The draft of China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), which is being reviewed by lawmakers at the annual session, has also highlighted environmental protection.

Hu Angang, an economist at Tsinghua University, said that the economic goals set in the draft are guiding targets, while the environmental goals are binding ones — meaning that government officials will risk their career if they fail to achieve the ecological goals.

Additionally, the number of binding targets for environmental protection has risen from eight in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) to 10, an unprecedented move, Hu said.

For example, consumption of water per unit of GDP is set to fall by 23 percent by 2020, consumption of energy per unit by 15 percent and carbon dioxide by 18 percent, according to the draft.

Luo Huining, a lawmaker and also a top official of Qinghai, said that Sanjiangyuan is the most sensitive place for global climate change and the ecology there is related to the water safety of China and the rest of Asia.

The local government will relocate about 60,000 residents from the national park area for ecological restoration, he said.

"Our goal of establishing Sanjiangyuan national park is not to boost tourism, but to protect the ecology there," Luo said.

Contact the writers at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn