August 15 chosen as 1st National Ecology Day

Top legislature makes decision to spread environmental conservation knowledge

China's top legislature has designated Aug 15 as National Ecology Day, as the country strives to enhance environmental conservation for the construction of an ecological civilization.

A draft decision on establishing the day was submitted to a session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress for deliberation on Monday. It was passed on Wednesday.

The country will hold various publicity and education activities on the day to advocate ecological civilization, the committee said in a media release.

Ecological civilization is a concept promoted by President Xi Jinping for balanced and sustainable development that features harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

What makes Aug 15 special is that on the day in 2005, Xi, who then worked as Party chief of Zhejiang province, first put forward the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" when visiting Anji county in the province. The assertion was a core idea of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, the release said.

The establishment of the day will further promote ecological approaches to the public.

It is expected to help raise awareness about ecological civilization and make more people proactively support environmental protection in terms of both thinking and actions, the committee noted.

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, the country's environmental protection efforts have seen sweeping, historic and transformative changes since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in late 2012, said Liang Ying, an official with the NPC's Legislative Affairs Commission.

The establishment of the day is of great significance, as it will help consistently promote China's ecological civilization process, he said.

He called on relevant government bodies to seize the time to prepare various activities with rich content to celebrate the first National Ecology Day.

"They should take the day as an opportunity to continue promoting more in-depth study, publicity and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization," he said.

When reporting to the NPC standing committee on the draft decision to set up the day on Monday, Zhao Chenxin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, provided a series of numbers to demonstrate the achievements China has made in promoting ecological civilization under the leadership of President Xi.

From 2012 to last year, China managed to support average annual economic growth of 6.2 percent, with a yearly increase of 3 percent in energy consumption, he said.

During that time, the country's energy consumption per unit of GDP fell by 26.4 percent, which is equivalent to reducing the consumption of standard coal by over 1.4 billion metric tons.

Many national political advisers and legislators have proposed establishing a National Ecology Day in recent years. Some provinces and cities have already set up regional ecology days, including Zhejiang and Guizhou provinces and Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, he said.