Moves made to pursue sustainable development
By Xiao Yang (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-06-24 08:49

Yichun City in Heilongjiang Province, known as China's forestry capital, has made committed efforts to transform its industrial structure to seek sustainable development.

During this year's China Harbin Fair for Trade and Economic Co-operation, the city has seen its strategy paying off, said Yichun's Mayor Xu Zhaojun.

The city attracted many domestic and foreign investors during the fair, with a total contractual value of over 1 billion yuan (US$120.9 million), up 30 per cent over last year.

The city's flagship projects that lured investment were not only its forestry resources, but also green food, beverages and traditional Chinese medicine.

As a key wood production base and key forest-protection area in China, protecting forests and making rational use of resources top the city's development agenda.

In 2004, the city took the lead in the nation in issuing a regulation to stop all deforestation of valuable Korean Pine.

To protect the more than 2 million trees of this species, the city spends an annual 100 million yuan (US$12.1 million).

"But we believe we are creating unparalleled social and biological effects," Xu said.

The mayor divided the city's efforts in protecting forests into three areas.

Firstly, Yichun launched efforts to substantially reduce wood production and resource consumption;

Secondly, the city stressed the scientific protection of natural resources. "We won't base economic growth on cutting down trees, although we have 3.05 million hectares of forest. Temporary interest results in unimaginable cost," Xu said.

Thirdly, the expansion of natural conservation areas has been pushed by the municipal government.

The city now has 18 natural conservation areas, covering 550,000 hectares. Among them, two are State-level areas and eight are provincial-level areas.

At present, modern agriculture, tourism, metallurgy and construction, husbandry, green food, and herb planting in Yichun have seen rapid development.

The city has also launched an urbanization campaign, aimed at expanding its urban area to 210 square kilometres within three to five years.

The total urban population is expected to reach 500,000 by 2010.

The city has also attracted large domestic and foreign investment to boost its industrial transformation.

Last year, the city's actual overseas investment chalked up US$6.28 million, doubling the figure in 2003.

This April, it organized investment promotion activities in Shaanxi and Jiangsu provinces, Beijing and Shanghai, with its contracted investment volume hitting 413 million yuan (US$4.99 million).

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