II. Principles that must be upheld in strengthening development of an ecological civilization
二、加强生态文明建设必须坚持的原则
The environment is a major political issue which bears upon the mission and purpose of the CPC as well as a major social issue which bears upon public wellbeing. The CPC has always attached great importance to ecological conservation, establishing resource conservation and environmental protection as fundamental state policies and making sustainable development a national strategy. As we have made further progress and gained socioeconomic development, our understanding of the overall plan for building Chinese socialism has grown. It started from the distinction between material and non-material culture before transforming into the "Three-Pronged" overall plan, which covered economic, political, and cultural development. This grew to four prongs with the addition of social development, and finally five prongs with the addition of ecological development. This was a process of great theoretical and practical innovation, which profoundly transformed how we think about and how we go about development.
生态环境是关系党的使命宗旨的重大政治问题，也是关系民生的重大社会问题。我们党历来高度重视生态环境保护，把节约资源和保护环境确立为基本国策，把可持续发展确立为国家战略。随着经济社会发展和实践深入，我们对中国特色社会主义总体布局的认识不断深化，从当年的“两个文明”到“三位一体”、“四位一体”，再到今天的“五位一体”，这是重大理论和实践创新，更带来了发展理念和发展方式的深刻转变。
The primary contradiction in Chinese society has transformed into that between imbalanced and inadequate development and the people's growing needs for a better life, and now the people's demands for a beautiful environment have already become an important aspect of this challenge, with the public eagerly awaiting faster improvements in environmental quality. The goal of the CPC is to help the people reach the better lives for which they are yearning, and its mission as the governing party is to resolve problems that are of the greatest, most direct, and most practical concern to the people. Public sentiment is the greatest test of political efficacy. We must actively respond to the people's desires, hopes, and anxieties, vigorously advance development of an ecological civilization, provide more high-quality ecological goods, and consistently meet the people's growing demands for a beautiful environment.
现在，随着我国社会主要矛盾转化为人民日益增长的美好生活需要和不平衡不充分的发展之间的矛盾，人民群众对优美生态环境需要已经成为这一矛盾的重要方面，广大人民群众热切期盼加快提高生态环境质量。人民对美好生活的向往是我们党的奋斗目标，解决人民最关心最直接最现实的利益问题是执政党使命所在。人心是最大的政治。我们要积极回应人民群众所想、所盼、所急，大力推进生态文明建设，提供更多优质生态产品，不断满足人民日益增长的优美生态环境需要。
Humanity is a community with a shared future, and thus protecting the environment is a challenge and a duty which all of us around the globe must face together. If development of an ecological civilization goes smoothly, it will be an achievement of Chinese socialism, otherwise the reverse will be used as an excuse by forces with hidden agendas to attack us. After humanity entered the industrial age, traditional industrialization unfolded at an incredible pace. This created immense material wealth, but also accelerated the scramble for natural resources and disrupted the original balance and cycles within the earth's ecosystems, and thereby caused the relationship between man and nature to become strained. Beginning in the 1930s, a number of Western countries experienced multiple environmental disasters. Shocking the world with the massive losses that they caused, these events led people to reflect deeply on the capitalist model of development. In over two centuries of modernization, no more than 30 countries have industrialized, with a combined population of less than a billion. China is the world's largest developing country with a population of more than 1.3 billion, and therefore our efforts to build an ecological civilization and turn China into a strong and modern socialist country that is prosperous, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and beautiful will be global in their impact.
人类是命运共同体，保护生态环境是全球面临的共同挑战和共同责任。生态文明建设做好了，对中国特色社会主义是加分项，反之就会成为别有用心的势力攻击我们的借口。人类进入工业文明时代以来，传统工业化迅猛发展，在创造巨大物质财富的同时也加速了对自然资源的攫取，打破了地球生态系统原有的循环和平衡，造成人与自然关系紧张。从上世纪30年代开始，一些西方国家相继发生多起环境公害事件，损失巨大，震惊世界，引发了人们对资本主义发展模式的深刻反思。在人类200多年的现代化进程中，实现工业化的国家不超过30个、人口不超过10亿。在我们这个13亿多人口的最大发展中国家推进生态文明建设，建成富强民主文明和谐美丽的社会主义现代化强国，其影响将是世界性的。
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our Party has thoroughly answered important theoretical and practical questions concerning the how, what, and why of ecological civilization, and introduced a whole series of new concepts, ideas, and strategies. To develop an ecological civilization in the new era, the following principles must be upheld.
