BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's landmark Ecological and Environmental Code, which for the first time enshrines Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization in law, will take effect on Saturday.

The core idea of the thought traces back to a concept first expressed 21 years ago by Chinese President Xi Jinping, then Party chief of east China's Zhejiang Province, during a visit to a small mountain village: "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets."

Over the past two decades, the concept has evolved into a national development strategy, helping shape the country's efforts to reconcile ecological conservation with economic development.

In August 2005, Xi visited Yucun Village. After learning that the village had shut down polluting mines to pursue a greener path, he called their choice a "wise move" and introduced the now-famous idea that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets."

In the following years, residents of Yucun have developed rural tourism and carbon-sink projects, which helped them raise incomes and create better lives.

"Your achievements prove that green development is the right path. Having chosen it, we must press ahead," Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said during a return visit to the village in March 2020.

Yucun offers a glimpse into China's approach to green development: economic growth must not come at the expense of the environment, and environmental protection itself can become a source of development.

China should maintain green and low-carbon development as the fundamental solution to ecological and environmental issues, accelerate the formation of green production modes and lifestyles, Xi said at a conference in 2023.

In June 2022, Xi made an inspection tour to Yibin, a city along the Yangtze River in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Yibin once suffered from severe pollution as chemical factories lined the riverfront, discharging pollutants rampantly. To address the problem, the city cleared out energy-intensive and high-pollution factories, shut down small paper mills, banned river sand mining, and curbed sewage discharges, gradually restoring the ecological environment along its riverbanks.

Xi praised the progress and called for efforts to prioritize conservation and pursue high-quality development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

That green approach has taken root across the region. Traditional industries have been transformed and upgraded, and new sectors including automobiles and electronic information have emerged and thrived. While water quality has improved, the economic belt's GDP has more than doubled over the past decade, demonstrating how ecological protection and economic development can reinforce each other.

The Yangtze River has become a vivid example of China's broader efforts to advance ecological progress.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China has waged a sweeping campaign against pollution while transforming its development model, significantly improving its ecological environment and fostering new, higher-quality and more sustainable growth drivers.

Today, China leads the world in expanding green coverage and has built the largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system anywhere. In the first half of 2026, emerging growth drivers such as advanced manufacturing, the digital economy and modern services, which are more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional industries, contributed more than 40 percent of economic growth.

Environmental protection and economic development are not contradictory but dialectically unified, Xi has said, noting that only by protecting the ecology and tapping its strengths can high-quality development be realized.

Effective on Saturday, the Ecological and Environmental Code brings together years of legislative and regulatory progress, further strengthening the legal framework for ecological conservation.

China must have the strictest possible institutions and legislation in place in order to guarantee ecological progress, Xi has said.

Over the past decade and beyond, China has ramped up environmental legislation, strengthened enforcement, and made major strides in putting environmental regulations into practice.

The country enshrined ecological civilization in its Constitution, implemented what was described as the country's "toughest-ever" environmental protection law, tackled pressing environmental problems from air and water pollution to noise, and strengthened protection of key areas and fragile ecosystems, including the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and China's black soil region.

At a symposium in 2018, Xi recalled how environmental authorities had taken tough action against violations, citing what was described at the time as the largest environmental fine ever imposed in the Yangtze River basin, exceeding 27 million yuan (about 4 million U.S. dollars).

The chemical company involved had been both a major taxpayer and major polluter in central China's Hubei Province. Faced with a huge fine for illegal emissions, it overhauled its operations and set out on a greener path. Now, the company has become a local model for green practices.

Another tough environmental mechanism is China's central environmental inspection system, which has strengthened accountability for local environmental protection and helped address long-standing problems in different regions.

Thanks to effective central inspections, the Lianjiang River in south China's Guangdong Province, once heavily polluted by industrial wastewater, has seen its water quality steadily improve. Ulan Suhai Lake, the biggest lake wetland of the Yellow River basin, once plagued by ecological degradation, has restored its ecological functions and become a haven for birds. The Qilian Mountains, where mining and other development activities had caused vegetation damage and ecological degradation, have begun to experience ecosystem recovery thanks to targeted restoration efforts.

These environmental improvements have translated into tangible benefits for local people, making a better environment part of a better life.

Highlighting the people-centered approach, Xi said ecological progress delivers the strongest sense of gain to the people, who feel its benefits most acutely when the environment improves.

The Ecological and Environmental Code stresses that a sound ecological environment is the most universal form of public welfare. Specifically, its pollution prevention provisions cover not only traditional concerns such as air pollution and black, foul-smelling water, but also emerging pollutants and newer forms of environmental risks, including light pollution and electromagnetic radiation.

The Ecological and Environmental Code is significant not only for China's efforts to protect its own natural environment, but also for global ecological progress.

According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the code contains provisions on international cooperation and China's fulfillment of obligations under international environmental treaties. "It reflects the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity and contributes Chinese wisdom and solutions to global ecological and environmental governance," an official of the ministry said.

China has long been an active participant and major contributor to global green development.

While delivering video remarks at the UN Climate Summit in September 2025, Xi announced China's new Nationally Determined Contributions, including a 7 to 10 percent reduction in economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions from peak levels and increasing the share of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption to over 30 percent by 2035.

"These targets represent China's best efforts based on the requirements of the Paris Agreement," Xi said.

In addition to advancing its own green transition, China has been actively helping other countries pursue sustainable development.

Since 2016, China has provided and mobilized more than 177 billion yuan in funding for developing countries to address climate change and signed more than 50 memorandums of understanding on South-South cooperation on climate change with more than 40 developing countries.

During the past five years, Chinese exports of wind power and photovoltaic products helped other countries reduce carbon emissions by about 4.1 billion tonnes.

While speaking at the first phase of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, in 2021, Xi highlighted the significance of international cooperation, calling for building a homeland of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, of coordinated advancement of economy and the environment, and of common development of all countries.

Many such cooperation projects have already delivered tangible results in different parts of the world.

In Mauritania, a livestock technology demonstration center built with Chinese assistance has helped local communities improve their livelihoods while also guaranteeing environmental protection.

The "Africa Solar Belt" project, supported by China, is expected to bring electricity to tens of thousands of households without access to power in countries including Chad and Burundi, helping advance a green and low-carbon development path.

The integration of economic development and ecology championed by President Xi has offered valuable ideas for the world, former UN Under-Secretary-General Erik Solheim said.■