Beijing, March 9 (People's Daily Online front report team reporter Zhang Feiran Chu Zirui) This afternoon, the press Center of the Fifth Session of the 12th National People's Congress held a press conference in the multifunction hall of Media Center, invited Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining to answer questions about "strengthening ecological and environmental protection".

Chen Jining said at the meeting that environmental issues are a major challenge facing mankind in the process of modernization, a beautiful environment is an important well-being of mankind, and a beautiful China is an important part of the Chinese Dream.  Premier Li Keqiang has also made important instructions on environmental protection for many times. In this year's report on the work of the government, he made special arrangements for environmental protection. The Ministry of Environmental Protection will, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the central government, spare no effort to implement all environmental protection work and tasks and strive to deliver a qualified response to the people.

Chen stressed that environmental protection involves thousands of families and is closely related to each of us. Each of us is a victim and a beneficiary, a polluter and a protector. Therefore, I would like to urge everyone not to become a bystander or a critic of environmental issues, but to become a participant and contributor in solving environmental problems. Start with me, start now.

When asked by a reporter on the scene what each person can do to protect the environment and what measures China will take in this regard, Chen Jining replied that this year we will make publicity and education of environmental protection as the core of our environmental protection work. And from strengthening the system guarantee, strengthening environmental publicity and education, promoting information disclosure, guiding and supporting ngos to participate in environmental protection work in a healthy and orderly manner.

Chen added that the Ministry of Civil Affairs is working on a document to strengthen guidance on the development and legal management of environmental social organizations. After the release of the document, it will further guide and strengthen the healthy and orderly development of environmental social organizations.

The following is a transcript of the question and answer session:

Reporter: From the aspect of China's green construction strategy, we can see that China attaches great importance to environmental protection and ecology, and we are very glad to see that a series of measures are being taken. But as you said, every one of us is a polluter, and every one of us can be a protector. In terms of environmental education, publicity and awareness, let everyone know what can be done to protect the environment. What measures will China take in this regard? thank you

Chen Jining: Thank you. That's a very good question. Environmental problems are a matter of public interest. As I said just now, it requires the participation of all of us, and only through joint governance can we have shared benefits. Therefore, increasing public participation in environmental protection is an important part of our environmental protection work. When we plan our environmental protection work in 2017 this year, we will make publicity and education of environmental protection the core work of our environmental protection work. The past is not core to what we do. We have carried out our work in four areas:

First, we need to strengthen institutional guarantees. If you have noticed, the new Environmental Protection Law has added a special chapter, specifically stipulating the contents of information disclosure and public participation. As a supporting measure, we issued the Measures on Public Participation in Environmental Protection in 2015, and have conducted guidance and inspection on the implementation of the measures in various localities. We have also set up a number of demonstration trials of public participation nationwide. We are currently revising the interim measures for Public participation in environmental impact assessments, as public participation in environmental impact assessments is one of the areas of greatest concern. The procedures of public participation in construction projects should be optimized and standardized by clarifying the main responsibilities of the construction units, optimizing the procedures and ways of public participation, publishing the EIA report and public participation at the same time, and severely punishing the public participation of the construction units for fraud and other behavior measures.

Second, strengthen environmental publicity and education. We, together with the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Central Civilization Office and other units, have jointly issued and formulated the Program of National Environmental Publicity and Education (2016-2020), making an overall arrangement for the work of the 13th Five-Year Plan, which is to fully mobilize all sectors of society to participate in environmental protection. We actively use media platforms, especially new media, to disseminate information, measures and progress on environmental protection. In addition, we also have several major activities, including the "June 5th Environment Day" commemoration, China Ecological Civilization Award, Green China Person of the Year selection, etc., to encourage more people to get involved in environmental protection work.

Third, it is very important to promote information disclosure. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has made great efforts to publicize information on air and water environmental quality. You can easily see this information. We focus on promoting the information of polluters, which must be seen by the public. To promote environmental impact assessment and regulate the environmental information of the authorities, we want to put both the government and enterprises under the sun to accept the supervision of the public. In addition, we have opened up channels for the public to express their will. In October last year, the 12369 environmental reporting platform went online nationwide, allowing all provincial-level environmental protection departments, cities and counties to directly log in and receive reports on the same platform.

In addition, we have also set up some sewage treatment plants and garbage treatment plants (fields) as environmental education bases, so that the public can personally understand how to deal with the pollution generated and raise their awareness of environmental protection. Finally, we will guide and support ngos to participate in environmental protection work in a healthy and orderly manner. We have set up a database of environmental social organizations, including information on 708 organizations, and donated various periodicals to nearly 100 environmental social organizations. In addition, we also organized seminars and trainings for leaders of key organizations to strengthen communication with environmental social organizations. Last year we had two very good training sessions with over 130 participants from nearly 100 organizations. We also support public interest litigation through project funding or purchase of services, and support social public interest organizations to carry out relevant environmental protection activities, so as to gather social forces and maximize the joint force of pollution control and environmental protection.

At present, we have another work to do. The Ministry of Civil Affairs is working on a document to strengthen the guidance and development of environmental protection social organizations and their management in accordance with the law. The release of this document will further guide and strengthen the healthy and orderly development of environmental social organizations. Another work is to teach environmental protection in schools and communities, which is also very important work. We are also actively promoting this. thank you