党的十八大以来，我们党深刻回答了为什么建设生态文明、建设什么样的生态文明、怎样建设生态文明的重大理论和实践问题，提出了一系列新理念新思想新战略。新时代推进生态文明建设，必须坚持好以下原则。
The first principle is that harmonious coexistence between humans and nature must be upheld. Man and nature form a biotic community with a shared future. The environment has no substitute, and we may not realize how truly precious it is until it is damaged to the point of being unsalvageable. To borrow the words of ancient masters, "Heaven, Earth, and I were produced together, and all things and I are one." "Heaven does not speak, yet the four seasons move in order. Earth does not speak, yet the myriad beings come to life." When humans use nature in a reasonable manner and protect it with care, then nature will typically reward them generously. However, when humans exploit nature indiscriminately and aggressively plunder its resources, then nature will be ruthless in its punishment. By harming nature, humans are ultimately harming themselves – this is an irrefutable truth. As Xunzi said, "Each of the myriad things must be in a harmonious relation with Heaven in order to grow, and each must obtain from Heaven the proper nurture in order to become complete." There are numerous vivid examples of this, such as the Dujiang Weirs. This great water conservancy project was built more than 2000 years ago during the Warring States Period according to the flooding patterns of the Minjiang River and the topographical characteristics of Chengdu with its flat plains and rivers prone to overflow. It was beneficial not only at the time, but also for countless generations that have followed.
一是坚持人与自然和谐共生。人与自然是生命共同体。生态环境没有替代品，用之不觉，失之难存。“天地与我并生，而万物与我为一。”“天不言而四时行，地不语而百物生。”当人类合理利用、友好保护自然时，自然的回报常常是慷慨的；当人类无序开发、粗暴掠夺自然时，自然的惩罚必然是无情的。人类对大自然的伤害最终会伤及人类自身，这是无法抗拒的规律。“万物各得其和以生，各得其养以成”。这方面有很多鲜活生动的事例。始建于战国时期的都江堰，距今已有2000多年历史，就是根据岷江的洪涝规律和成都平原悬江的地势特点，因势利导建设的大型生态水利工程，不仅造福当时，而且泽被后世。
Throughout the process of development, we must prioritize environmental conservation and protection and put the restoration of nature first. We cannot think about what we can take from nature without considering how we can give back to it; we cannot think about development while ignoring our responsibility to protect the environment; and we cannot think about how we can use nature without looking at how he can restore it. We should protect our natural environment in the same way we would protect our own wellbeing, focusing on taking more positive measures that will provide solid foundations and long-term benefits, concrete steps that will help protect and restore the environment, and effective actions that will clean up our surroundings and reveal their natural beauty. This will allow the people to be close to mountains and waters and recall their rural roots with fond memories, ensure that pristine natural vistas are never too far away, and preserve the serenity, harmony, and beauty of nature.
在整个发展过程中，我们都要坚持节约优先、保护优先、自然恢复为主的方针，不能只讲索取不讲投入，不能只讲发展不讲保护，不能只讲利用不讲修复，要像保护眼睛一样保护生态环境，像对待生命一样对待生态环境，多谋打基础、利长远的善事，多干保护自然、修复生态的实事，多做治山理水、显山露水的好事，让群众望得见山、看得见水、记得住乡愁，让自然生态美景永驻人间，还自然以宁静、和谐、美丽。
The second principle is that our natural environment is precious. This is an important concept for development, and a major principle for advancing modernization. The phrase "green is gold" has expounded the relationship between economic development and environmental protection and shown us the truth that by protecting the environment we are protecting productive forces, and that by improving the environment we are developing productive forces. It has therefore pointed out a new path for achieving coordination between development and conservation. Lucid waters and lush mountains are not only examples of natural and ecological wealth, but they are also social and economic assets. By protecting nature, we are safeguarding the value of the environment and increasing environmental capital, while also safeguarding the potential for future economic and social development, ensuring that our natural assets have lasting ecological and socioeconomic effects.
