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02:42
Today is World Environment Day which aims to encourage global awareness and action to protect the environment, and in China, the occasion called for many celebratory activities, including a national event in Xining, capital of northwest China's Qinghai Province.
Environmentalists, volunteers, and participants from around the country gathered to highlight the efforts to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of the environment under the theme "Living in harmony with nature."
"We need concerted efforts to protect our ecological system. We do hope that people from all walks of life will take action together in the tough battle against pollution and contribute more to building a beautiful country," said Huang Runqiu, minister of Ecology and Environment.
Qinghai Province, the host of this year's event, announced that it will speed up the building of national parks in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, often called the "roof of the world."
The region is critical to all life in China due to its rich biodiversity and Sanjiangyuan, meaning the "source of three rivers," in the province is home to the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers.
"We will build the Sanjiangyuan and Qilianshan national parks to a high standard. We will also speed up the building of such parks in Qinghai Lake and the Kunlun Mountains," said Xin Changxing, governor of Qinghai.
"These will become a cluster to help continue optimizing our system of natural reserves," he said.
Qinghai on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau will be built into a national and even international highland in ecological progress. /Department of Ecology and Environment of Qinghai Province
Environmentalists, volunteers and enterprises have been awarded for their remarkable contributions to protecting the environment in China last year.
"I've been a volunteer for 17 years and I will take this as motivation to continue helping youth understand and protect mother nature," said Wang Ping, from Qinghai Province, who works in a green living team. "This is recognition for my eight-year volunteering service in protecting biodiversity. I will fulfill my duty and encourage more people to participate in the job," said Wei Xingzhi, who works in a wildlife protection society in Lijiang, southwest China's Yunnan Province.
Celebrities have also been invited as observers, to raise public awareness and offer suggestions.
"Now we are advocating waste sorting. Can we make garbage bags at home in different colors? That way, people old or young would find it a lot easier to sort their waste," said Ju Ping, an environmental protection observer.
China began celebrating World Environment Day in 1985, the first time its national event was held in the northwest of the country. Next year, the baton will be taken by northeast China's Liaoning Province.
