(Biodiversity Conference) How does ecological civilization change China?
China News Service, Kunming, October 15th, title: How does ecological civilization change China?
——Interview with Zhang Yongsheng, Director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
China News Agency reporter Ruan Yulin
At the 2020 United Nations Conference on Biodiversity with the theme of "ecological civilization", "ecological civilization", "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains" became popular words. How does ecological civilization affect and change China?
Zhang Yongsheng, director of the Institute of Ecological Civilization of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who is attending the conference in Kunming, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency that ecological civilization is leading a comprehensive and profound transformation of the development paradigm. Under the new development paradigm of ecological civilization, China will Enter the era of high-quality development.
On October 14, the Ecological Civilization Forum of the 15th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Kunming, Yunnan.
The picture shows the theme forum of "Green Waters and Green Mountains Are Golden Mountains and Silver Mountains-From Idea to Practice".
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan
The theme of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP15) is "Ecological Civilization: Building a Community of Life on Earth". This is the first global conference held by the United Nations with the theme of "Ecological Civilization".
Inge Annoson, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said that the conference reaffirmed China’s commitment to the global biodiversity conservation agenda in line with the concept of ecological civilization. Widely accepted, this has promoted China's leading position in biodiversity conservation.
On October 12, Kunming, Yunnan, outside the venue of the 15th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, a fountain opened to welcome guests.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan
Comprehensive and profound changes in development paradigm
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's ecological civilization construction has undergone historic, turning, and overall changes from recognition to practice.
"Green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains" has become the consensus of the whole society in China, and the concept of green development has gradually become popular among the people.
Zhang Yongsheng said that the transition from traditional industrial civilization to ecological civilization is an epoch-making change since the industrial revolution.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, ecological civilization has been written into the Constitution and Party Constitution, and has become an important part of the overall layout of the "five in one".
Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization thought is the product of the Chinese people’s arduous exploration of "modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature" under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
Ecological civilization means a comprehensive and profound change in development concepts and development paradigms.
"The fundamental purpose of development is to improve people's well-being," Zhang Yongsheng said. However, under the traditional development model, not only has the purpose and means of development largely turned the cart before the horse, but this model has also brought about an unsustainable global ecological environment crisis. .
The development of human society is facing an important historical juncture.
Zhang Yongsheng believes that President Xi’s initiative of “going hand in hand to start a new journey of high-quality development of mankind” put forward by President Xi at the conference includes four points including “to coordinate the relationship between man and nature with the guidance of ecological civilization construction”, which are all about development. The in-depth reflection on the most basic issue of China is the Chinese wisdom formed on the basis of China's development practice and 5000 years of traditional Chinese culture.
The high-quality development path is a correction of the traditional development path in the past, that is, from the past too gross domestic product (GDP) oriented, back to the original intention of improving the well-being of the people.
How did this shift happen in China?
According to Zhang Yongsheng, the "Digital Ecological Civilization Experimental Base" research project jointly launched by the Institute of Ecological Civilization of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Tencent has passed more than 10,000 online questionnaires and more than 3.5 million public hot posts and comment samples. Big data analysis It shows that ecological civilization is profoundly changing China in all directions.
“People’s understanding and choices about the relationship between environment and development are undergoing major changes. According to surveys, only about 10% of people believe that environmental damage is a price that must be paid by the economy. Between environment and development, most people Unwilling to increase income at the expense of the environment," Zhang Yongsheng said.
"However, because most of the existing development concepts and development models were formed in the traditional industrial era, many people are completely unaware of the profound changes that are currently taking place in China and globally," said Zhang Yongsheng.
Regarding how this change occurred in China, Zhang Yongsheng proposed that, first of all, the construction of ecological civilization has significantly improved the quality of China's development and the welfare of the people.
With the economy slowing down due to entering a new stage of development, people’s life satisfaction has continued to increase.
At the same time, ecological civilization is leading a comprehensive and profound transformation of the development paradigm, including concepts such as development concepts, a better life, consumption concepts, business models, employment concepts, and well-being, all of which are undergoing profound changes.
Furthermore, many development theories established in the traditional industrial era are obviously inconsistent with existing facts.
It is necessary to deeply reflect and reconstruct the development theories and modernization concepts formed in the traditional industrial era from the new perspective of ecological civilization.
The era of ecological civilization and green development begins
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's ecological civilization construction has entered a critical period in which carbon reduction is the key strategic direction, pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergies are promoted, economic and social development is promoted in an all-round green transformation, and the quality of the ecological environment is improved from quantitative to qualitative.
Zhang Yongsheng said that with the overall advancement of ecological civilization construction, the development paradigm formed in the traditional industrial era will inevitably undergo profound changes, including development concepts, development content, resource concepts, business models, institutional mechanisms and policies.
The global consensus and actions on carbon neutrality mark the end of the traditional industrial era and the opening of a new era of ecological civilization and green development.
Zhang Yongsheng said that this epoch-making change coincides with the time when China embarked on a new journey of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way.
Under the new development paradigm of ecological civilization, China will enter the era of high-quality development and realize the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
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