SHENZHEN and its districts, including Nanshan, Bao’an, Longgang, Longhua and Guangming, have been selected among the fourth batch of model cities and counties for the construction of ecological civilization, according to the list released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently.

So far, districts in Shenzhen have all been listed in the model areas.

Shenzhen is the only sub-provincial city in the country to win the honor, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

In recent years, Shenzhen has invested over 150 billion yuan (US$22 billion) in treating water pollution.

It took four years for Shenzhen to clean up river pollution built up over the past 40 years. Shenzhen has been awarded by the State Council as one of the five cities achieving obvious improvements in water quality.

Shenzhen was included on the list of model cities for the treatment of blackened and odorous water.

Shenzhen has continued to implement the “Shenzhen Blue” sustainable action. In 2019, the city’s annual average of PM2.5 concentration dropped to 24 micrograms per cubic meter, reaching the World Health Organization’s Phase II standard for the first time since 2006 when monitoring data was first made available.

In addition, Shenzhen has achieved positive results in launching pilot projects for the construction of a national “zero-waste city.”

An official with the Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment stated that Shenzhen will strengthen its role in handling international key issues such as climate change, biodiversity protection and protection of the marine environment to participate in global ecological governance on a larger and deeper level.

(Wang Jingli)