China vows to further protect environment while fighting poverty

BEIJING — Environmental and ecological protection will play a bigger role in advancing poverty alleviation, according to China's environment authority.

Emphasis will be placed on developing the ecological economy, particularly ecological tourism and agriculture, healthcare and elderly care, the organic food industry as well as the ecology recovery industry, said Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment Zhuang Guotai during a poverty alleviation forum.

Ecological recovery will focus on returning farmland to forests and grasslands as well as on wetland protection and water treatment.

To improve the livelihoods of those living under the national poverty line and to provide better infrastructure for countryside tourism, green heating systems will be introduced and water quality enhanced in an environmental revamp of village neighborhoods.

On top of promoting organic farming and countryside tourism, local governments will include people in poverty-stricken areas in environmental protection undertakings to increase their incomes.