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H. Zhou
security and ecological culture. Ecological progress in the narrow sense consists of
land and space layout and its optimization, conservation, protection and sustainable
use of resources, environmental protection, pollution control, and institutional establishment. Environmental protection is part of ecological progress, even a priority of
priorities given the severe environmental situation, but ecological progress cannot
be viewed as a simple upgrade of environmental protection, otherwise it might be
delinked from other sectors. Correspondingly, ecological progress is by no means
the sole responsibility of the environmental department, but an initiative for which
all government departments shall bear their respective duties. Spatial optimization, resource conservation, environmental protection, industrial upgrade, green
construction and transportation, social transformation, sci-tech innovation, ecological culture, green consumption, green tax and finance…these are all important
contents of ecological progress. The organizational reform of the State Council in
2018 created favorable conditions for establishing and improving the leading system
and inter-departmental interaction for ecological civilization development.
4 Relation Between Economic Development
and Environmental Protection
Environmental protection and economic development are a unity of opposites.
Human production and life cause environmental pollution and ecological damage,
even ecological crisis. On the other hand, environmental protection needs capital
and therefore affects the quantity and speed of economic growth to some extent.
Only by developing the economy can we continuously meet people’s ever-growing
material and cultural needs. Without quantitative economic growth, the leap from
quantitative change to qualitative change would never appear and the accumulation
of material wealth would be impossible. Without an economic foundation, there is
no ecological progress to speak of. However, if we blindly pursue the scale and
speed of economic growth without heeding its quality and benefits, if we wantonly
claim natural resources and unscrupulously destroy the ecological environment, and
if we trade resources and the environment for economic growth, what awaits us will
be resource depletion, environmental destruction and non-sustainable development.
We cannot sacrifice our offspring’s welfare for immediate interests and temporary
growth, which is draining the pond for fish and killing the hen for eggs. Nor can we
give up development and willingly stay in poverty or wait for assistance for environmental protection. The key lies in the degree of and balance between development
and protection.
Coordinating the relation between man and nature concerns the great victory of
the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics, the achievement of the two centenary
goals, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and the building of a community
with a shared future for mankind. China is looking at the basic national condition of
a large population, inadequate per capita resources, and weak carrying capacity of
H. Zhou
security and ecological culture. Ecological progress in the narrow sense consists of
land and space layout and its optimization, conservation, protection and sustainable
use of resources, environmental protection, pollution control, and institutional establishment. Environmental protection is part of ecological progress, even a priority of
priorities given the severe environmental situation, but ecological progress cannot
be viewed as a simple upgrade of environmental protection, otherwise it might be
delinked from other sectors. Correspondingly, ecological progress is by no means
the sole responsibility of the environmental department, but an initiative for which
all government departments shall bear their respective duties. Spatial optimization, resource conservation, environmental protection, industrial upgrade, green
construction and transportation, social transformation, sci-tech innovation, ecological culture, green consumption, green tax and finance…these are all important
contents of ecological progress. The organizational reform of the State Council in
2018 created favorable conditions for establishing and improving the leading system
and inter-departmental interaction for ecological civilization development.
4 Relation Between Economic Development
and Environmental Protection
Environmental protection and economic development are a unity of opposites.
Human production and life cause environmental pollution and ecological damage,
even ecological crisis. On the other hand, environmental protection needs capital
and therefore affects the quantity and speed of economic growth to some extent.
Only by developing the economy can we continuously meet people’s ever-growing
material and cultural needs. Without quantitative economic growth, the leap from
quantitative change to qualitative change would never appear and the accumulation
of material wealth would be impossible. Without an economic foundation, there is
no ecological progress to speak of. However, if we blindly pursue the scale and
speed of economic growth without heeding its quality and benefits, if we wantonly
claim natural resources and unscrupulously destroy the ecological environment, and
if we trade resources and the environment for economic growth, what awaits us will
be resource depletion, environmental destruction and non-sustainable development.
We cannot sacrifice our offspring’s welfare for immediate interests and temporary
growth, which is draining the pond for fish and killing the hen for eggs. Nor can we
give up development and willingly stay in poverty or wait for assistance for environmental protection. The key lies in the degree of and balance between development
and protection.
Coordinating the relation between man and nature concerns the great victory of
the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics, the achievement of the two centenary
goals, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and the building of a community
with a shared future for mankind. China is looking at the basic national condition of
a large population, inadequate per capita resources, and weak carrying capacity of