The Yellow River Basin is a key grain production area and an important energy base in China, playing a key role in ensuring security and supply. According to an industry expert, food and energy security will continue to be a major challenge as China continues to rejuvenate.
"Through comprehensive management of industrial pollution sources, diffuse pollution from agriculture and domestic pollution, water quality in the Yellow River Basin has improved significantly," He told Xia Lu, associate professor at the School of Party History and Party Building and research fellow at the National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University of China.
Xia made the remarks in response to a question on views on comprehensive promotion of ecological protection and quality development in the Yellow River basin, which were reviewed at Monday's meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.
The meeting concluded that ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin is a matter of deep significance for the great rejuvenation and sustainable development of the Chinese nation.
"At the same time, effective measures have been put in place to advance recycling and cost-effective upgrading of urban and industrial water, leading to a significant increase in water use efficiency," Xia said.
In addition, traditional industrial bases in the Yellow River Basin are actively pursuing the transformation and upgrading of energy-intensive and pollution-intensive industries such as coal and chemical industries, while promoting the development of green energy and environmental protection industries, the expert noted.
The meeting also highlighted the need to continue to improve well-coordinated ecological protection in the Yellow River Basin, to systemically improve water resource protection capacity in the upper reaches, to strengthen water and soil protection in the middle reaches, and to promote wetland protection and ecological management in the lower reaches.
"By adhering to ecological priorities, promoting ecological and sustainable development, strengthening inter-regional coordination mechanisms, and focusing on systematic and holistic management, especially on considering the environment and the national economy as a dynamic and holistic organism, the protection of the Yellow River Basin can be seamlessly integrated into a regional coordinated development strategy," Xia told CGTN.
The Yellow River, the "mother river" of the Chinese nation, is the second longest river in China, measuring 5,464 kilometers. It supplies water to 12 % of China's population in over 50 cities and irrigates 17 % of the country's arable land.
The Yellow River basin has been the cradle of the country's political, economic and cultural centres for 3,000 years in the five-thousand-year history of Chinese civilisation.
Since ancient times, the Chinese have fought against the flooding of the Yellow River, and protecting the river has always been high on the country's agenda.
CMG/ gnews - RoZ
Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River on the border of north China's Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces in northwest China PHOTO - Xinhua/ Zhang Lan
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