Building on the success of last year's event, the 2016 Huangguoshu Forum on Sustainable Tourism and Human Settlements will be held from July 9-10 in this famous scenic area in Guizhou province.

The Huangguoshu forum is a part of the 2016 Eco-Forum Global Annual Conference to be held from July 8-10 in Guiyang, the capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province.

According to the administrative committee of the Huangguoshu Waterfall Scenic Area, who is one of the organizers of the event, this year's forum will focus on such topics as building sustainable urban and rural environments, developing eco-friendly tourism and solving the polarization between the rich and the poor.

The committee said 2016 is the first year for implementation of the UN Development Program's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. So the forum will also highlight such sustainability-related issues as recovering ecology through emissions reduction and improving the living environment through developing eco-friendly industries such as tourism.

With the involvement of the UN Environmental Program, the Huangguoshu forum will also act as a warm-up for Habitat III - the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development - to take place in Quito, Ecuador, from Oct 17-20.

Policymakers, experts and entrepreneurs from various countries will share their insights at the forum on such issues as sustainable urban development and sustainable tourism, which will also be discussed at Habitat III.

On the sidelines of the forum, Huangguoshu scenic area will invite representatives from the world's waterfall scenic spots to establish an alliance of globally renowned waterfalls, according to Wang Hongyong, the former head of the administrative committee of the Huangguoshu scenic area who left last month to take up a new position as the secretary-general of Anshun city government.

The waterfall alliance aims to enhance cooperation and facilitate experience-sharing among scenic spots, and set standards for improving services and facilities, Wang said.

He said the alliance will be announced at the closing ceremony of the Huangguoshu forum, adding that a draft charter for the alliance is now in place and, after discussions among representatives, the final charter will also be released on the last day of the forum.

The 2015 Huangguoshu Forum on Sustainable Tourism and Human Settlements was held from June 27-28, last year.

More than 180 delegates from 12 countries including China, the United States, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Egypt and South Korea attended that forum.

This was the first major international event held in the Huangguoshu scenic area. The Huangguoshu Consensus on Sustainable Tourism and Human Settlements was released at the event.

The Global Forum on Human Settlements signed an agreement with the city government of Anshun, which administers Huangguoshu scenic area, for Huangguoshu to be the permanent annual venue for the Asian sub-forum of the Global Forum on Human Settlements.

An international research center for sustainable tourism will also be established in the area.

(China Daily 07/06/2016 page18)