CRI听力:China Urges Commitment to Ecological Security

China's vice president Li Yuanchao has delivered a keynote speech at the Eco-Forum Global Conference 2014, highlighting coexistence and balanced development between mankind and ecology.

Li Yuanchao says collaborative effort is needed from all countries and regions to jointly contribute to global ecological security.

'Developed countries should deliver on their commitments, shoulder more obligations, and increase funding and technological support to developing countries. Developing countries, for their part, need to set up and implement environmental protection strategies and play an active role in relevant global endeavors to protect the environment.'

John Leslie Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister of the UK, echoed Li Yuanchao that countries will have to differentiate their responsibilities.

'At Kyoto, we only had 40 industrial countries to some requirement for the reduction of green house gases. And we didn't totally complete all that. But now we have to find an agreement involving 190 nations. That's much more difficult to get consensus on that. But consensus we must get. And the principles are the essential UN principle 'common but differential responsibilities' if we were to have an agreement with such broad range of countries developing at different stages of their industrial development'.

World leaders gathering at the conference have also shared concerns and practices regarding the green economy and sustainable development.

Dr. Mulatu Teshome is president of Ethiopia.

'As of 2014, electric power in Ethiopic gird is generated entirely from renewable energy, consisting of hydropower, wind power, and geotherm.'

China has been taking action in recent years to protect the environment.

The central government aims to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 16%, while cutting carbon intensity by 17% and slashing the discharge of major pollutants by 8-10% during the 12th Five-year-Plan period.

Vice president Li Yuanchao.

'We must take timely remedial measures to address the deteriorating environment. China started to vigorously implement the project of restoring farmland to forests at the beginning of the 21st century and now more than 25 million hectares of wasteland and hillsides are covered by vegetation. These examples tell us that environmental protection should now be a basic key project and figure prominently in our economic and social development.'

Malta's Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, says job creation can play a crucial part in green transformation.

'I believe that strong links exist between the process of greening the economy and the process of economic recovery. This is witnessed by the significant job creation of the environmental goods and services sector, so labeled 'green jobs'. Even during the economic crisis, the European Union alone, employment increased by 20% in the sectors during the recession years.'

This is the sixth Eco-Forum Global annual conference held in Guiyang, and the theme of this year's event is 'Joining hands, leveraging reforms to bring forth a new era of Eco-civilization.'
Over 1,000 guests worldwide have joined this year's forum.

For CRI, I'm Luo Yu.