ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY

The conference statement pins great importance on ecological safety, while also promising to focus on the quality of urbanization and to improve the living standards of urban residents.

The statement has promised the expansion of forests, lakes and wetlands in urban areas and "to make mountains and rivers visible and let people remember the old times," the statement said.

Yi Peng, a researcher from the China Center for Urban Development under the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the "urbanization process should be restrained as a compromise to nature and to leave space for more greenery."

The statement also urged cutting energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, and increasing efficiency in energy use, which is a positive sign toward reaching the goal set by the State Council earlier this year, according to Yi.

Under the goal, the country would rein in consumption of standard coal to less than 4 billion tonnes, and electricity consumption to under 6.15 trillion kilowatt-hours by 2015.

The statement stressed the importance of developing urban clusters, which Yi said will help fight air pollution, which is not confined to a certain region and would be better dealt with on a larger scale.

"The strategy now is to concentrate people into several urban clusters and control the overall volume of energy consumption and emissions, which will cut emissions and consumption per capita," according to Yi.

The human-centered urbanization model should not simply encourage farmers to swarm into cities, which could put even greater pressure on the environment, as city dwellers emit triple the volume of carbon dioxide as those in the countryside, he explained.