China has called for the public to fully participate in
environmental protection activities at the opening of a
tree-planting event.
Pan Yue, vice-director of the State Environmental Protection
Administration, made the remark at the debut event that encourages
planting trees on Saturday. The event, dubbed "Green China,"
includes tree-planting activities in 8 major Chinese cities.
During the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sessions held in March,
some advisors submitted a proposal to establish a national
environmental protection day and relevant laws to encourage the
general public to become involved in environmental protection
activities.
The event that took place in Beijing on Saturday saw
representatives from art and literary circles, academia and
non-governmental organizations planting 2008 trees to support the
proposal.
Pan Yue said citizens should fully exert their rights to learn,
participate, and express themselves, to fully get involved in all
kinds of public environmental protection activities. “Just
occasionally planting some trees and grass is far from enough," he
said. "The general public should play a key role in protecting
Nature."
Pan also said that China will release its first regulation on
transparency of information about the environment during the first
half of this year.
(CRI April 1, 2007)
