The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) held a forum on sustainable development from last Saturday through Monday in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.  

The forum attracted over 400 scholars from across China, and 20 overseas experts on environmental protection from the United States, Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The United Nations has taken a series of measures to promote sustainable consumption and production modes worldwide, and one was a global convention to involve more enterprises in environmental protection, said Xia Kunbao, the coordinator of the UNEP's China office.

The enterprises are encouraged to shoulder more responsibilities for environmental protection and to promote environmentally friendly technologies, Xia said.

The world has come to a consensus that wasteful production and consumption can only lead to short-term prosperity, said Zhang Huaixi, vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee.

China's construction of a well-off society should be based on sustainable development, and the country should modify some traditional production modes to ease the pressure on natural resources and the environment, Zhang said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2003)