On November 12, local time, the "China-Turkey Ecological Civilization and Green Transformation Dialogue" was held in Istanbul, Turkey during the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Chen Qiulu, a member of the Party Leadership Group of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, shared Sichuan’s practices in ecological governance and green transformation at the meeting.
The dialogue was hosted by China News Service and Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization Research Center, and co-organized by China News Network and the Environmental and Economic Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. This is the second time that the China News Agency's "News Living Room" has held a series of multilateral events in Türkiye. Representatives from Chinese and Turkish government departments, research institutions, enterprises, media and other parties attended the meeting.
Chen Qiulv said that as the upper reaches of China's two major rivers, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, Sichuan has snow-capped mountain plateaus in the west and hilly bamboo seas in the south. The altitude difference exceeds 7,300 meters. It brings together all natural land landscapes except the ocean, and has a very special ecological status.
"Such a location determines that Sichuan must both develop and protect." Chen Qiulv said that over the years, Sichuan's economy has continued to develop, and the quality of the ecological environment has reached the best level in the past 20 years.
Sichuan is one of 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world. Chen Qiulv said that Sichuan has classified about one-third of the province's area into the ecological protection red line and built a natural reserve system with the Giant Panda National Park as the main body. The diversity, stability, and sustainability of the ecosystem have been greatly improved.
"There is a place called Tangjiahe in Sichuan. An infrared camera can photograph more than 2,000 wild animals a year. More and more rare species are returning to the public's view and people encounter them unexpectedly."
While protecting the ecological secrets, clear water and blue sky have become a daily routine. Chen Qiulu listed several sets of figures: 10 years ago, Sichuan's PM2.5 concentration exceeded 40 micrograms per cubic meter, but after years of hard work it has dropped to 28.5 micrograms per cubic meter; Chengdu citizens like to take pictures of snow-capped mountains when the weather is fine, and now Chengdu people see snow-capped mountains more than 80 days a year; Sichuan's water environment quality remains No. 1 in the country, and the water quality of the Yangtze River and Yellow River mainstreams has stabilized and maintained at Class II...
In terms of greening and reducing carbon for development, Chen Qiulv said that Sichuan is the province richest in clean energy in China, with more than 100 million kilowatts of hydropower installed capacity. For every 100 kilowatt-hours of hydropower in the country, 30 kilowatt-hours come from Sichuan, making it one of the provinces with the lowest per capita carbon emissions in China. “In recent years, we have collaboratively promoted carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth, increasing the “green content” of development and reducing the “carbon content” of development.”
According to him, this year, Sichuan has begun to implement the 15th five-year ecological environment protection plan.
"Turkey is a bridge connecting Europe and Asia. It has admirable experience in desertification prevention, dryland agriculture, wetland protection, geothermal and solar energy utilization. Antalya's "zero waste" practice has also given us a lot of inspiration." Chen Qiulu said.
He said that Sichuan will learn from Turkey's experience and practices, deepen cooperation in biodiversity protection, green and low-carbon development, and adapt to climate change, and accelerate the construction of a beautiful Sichuan so that everyone can see "big beautiful mountains and rivers" and enjoy a "small beautiful life." (over)