二是绿水青山就是金山银山。这是重要的发展理念，也是推进现代化建设的重大原则。绿水青山就是金山银山，阐述了经济发展和生态环境保护的关系，揭示了保护生态环境就是保护生产力、改善生态环境就是发展生产力的道理，指明了实现发展和保护协同共生的新路径。绿水青山既是自然财富、生态财富，又是社会财富、经济财富。保护生态环境就是保护自然价值和增值自然资本，就是保护经济社会发展潜力和后劲，使绿水青山持续发挥生态效益和经济社会效益。
At their roots, environmental problems are problems with the ways in which we live and develop. In order to resolve them at the fundamental level, we must implement principled development that is innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared, and accelerate the formation of spatial patterns, industrial structures, modes of production, and lifestyles conducive to resource conservation and environmental protection. We must also keep economic activities and human activity in general within the limits of what our environment and natural resources can bear, giving the environment the time and space that it needs to rest and recuperate. We must move faster to define and enforce strict controls including red lines for environmental protection, minimum standards for environmental quality, and ceilings on resource utilization. We will absolutely not allow people to continue to engage in activities that violate these controls, follow old extensive models of growth, or seek short-term gain at the expense of future generations. In terms of red lines for environmental protection, we should establish a strict system of controls that covers important ecological spaces so that these spaces do not change in character, become smaller, or lose ecological functions. In terms of minimum standards for environmental quality, we should make it the basic requirement that environmental quality must not worsen and may only get better. We should strive for constant improvements on this basis, and strictly enforce accountability in areas with serious ecological degradation or where environmental quality has worsened. In terms of ceilings on resource utilization, we must consider not only the needs of people and the world today, but also those of the environment and future generations. We must keep a firm handle on the intensity with which we exploit and utilize natural resources, ensuring that we do not exceed the carrying capacity of these resources.
生态环境问题归根结底是发展方式和生活方式问题，要从根本上解决生态环境问题，必须贯彻创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享的发展理念，加快形成节约资源和保护环境的空间格局、产业结构、生产方式、生活方式，把经济活动、人的行为限制在自然资源和生态环境能够承受的限度内，给自然生态留下休养生息的时间和空间。要加快划定并严守生态保护红线、环境质量底线、资源利用上线三条红线。对突破三条红线、仍然沿用粗放增长模式、吃祖宗饭砸子孙碗的事，绝对不能再干，绝对不允许再干。在生态保护红线方面，要建立严格的管控体系，实现一条红线管控重要生态空间，确保生态功能不降低、面积不减少、性质不改变。在环境质量底线方面，将生态环境质量只能更好、不能变坏作为底线，并在此基础上不断改善，对生态破坏严重、环境质量恶化的区域必须严肃问责。在资源利用上线方面，不仅要考虑人类和当代的需要，也要考虑大自然和后人的需要，把握好自然资源开发利用的度，不要突破自然资源承载能力。
The third principle is that there is no welfare more universally beneficial than a sound natural environment. In all things, we must act according to the will of the public. The environment is crucial to the wellbeing of the public, since blue skies and verdant surroundings allow us to feel the beauty and joy of life. Just as economic development is for the wellbeing of the people, so is environmental protection. In addition to creating more material and cultural wealth to meet people's growing needs for a better life, we need also to provide more quality ecological goods to meet people's growing demands for a beautiful environment. We must ensure that the environment benefits the people, stressing the resolution of prominent environmental problems that impact public health, accelerating the improvement of environmental quality, and providing more high-quality ecological goods as we strive to achieve social equity and justice and consistently meet the people's growing needs for a beautiful environment.
