Interview with Xia Zuyi: Encourage broader social forces to jointly promote sustainable development
From October 18 to 20, the International Symposium on Sustainable Development was held in Beijing to discuss the transformation of energy and economic systems for climate change, theoretical innovation of sustainable development, and artificial intelligence and sustainable development. Our reporter interviewed Xia Zuyi, vice chairman and secretary general of the 9th Council of China Environmental Sciences Society.
China Environment News: In recent years, my country has made many positive achievements in ecological environment protection and ecological civilization construction. What is the reference significance for the world to put forward a vision of sustainable development?
Xia Zuyi:Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country has made positive achievements in the construction of ecological civilization and green transformation, especially in the battle against pollution and the development of new energy industries, which has left a deep impression, and has also brought many inspiration to other countries in the world. and learn from.
XiJinpingThe General Secretary emphasized that the construction of ecological civilization is a fundamental plan related to the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. On September 26, 5,XiJinpingThe President attended the United Nations Development Summit and delivered an important speech entitled "Seeking Common Sustainable Development and Becoming a Win-Win Partnership for Cooperation", emphasizing that efforts must be made to achieve coordinated development of the economy, society and environment, and to achieve harmonious coexistence between man and society, and between man and nature. On January 18, 2017,XiJinpingWhen the Chairman attended the high-level meeting on "Working Together to Build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind" in Geneva, he proposed: "We should follow the concept of the unity of man and nature, and pursue the path of sustainable development." This provides solutions for resolving human crises.
Sustainable development is a global consensus formed to solve the current and future environmental and development issues facing mankind. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the common vision of human society. At present, major changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change. Climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental pollution, wars and conflicts, and anti-globalization have posed severe challenges to global sustainable development. The "2023 Global Sustainable Development Report" released by the United Nations pointed out that most of the world's 17 sustainable development goals are progressing slowly, and the progress of the 2030 Agenda goals has been seriously disrupted, facing major risks, and there is an urgent need to accelerate change.
Sustainable development is the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture in the contemporary era.XiJinpingThe important manifestations of the idea of ecological civilization and the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind are consistent with and consistent with the characteristics of sustainability, fairness and commonality contained in the concept of sustainable development in today's world. The vision of "sustainable development" reflectsXiJinpingThe leading role of ecological civilization thought in global sustainable development is an important measure to promote the joint construction of a community with a shared future for mankind and a community for life on earth. It is of great significance to jointly build a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness, beauty, and sustainable development.
China Environment News: At present, new technologies such as artificial intelligence are booming. What help does it bring to achieving sustainable development? What are the successful application cases?
Xia Zuyi:Against the backdrop of many challenges such as climate change, resource shortages, and poverty, the rapid development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) has provided strong support for the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These technologies are widely used in many fields such as environmental protection, sustainable agriculture, clean energy, smart cities, medical and health, and education. They not only improve efficiency, but also provide new methods and new ways to solve complex sustainable development problems. New approaches have brought new hope to the sustainable development of human society.
AI technology plays an increasingly important role in environmental protection and climate change response. For example, AI technology is used to help solve environmental problems such as climate change, water shortages, and biodiversity loss. AI systems that identify and track wildlife from satellite images help protect endangered species.
In the field of agriculture, the application of AI and IoT technologies is promoting the development of precision agriculture. Such as precision weeding systems, using computer vision and machine scienceXiTechnology to identify crops and weeds and spray herbicides only on weeds. This greatly reduces the amount of herbicides used, saving costs and reducing the impact on the environment. The use of AI and IoT technology helps farmers optimize irrigation, fertilization and pest control, improving the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural production.
In the field of clean energy, AI technology is helping optimize the production and distribution of renewable energy. For example, the digital wind farm system uses AI technology to analyze data such as wind speed and wind direction to optimize the operation of wind turbines and improve power generation efficiency. Wind energy generation can also be accurately predicted, helping to better manage the grid and reduce waste.
AI and IoT technologies also play an important role in building smart cities. For example, AI and IoT technologies are used to optimize all aspects of urban operations such as transportation management, energy use, and waste disposal, improving the livability and sustainability of the city. Through intelligent transportation systems, traffic lights can be adjusted in real time to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions.
AI technology also plays an important role in promoting sustainable finance. A system that uses AI technology to analyze corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance to help investors make more sustainable investment decisions. For example, Ant Financial's "Ant Forest" project uses big data and AI technology to encourage users to take environmentally friendly behaviors and turn them into actual afforestation actions.
Although new technologies such as AI have shown great potential in promoting sustainable development, it is also necessary to pay attention to possible problems in the use of technology. For example, training of AI systems may consume a lot of energy, and certain AI applications may aggravate social inequality. Therefore, it is necessary to fully consider their social and environmental impacts when developing and applying these technologies to ensure that the development of technologies truly benefits mankind and the earth.
China Environment News: Achieving sustainable development is a fundamental plan and requires the gathering of global political, academic, business and social figures. How to encourage broader social forces to jointly promote sustainable development?
Xia Zuyi:Promoting sustainable development is a long-term systematic project that requires the joint participation of the government, enterprises, the public and other parties. Mobilizing a wider range of social forces to understand, support and participate in promoting sustainable development is an indispensable and important content.
