By Nneka Nwogwugwu
An environmentalist in Zambia, Morgan Katati has on Tuesday hailed China’s role in ensuring sustainable development which ensures a win-win economic growth and environmental protection.
Katati has said the call provides an inspiration for all countries to act together to protect the environment.
Chinese president spoke via video link to a leaders’ summit of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, News Ghana reports.
“China is a strategic country when it comes to dealing with the environment because of the accelerated development which has resulted in improved productivity. We are happy with sentiments coming from China and we hope other big players will emulate China,” he said in an interview.
Katati, who is also executive director of the Zambia Institute of Environmental Management, said it should be a responsibility of all countries to ensure the protection of the ecosystem even as countries pursue economic development.
According to him, the call for a green economy needs to be pursued vigorously by all countries, adding that the need to balance between development and environment was important now more than ever before.
In his address to a leaders’ summit of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, China called a sound ecology and environment “not just a natural asset, but also an economic asset”.