Aerial view of Xiahzhu Lake National Wetland Park in Deqing county, Zhejiang province, on May 8. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By Staff Reporters

"The harmonious coexistence of human and nature has become an essential requirement for Chinese-style modernization," according to Wang Zhibin, a director in the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), at a press conference on April 27.

Information provided by MEE shows that China has carried out a series of fundamental, groundbreaking and long-term ecological protection and restoration work, creating a world-renowned ecological and green development miracle, and embarking upon a path of ecological protection and restoration with Chinese characteristics.

Since 2020, MEE has completed the on-site survey of pollution discharges into the rivers in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, covering Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia, and found over 17,000 into -river pollution threats. Since March, MEE has conducted traceable inspections for a total of 48 enterprises suspected of discharging illegally.

Since 2000, MEE, with joint efforts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) or other relevant institutes, has completed three ecological condition surveys and assessments nationwide, which provides scientific foundations for launching ecological protection and restoration policies.

A survey surrounding the ecological changes in the Yellow River Basin over the past 20 years found that the vegetation cover of the Yellow River Basin has increased significantly with its "green line" moving westward for about 300 km.

China has formed a special monitoring network covering a number of taxa such as terrestrial vertebrates, insects, freshwater fishes and a variety of ecosystems. For example, the China Biodiversity Monitoring and Research Network, established based on a major biodiversity conservation project, has established 749 monitoring sample areas nationwide and obtained 1.8 million monitoring records.

"The Chinese Biodiversity Monitoring and Research Network established by CAS is the world's first forest monitoring and research network with a complete latitudinal gradient, containing the largest real-time online monitoring system and database for birds in Asia." Wang said.