The Green Road extends to the future

As early as 1986, the National Office for Sustainable Development Experimental Area, the former State Science and Technology Commission, and more than a dozen ministries and commissions of the State Council, took the lead in carrying out comprehensive demonstration demonstrations of social development in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province and Huazhuang Town, Wuxi County. In 1992, this experiment and exploration of implementing the new development concept of people-centered, coordinated development of economy, society, and the environment was pushed across the country. In 1997, according to the decision of the State Council, the Comprehensive Experimental Area for Social Development was renamed the Experimental Area for Sustainable Development, emphasizing the mutual coordination and sustainable development of the economy, society and the ecological environment.

Up to now, 45 state-level sustainable development experimental zones and 75 provincial-level experimental zones have been established and distributed in 25 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

Economic development and all-round social progress are the key points for the construction of experimental areas. In recent years, under the support of economic development in various experimental areas, social undertakings have developed in an all-round way.

In the experimental area, the living environment has improved significantly, the per capita green space has increased, the urban greening has become more beautiful, and more people have enjoyed modern civilization; the democratic consciousness, scientific awareness, and legal administration awareness of local government decision-making have been significantly strengthened; the social security mechanism has been continuously improved, and many areas including rural areas The coverage of social security has reached 100%; the quality of the population has been improved, the illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged people has continued to decline, family planning work has been widely promoted, and the rate of family planning in many experimental areas has reached 100%, and the life expectancy of the population has greatly increased.

The environment is home and resources are the bottom of the house. This is the consensus reached in the construction of the experimental area. The construction of the experimental area has adopted “first planning and post-construction” and transformation of economic growth methods to develop the economy on the premise of not harming the environment and ecological balance. In response to the problems of the deterioration of the ecological environment and the inefficient use of resources in the process of industrialization, the experimental area relied on systems, science and technology, policies, management, and mechanisms to carry out effective governance and restoration.

Now, the compliance rate of industrial wastewater treatment in the experimental area, the compliance rate of industrial waste gas treatment, the comprehensive utilization rate of industrial solid waste, and the harmless treatment rate of domestic garbage are all above 90%.

Institutional innovation is the foundation, and technological innovation is the driving force. The construction of the experimental area highlights the transformation of traditional industries with high and new technology and advanced and applicable technologies, increases the technological content of industries and products, reduces resource consumption, and enhances the technological content of industrial structures by promoting the development of biotechnology, information technology and knowledge-intensive industries. And "green" content.

The agricultural production in the experimental area is based on the improvement of the ecological environment, with emphasis on the development of an eco-agricultural production system based on land saving, water conservation, energy conservation, and consumption reduction. Industrial production focuses on the establishment of a clean production-oriented industrial production system. The guidance of science and technology, the courage to practice, and the emphasis on innovation have become the distinctive features of experimental areas.

Spring rain, moist and silent. Accompanied by the promulgation and implementation of China’s Agenda 21, after 10 years of development, the Experimental Area for Sustainable Development has been recognized internationally as a model for sustainable development of local governments in the past 10 years.