Fujian Province has been designated the first pilot ecological civilization construction zone in China, and will create an ecological system to enhance energy efficiency and environmental quality over the next few years.

On March 10, the State Council issued Opinions on Supporting Fujian Province to Accelerate the Construction of the Ecological Civilization Pilot Zone, offering guidelines for the province to facilitate industrial transformation and upgrading through innovation and environmental protection, said Su Shulin, governor of Fujian, at a recent news conference.

Su said that, when establishing the pilot zone, local governments at all levels of the province would strive to eliminate outmoded industrial production capacities throughout different industries and beef up the environmental impact assessment of new projects.

The measures to be implemented include establishing a natural resources balance sheet, requiring officials to be audited on natural resources when leaving office, and registering natural resources, such as bodies of water and forests, in the property rights system.

Fujian has focused on green development since 2000, when President Xi Jinping, who worked in the province at the time, proposed an "ecological province" strategy. As a result, Fujian became one of the first provinces to carry out ecological construction.

The province's forest coverage rate hit 65.95 percent in 2013, the highest in the country. The forest area has increased by 365,000 hectares from five years ago, according to the Fujian provincial government.

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