三是良好生态环境是最普惠的民生福祉。民之所好好之，民之所恶恶之。环境就是民生，青山就是美丽，蓝天也是幸福。发展经济是为了民生，保护生态环境同样也是为了民生。既要创造更多的物质财富和精神财富以满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要，也要提供更多优质生态产品以满足人民日益增长的优美生态环境需要。要坚持生态惠民、生态利民、生态为民，重点解决损害群众健康的突出环境问题，加快改善生态环境质量，提供更多优质生态产品，努力实现社会公平正义，不断满足人民日益增长的优美生态环境需要。
Since developing an ecological civilization is a cause in which the entire public participates and has a stake, we must translate the idea of building a beautiful China into the conscious actions of all people. Every person is a protector, contributor, and beneficiary of the environment. No one can remain aloof, choosing to critique from the sidelines rather than participate. We must boost all people's awareness of the need to conserve resources, protect the environment, and maintain our ecosystems, foster standards for ecological ethics and conduct, launch public activities promoting sustainability, and encourage all members of society to contribute to protecting the environment by cutting down on the amount of pollution they produce and energy and resources they consume as much as possible.
生态文明是人民群众共同参与共同建设共同享有的事业，要把建设美丽中国转化为全体人民自觉行动。每个人都是生态环境的保护者、建设者、受益者，没有哪个人是旁观者、局外人、批评家，谁也不能只说不做、置身事外。要增强全民节约意识、环保意识、生态意识，培育生态道德和行为准则，开展全民绿色行动，动员全社会都以实际行动减少能源资源消耗和污染排放，为生态环境保护作出贡献。
The fourth principle is that our mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasslands together form a biotic community. An ecosystem is an integrated natural entity made up of organic chains that are tightly bound and dependent on each other. Just as humans need the fields for food, the fields need the rivers, the rivers need the mountains, the mountains need the soils, and the soils need the forests and grasslands. This biotic community is the material basis for humanity's subsistence and development. We must take all of the ways that we impact nature into account from a broad and long-term perspective, and avoid being penny-wise and pound-foolish, biting off more than we can chew or emphasizing one thing while neglecting another, for this would ultimately cause long-term environmental damage on a system-wide scale.
四是山水林田湖草是生命共同体。生态是统一的自然系统，是相互依存、紧密联系的有机链条。人的命脉在田，田的命脉在水，水的命脉在山，山的命脉在土，土的命脉在林和草，这个生命共同体是人类生存发展的物质基础。一定要算大账、算长远账、算整体账、算综合账，如果因小失大、顾此失彼，最终必然对生态环境造成系统性、长期性破坏。
We must seek out a new path for environmental governance by treating it as a systematic project and looking at it from an overall perspective. Rather than continuing to treat superficial symptoms through stopgap measures with government departments each looking out for their own immediate problems while holding each other back, we must make plans that take all factors into consideration and simultaneously implement multiple comprehensive measures to ensure that our efforts to build an ecological civilization permeate all fields, regions, and processes. For example, to effectively control water pollution and protect our aquatic environments, we must take everything into account, such as entire bodies of water and the lands that surround them, both surface and subsurface sources of water, both rivers and oceans, both aquatic ecosystems and aquatic resources, and both the prevention and control of pollution and the protection of ecosystems. By doing so, we will attain the optimal results of systematic environmental governance. We must thoroughly implement integrated ecological protection and restoration for mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and grasslands, carry out large-scale national greening campaigns, and accelerate comprehensive control of soil erosion and desertification. In promoting growth of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, we must ensure well-coordinated environmental protection, avoid excessive development, put the environment first, remain committed to green development, and make it a precondition that all related economic activities do not damage the environment.
要从系统工程和全局角度寻求新的治理之道，不能再是头痛医头、脚痛医脚，各管一摊、相互掣肘，而必须统筹兼顾、整体施策、多措并举，全方位、全地域、全过程开展生态文明建设。比如，治理好水污染、保护好水环境，就需要全面统筹左右岸、上下游、陆上水上、地表地下、河流海洋、水生态水资源、污染防治与生态保护，达到系统治理的最佳效果。要深入实施山水林田湖草一体化生态保护和修复，开展大规模国土绿化行动，加快水土流失和荒漠化石漠化综合治理。推动长江经济带发展，要共抓大保护，不搞大开发，坚持生态优先、绿色发展，涉及长江的一切经济活动都要以不破坏生态环境为前提。
The fifth principle is that the strictest regulations and laws must be applied in protecting the environment. Environmental protection must have legal and regulatory backing. Most of China's outstanding problems in environmental protection are related to inadequate systems, lax regulations, imperfect laws, lacking enforcement, and ineffectual punishment. We must accelerate innovation of regulations, ensuring that they offer more, have adequate peripheral support, and that they are rigorously enforced. By doing so, we will turn our regulations into rigid and inviolable constraints. We must use our regulations to check the use of power, protect blue skies and increase green coverage, and ensure accountability, thus guaranteeing that the CPC Central Committee's decisions and arrangements on building an ecological civilization are firmly implemented and produce real results.
