Five-year plan 'to offer ecological boost'

China will make more innovative efforts to push forward guidelines on ecological development, and offer more specifics in the nation's upcoming five-year plan, an economic think tank said on Wednesday.

Yang Chunping, an expert on ecological development at the Institute of Economic System and Management, under the National Development and Reform Commission, made the remarks with three other environmental experts in a news release on Wednesday.

The experts offered suggestions on the country's ongoing eco-friendly development.

Yang said the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) - the road map for the country's social and economic development - is being drafted, and the plan will have a special chapter with details on ecological growth.

Yang said that in this section, the central government will provide a road map for reaching the goals for ecological development.

Eco-civilization development has attracted increasing attention from the country's governments, with the State Council, China's Cabinet, issuing the first national strategy on May 5.

It lists 10 major goals, including pollutant emissions reduction and compensation for losses, and also states that government officials will be held responsible for pollution beyond their terms of office.

The guideline was issued in an attempt to improve the country's environment. It vows to achieve "major progress" in this area by 2020, such as by reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels.

In the overall road map, there are several stipulations that require innovative efforts to meet the goals, such as the natural-assets balance sheet, which allows authorities to have a clear picture of all natural resources and the changes, Yang said.

"Huzhou city in Zhejiang province has already built such a system, with more cities starting their own research in this field," he said.

Five provinces and another 52 districts and cities have been listed in the first group of pilot zones for eco-civilization development, which requires them to take innovative efforts to improve the environment. Selection of the second group is continuing, Yang said.

zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn