On the second day (March 28) of 2014 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum and Exhibition (2014MIECF), a series of forums were held for the discussion of various environmental issues. Mr. James Jao, President of Long On Group, Senior Expert on Planning, State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of the People´s Republic of China and Steering Member of the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT) gave a keynote speech entitled “The Past, Present and the Future of Chinese Three Star Green Building Rating System”.
Mr. Jao began his speech by making an introduction of the Green Building Rating System in China. He said that China is currently very concerned about the pollution issues, and is therefore actively building ecologically friendly cities, by introducing the concept of green building, use of new energies, new technology, new construction materials and new building designs to minimize the use of land resources, through the construction of energy efficient buildings to reduce carbon emissions, so as to improve the living environment.
At the Forum entitled “Ecological Civilization and the Development of Low-Carbon Economy”, organised for the first time in collaboration with the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People´s Republic of China, experts and scholars from Mainland China and Hong Kong explored the relations between ecological civilization and low-carbon development. In his presentation, Mr. Tu Ruihe, Deputy Director of International Co-operation and Deputy Director of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, representing Mr. Zhou Shengxian, Minister of Environmental Protection of the People´s Republic of China, made a brief review on the environmental protection process in China during the past four decades. He said that it has gone through five different stages, namely, environmental awareness, enactment of environmental policies and regulations, large-scale treatment, integrated treatment, and the construction of “ecological civilization”. Currently in China, people´s awareness of the environmental issues has improved significantly.
In collaboration with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) for the first time, a forum was organised under the theme “Corporate Social Responsibility and the Visitor Economy”, to share the experience of socially responsible operators in the tourism and hospitality industry. Speakers of this forum come from Australia, Hong Kong, Spain and the United States. Mr. Andrew Jones, PATA Executive Board Member and Founder of Sanctuary Resort said that socially responsible tourism industry should also be aware of the environmental issues as well as the sustainable development in the economic and social aspects, so that the profit derived from the business could also be used as a contribution to the society. The opinions expressed by the participants provided valuable references for enterprises in the implementation of green development. Students from the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies were invited to attend the forum and share the experience in green business development.
The Pan-Pearl River Delta Region Session was participated by the presidents or secretaries-general of the environmental protection industry associations of provinces and regions in the Pan-PRD regions (“9+2”). The theme of the forum focused on the “Convergence of Advantages, Synergistic Development – Promotion of the Environmental Industrial Parks and Seminar on Regional Co-operation Program for the Provinces and Regions in the PPRD”. Apart from the briefing on the environmental industrial parks, there were also exchanges on advanced environmental technologies and equipment, as well as new ideas to promote co-operation between the PPRD provinces and regions, to further enhance the collaboration and growth of the environmental industry in the PPRD region.
Other forums held today included the “Green Chemical Forum – Environmental Protection Technology: The Driver for Green Chemical Industry” and “Waste no More – Efficient Way Forward”.
