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J. Pan
4 Strategic Measures for Building an Ecological
Civilization in a New Era
1. Ecology as a priority to achieve green development
Putting ecology as a priority means regarding the preservation of the ecological
environment as a primary task, and seeing respect for, conformity to, and protection
of nature as the prerequisites and criteria for development: ecological advantages
are development advantages, and achieving ecological advantages means achieving
development advantages. Basically, it is to seek harmony between humanity and
nature, adapting production activities to the carrying capacity of the natural resources
and environment, with the aim of maintaining ecological balance while keeping stable
functions of the ecosystem for promoting green development, which integrates the
criteria “ecology as a priority” into production, life, culture and political governance
in all aspects to advance environmental protection. The goal of green development lies
in development, with “green” indicating the direction of development, in which lowcarbon, clean, and high-efficiency development should be employed as the desired
methods and approach, while “development” is a comprehensive reform involving
production, life, culture, and ecology, striving to adapt social and economic activities to the carrying capacity of the natural resources and environment through the
transformation of the development model, while paying attention to the quality and
benefits of development, and realizing all-round human development. Ecology as
a priority and green development creatively combine to achieve both protection of
nature and economic development.
Ecology as a priority and green development are a major theoretical breakthrough
in terms of China’s building of an ecological civilization. Since the two concepts are
correlated, realizing the mode of ecology as a priority and green development requires
mechanism innovation in the four aspects of technology, path, culture and system
before turning ecological advantages into development advantages.
The first is to use technological innovation to create new economic formats and
provide new governance methods. We should innovate production technologies,
tap resources, give birth to new forms of ecological economy like ecological agriculture, industry and tourism, and promote clean production processes and diversify the industrial structure. Meanwhile, we should strengthen energy-saving and
resource recycling technologies, advance the development and utilization of new
energy sources and materials, improve resource utilization efficiency, innovate emission reduction and pollution control methods, and enhance ecological environment
governance capabilities.
The second is to innovate development path (approach) to move towards new
industrialization and urbanization. European and American countries used to follow
the industrial development path of “treatment after pollution” and the urbanization
path of “destruction before transformation,” a fact that lead to waste of resources,
environmental pollution, serious ecological damage, causing the so-called “urban
diseases,” which China are now suffering. Therefore, we should never repeat the
J. Pan
4 Strategic Measures for Building an Ecological
Civilization in a New Era
1. Ecology as a priority to achieve green development
Putting ecology as a priority means regarding the preservation of the ecological
environment as a primary task, and seeing respect for, conformity to, and protection
of nature as the prerequisites and criteria for development: ecological advantages
are development advantages, and achieving ecological advantages means achieving
development advantages. Basically, it is to seek harmony between humanity and
nature, adapting production activities to the carrying capacity of the natural resources
and environment, with the aim of maintaining ecological balance while keeping stable
functions of the ecosystem for promoting green development, which integrates the
criteria “ecology as a priority” into production, life, culture and political governance
in all aspects to advance environmental protection. The goal of green development lies
in development, with “green” indicating the direction of development, in which lowcarbon, clean, and high-efficiency development should be employed as the desired
methods and approach, while “development” is a comprehensive reform involving
production, life, culture, and ecology, striving to adapt social and economic activities to the carrying capacity of the natural resources and environment through the
transformation of the development model, while paying attention to the quality and
benefits of development, and realizing all-round human development. Ecology as
a priority and green development creatively combine to achieve both protection of
nature and economic development.
Ecology as a priority and green development are a major theoretical breakthrough
in terms of China’s building of an ecological civilization. Since the two concepts are
correlated, realizing the mode of ecology as a priority and green development requires
mechanism innovation in the four aspects of technology, path, culture and system
before turning ecological advantages into development advantages.
The first is to use technological innovation to create new economic formats and
provide new governance methods. We should innovate production technologies,
tap resources, give birth to new forms of ecological economy like ecological agriculture, industry and tourism, and promote clean production processes and diversify the industrial structure. Meanwhile, we should strengthen energy-saving and
resource recycling technologies, advance the development and utilization of new
energy sources and materials, improve resource utilization efficiency, innovate emission reduction and pollution control methods, and enhance ecological environment
governance capabilities.
The second is to innovate development path (approach) to move towards new
industrialization and urbanization. European and American countries used to follow
the industrial development path of “treatment after pollution” and the urbanization
path of “destruction before transformation,” a fact that lead to waste of resources,
environmental pollution, serious ecological damage, causing the so-called “urban
diseases,” which China are now suffering. Therefore, we should never repeat the