raw materials have long constituted a significant restraint on the pace of China's economic growth.

Widespread blackouts have resulted from breakneck investment growth that has pushed up electricity demand. This must have alerted policy-makers to the economy's energy and resource limits.

Clearly, this problem can only be ignored at the country's peril, though more than two decades of rapid growth has tremendously enhanced China's economic strength.

A three-year national campaign the Chinese Government launched last year to promote resource saving is a timely response to this problem.

Electricity and water price hikes across the country have helped cut consumption as well as raise the public's awareness of the scarcity of such resources.

Efforts are needed to make resource saving a virtue for all members of our society.

But to transform the country's extensive growth pattern into one efficient in use of energy and resources, both the government and businesses need to make resource saving a virtue. It is their obligation to economize everywhere.

Early reports say that the country plans to introduce energy-efficiency labels. Adoption of such a system will be a welcome first stab at changing the way China consumes resources.

Admittedly, it will takes additional money to upgrade the energy efficiency of existing products.

Businesses need to change, as does the government, especially those local ones, which still play a fundamental role in directing and boosting economic growth.

The old practice of pursuing fast economic growth at the expense of resources and the environment should be stopped as soon as possible.

It is encouraging that the country has inaugurated a pilot "green GDP" system in 10 cities and provinces to include environmental costs in measuring local development.

A similar mechanism is needed to urge local governments to take resource saving equally seriously.