The Ministry of Natural Resources on November 6 released the 2024 China National Ecological Protection and Restoration Bulletin. This bulletin provides a comprehensive review of China’s practices and systems related to ecological protection and restoration, ecological assessments and restoration actions, and the country’s contributions to global environmental sustainability.
For the first time, China has summarized its ecological protection and restoration efforts in the form of a national bulletin. The report integrates the country’s foundational ecological conditions across land and marine ecosystems, systematically showcasing the major achievements in this field.
Environmental protection is one of the fundamental national policies of China, with restoring damaged ecosystems being an important aspect of these efforts. Like many nations, China faces environmental challenges stemming from natural disasters and industrial pollution.
In response, the Chinese Government has devoted considerable human, material and financial resources to ecological protection and restoration. To further support this work, it has enacted several laws and regulations, including the Yangtze River Protection Law, the Yellow River Protection Law, the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Ecological Protection Law, the Land Management Law, the Forest Law, the Grassland Law, and the Wetland Conservation Law. These legal frameworks serve to protect and restore ecosystems in a systematic and enforceable manner.
China’s decades-long efforts in afforestation and desertification control stand as a testament to the country’s achievements in ecological protection. According to figures released by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration on August 15, China’s forest coverage rate has reached 24 percent, up from 21.6 percent in 2013. Over the past 30 years, the nation has contributed 25 percent of the world’s newly created green areas.
Equally important is the growing public awareness of ecological protection, nurtured through decades of environmental education. Today, slogans such as “protecting the environment like we protect our eyes” and “green is gold” have become widely recognized, symbolizing a cultural shift toward sustainability.
Currently, China is advancing on its path to modernization. And given the global emphasis on sustainable development and climate action, the release of this bulletin is especially timely—and carries dual significance.
First, the bulletin helps unite undertakings for the harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature in the modernization process. It details China’s natural ecological conditions, including ecological background, ecosystem characteristics, and associated risks. This information shows the need for more collaborative efforts in future ecological protection and restoration, establishing a basis for targeted, science-driven strategies. Additionally, it stresses the importance of improving the capacity and proficiency in ecological protection and restoration.
Second, the bulletin serves as a model for global ecological protection and restoration. China has been actively contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Agenda and international conventions on climate change, biodiversity, desertification control and wetlands, positioning itself as a participant, contributor and leader in global ecological work.
Several of the nation’s ecological restoration models, such as the Shan-Shui Initiative—focused on the integrated conservation of water resources, forest, farmland, grassland and desert—and the Saihanba mechanized forest farm model for land degradation management, have earned international recognition. These approaches, rooted in China’s own experiences and characteristics, provide valuable insights and solutions to global ecological protection and restoration. The bulletin also details China’s specific conservation practices, and calls for strengthening international consensus on global ecological progress.
At present, global ecological protection faces numerous challenges, especially due to the adverse practices of some developed countries in addressing climate change. Against this backdrop, China’s release of a national bulletin on ecological protection and restoration demonstrates the country’s commitment and determination to advance the construction of an ecological civilization, or a development model integrating ecological values deeply into its modernization efforts. –The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news exchange item
