Fig. 1.

Evolution in total national GDP, population, and fossil fuel CO₂ emissions, together with trajectory of the national policies in China between 1945 and 2015. (Upper) GDP, population, and CO₂ emissions. The CO₂ emissions data were from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (cdiac.ess-dive.lbl.gov/), and population and GDP data from the World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/country/). (Lower) National economic policies and key ecological restoration projects. The environmental pressure of rapid economic growth required a paradigm shift in socioeconomic development. In the 1950s and 1960s, the national priority was to build an industrial system and catch up with industrialized countries. The associated “conquer nature” ideology greatly disturbed natural ecosystems with an absence of scientifically informed land use. The reform and opening-up policy initiated in the late 1970s stimulated the rapid economic development of the following decades, which exerted unprecedented impacts on ecosystems and environments. To restore degraded ecosystems, the central Government has initiated several national ecological restoration projects since the late 1990s, controlled the expansion of high pollution and high-energy consumption industry, and implemented stringent protection regulations in arable lands and natural ecosystems. In 2007, China adopted Ecological Civilization (social–ecological sustainability) as its national strategy for not only a greener China but also for the sustainability of society.