In enhancing public awareness and education, scientists and communication agencies need to work closely together to transform complex sustainable development issues into easy-to-understand information and emphasize their relationship to daily life, such as the impact of climate change on food prices, the impact of water resource shortages on life, etc.
In terms of communication channels and methods, we must make full use of television, Internet, social media and other platforms to promote the concept of sustainable development in a vivid and interesting way, and encourage the creation and promotion of literary and artistic works, film and television works, animation games, etc. with the theme of ecological and environmental protection., spread the concept of sustainable development in a subtle way.
In terms of public participation, it is necessary to carry out educational activities for different groups, tailor educational projects for different groups such as students, entrepreneurs, and government officials to increase awareness and participation in sustainable development. Integrate concepts such as ecological and environmental protection and sustainable development into primary, secondary and university education to cultivate students 'awareness of ecological and environmental protection and sense of responsibility from an early age. Actively advocate green consumption, advocate green travel, reduce food waste, and guide consumers to choose environmentally friendly products and services through measures such as formulating green product standards and promoting environmental protection labeling.
In terms of incentive mechanisms, it is necessary to formulate preferential and incentive policies, provide tax incentives, financial subsidies and other policy support to enterprises and individuals that actively take environmental protection measures, and encourage more market entities to participate in sustainable development. At the same time, establish a green financial system, encourage financial institutions to develop financial products such as green credit and green bonds, and guide funds to flow to environmental protection industries and projects. Promote a carbon emissions trading mechanism, establish and improve a carbon emissions trading system, internalize carbon emission costs, and promote corporate emission reduction.
In addition, it is necessary to build a communication platform for the government, enterprises, and the public, establish a dialogue mechanism with multi-party participation, jointly discuss sustainable development paths, promote consensus formation, and promote joint actions. At the same time, strengthen international cooperation, actively participate in international environmental conventions and agreements, share experience, and jointly respond to global environmental challenges.
China Environment News: Our country's traditional culture contains rich concepts of sustainable development. How to carry out creative transformation and innovative development? How will we promote sustainable development?
Xia Zuyi:At present, the various crises faced by mankind, such as resources and environment, climate change, and war conflicts, are essentially the value crises of the traditional development model. They are manifested in the contradictions between man and nature, between man and man, and between man and heart. The three are mutual cause and effect and restrict each other. In the final analysis, the competition for interests between man and nature, and between people is that human beings cannot control their desires and fail to truly achieve peace of mind. The desire of human nature is the natural attribute of man as a living creature, the pursuit of a better life and self-worth, and promotes human development and progress to a certain extent. However, if too high expectations and desires cannot be satisfied in a timely manner, people's inner balance will be broken. Especially after being interfered by the external environment, this inner imbalance will break the balance of relevant interest groups, and then lead to contradictions between people, contradictions between society and society, contradictions between countries, and further intensify the contradiction between man and nature.
Chinese culture advocates harmony, and China's "harmony" culture has a long history. It contains the concept of harmony between man and nature, the international concept of harmony among all nations, the social concept of harmony but different, and the moral concept of kindness and kindness. It provides China wisdom for solving global crises. The solution to the human crisis lies in realizing harmonious coexistence between man and nature, harmonious coexistence between man and man, and harmonious coexistence between man and heart. The three are interdependent and are also a reflection of the sustainability, fairness and commonality of the three principles of sustainable development. This is a new type of human values and methodology, called the "harmony path" for sustainable development.
"The Way to Harmony" is the wisdom and proposition of the great Eastern countries, and it is also the common concept and wealth of the world. Human beings live in the same global village, in the same time and space where history and reality meet, and are increasingly becoming a community with a shared future in which there is me among you and you among me. The world is one and one family. To achieve sustainable development, we should jointly uphold the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, adhere to harmony, harmony, and harmony, pursue symbiosis, coexistence, and coexistence, and follow the "path of harmony" of sustainable development.
Adhere to the common value pursuit of mankind. It is necessary to advocate the change of ideological values, restrain the desire to possess, abandon the ambition to conquer, and shift from excessive pursuit of material interests to more pursuit of self-value realization at the spiritual level. Transform the confrontation and conflict of civilizations into mutual learning and blending of civilizations, integrate the excellent traditional cultures of various countries with contemporary cultures, and form common cultural values that lead the sustainable development of mankind.
Adhere to the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind. Spitler, a famous Swiss poet and Nobel Prize winner for Literature, said: "Finding friends who breathe together and share a shared destiny is the greatest happiness in the world." Faced with global climate and environmental crises, countries and people of all ethnic groups around the world need to work together and use the feeling of "one family under the world" to build consensus, act together, and meet challenges. We must carry forward the concept of "mutual love and mutual benefit", promote the construction of a more equal and balanced global development partnership, strive to solve the problems of unbalanced and inadequate development among and within countries, accelerate the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and build a global community with a shared future for development.
Adhere to the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. We must adhere to the people-oriented approach, accelerate green and low-carbon transformation, actively respond to global climate change, and work together to promote global biodiversity governance. Adhere to the principle of multilateralism and common but differentiated responsibilities, and strive to promote the construction of a fair, reasonable, and win-win global environmental governance system. toXiJinpingGuided by the idea of ecological civilization, we will jointly build a community of life between man and nature, and jointly build a clean and beautiful world.
