Pilot projects for experimental construction of ecological provinces are paving the way for China to achieve its target of establishing an environmentally friendly society.

Mao Rubai, chairman of the Environment Resources Committee of the National People's Congress, made the remark at the second China (International) Forum on Environment and Development, sponsored by the All-China Environment Federation yesterday.

He said: "In recent years, China has launched a series of activities to promote environmental improvement in some model provinces, counties, cities and areas, and honoured their significant achievements in ecological conservation and environmental protection."

The award winners include 232 ecological conservation areas, 178 environmental-friendly counties, and some 60 national environmental model cities and districts.

"To date, China has named nine provinces as experimental ecological provinces to honour their commitment to improving the ecological environment, at a time when the ecological environment is fragile," said Mao, adding that the situation had not been relieved, amid continued soil erosion, expanded deserts and shrinking grasslands.

The nine provinces include East China's Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, and Fujian provinces, South China's Hainan Province, Northeast China's Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, and North China's Hebei Province.

Pilot experimental projects aimed at shifting the traditional economic development mode and constantly improving the ecological environment have been carried out in the nine provinces, according to Mao.

In a bid to establish a new socialist countryside, a countryside environment protection project, aimed at giving a facelift to current suburban areas, has been launched in the nine provinces.

"The pilot experimental projects are vital to sustainable development and are expected to cause a sharp and positive turnaround in the current suburban environment," Mao noted.

Sources from the State Environmental Protection Administration said that hefty investment has been poured into the experimental projects in the nine provinces.

Taking Hebei as an example, the latest province to be listed in the nine, total investment for improving the province's ecological environment will skyrocket to 418.8 billion yuan (US$52.35 billion) by 2030.

Officials from the Hebei Environmental Protection Bureau pledged the investment dedicated to ecological conservation would ensure that 60 per cent of its surface water and 45.5 per cent of its air quality will meet national standards, and the afforestation rate will hit 26 per cent by 2010.

Energy efficiency urged

Mao also pointed out that the energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) in China is seven times that of Japan and six times that of the United States.

The recycled economy has been booming in some regions to enhance energy efficiency, and has "actively transferred the traditional economic development mode of high-consumption, high-pollution and low-efficiency in the nine provinces."

More pilot projects for promoting the recycled economy and new legislation systems associated with it are in the pipeline.