五是用最严格制度最严密法治保护生态环境。保护生态环境必须依靠制度、依靠法治。我国生态环境保护中存在的突出问题大多同体制不健全、制度不严格、法治不严密、执行不到位、惩处不得力有关。要加快制度创新，增加制度供给，完善制度配套，强化制度执行，让制度成为刚性的约束和不可触碰的高压线。要严格用制度管权治吏、护蓝增绿，有权必有责、有责必担当、失责必追究，保证党中央关于生态文明建设决策部署落地生根见效。
As Han Feizi said, "When those who uphold the law are strong, the state is strong; when they are weak, the state is weak." Institutions depend on concrete enforcement and rigorous oversight. We have already introduced a series of reform measures and related institutions, and these must be implemented with the same intensity as central environmental protection inspections. The rigidity and authority of these institutions must be firmly established, leaving no room for choice, flexibility, or compromise. We must implement a system under which officials bear the responsibility for building an ecological civilization, and ensure that they are accountable through strict assessments. We must hold to account on a permanent basis those who cause serious consequences through blind decisions that disregard the environment. When dealing with actions that damage the environment, we must not be soft or make exceptions. Instead, we must keep a forceful grip on representative cases of environmental destruction and send out a signal that such behavior will be met with harsh punishment. Accountability must be ensured, no matter the person, place, or time frame being investigated. We must persist in getting to the bottom of these issues, and never let our institutions and regulations become "toothless tigers."
奉法者强则国强，奉法者弱则国弱。令在必信，法在必行。制度的生命力在于执行，关键在真抓，靠的是严管。我们已出台一系列改革举措和相关制度，要像抓中央环境保护督察一样抓好落实。制度的刚性和权威必须牢固树立起来，不得作选择、搞变通、打折扣。要落实领导干部生态文明建设责任制，严格考核问责。对那些不顾生态环境盲目决策、造成严重后果的人，必须追究其责任，而且应该终身追责。对破坏生态环境的行为不能手软，不能下不为例。要下大气力抓住破坏生态环境的反面典型，释放出严加惩处的强烈信号。对任何地方、任何时候、任何人，凡是需要追责的，必须一追到底，决不能让制度规定成为“没有牙齿的老虎”。
The sixth principle is that joint efforts must be made in building a global ecological civilization. Development of an ecological civilization concerns the future of humanity, and building a green living environment is humanity's common aspiration. The whole world must work together to protect the environment and respond to climate change. No country can ignore these issues, and no country will fare well by going it alone. China has already become a major participant, contributor, and champion in the movement to build a global ecological civilization, advocating the cultivation of ecosystems in which Mother Nature and green development come first, and promoting joint efforts toward making the world cleaner and more beautiful. We must be deeply involved in global environmental governance, build China's say and influence in the global environmental governance system, actively guide the transformation of the international order, and create solutions for environmental protection and sustainable development around the world. We must remain committed to being environmentally-friendly, and take an active role in international cooperation on climate change. Finally, we must drive the Belt and Road Initiative forward, seeing that the principles and practices of ecological civilization benefit the peoples of all countries along the B&R route.
六是共谋全球生态文明建设。生态文明建设关乎人类未来，建设绿色家园是人类的共同梦想，保护生态环境、应对气候变化需要世界各国同舟共济、共同努力，任何一国都无法置身事外、独善其身。我国已成为全球生态文明建设的重要参与者、贡献者、引领者，主张加快构筑尊崇自然、绿色发展的生态体系，共建清洁美丽的世界。要深度参与全球环境治理，增强我国在全球环境治理体系中的话语权和影响力，积极引导国际秩序变革方向，形成世界环境保护和可持续发展的解决方案。要坚持环境友好，引导应对气候变化国际合作。要推进“一带一路”建设，让生态文明的理念和实践造福沿线各国人民。