The 2025 Forum on Ecological Protection and Green Development was held in Yuncheng, North China's Shanxi province, on June 26, with the theme of continuously improving the framework for ecological protection and coordinated development in the Yellow River Basin. 

Zhu Yongxin, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and executive vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD), attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

Zhu noted that the CAPD initiated the Yellow River protection and development forum in 2019, which has contributed significantly to building consensus and offering policy recommendations over the years. At the end of last year, the CAPD upgraded the forum into the Forum on Ecological Protection and Green Development, expanding the platform with a continued focus on the development of the Yellow River Basin, Zhu said.

He emphasized that this year's forum aims to thoroughly study and implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 2nd and 3rd plenary sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee, to better advance the implementation of national strategies and to pool insights, foster consensus and offer advice on enhancing the comprehensive framework for ecological protection and coordinated development in the Yellow River Basin.

Zhu underscored the need to strike a balance between high-level ecological protection and high-quality development, specifically between water resources and population, food, and energy, and enhance water utilization. He called for strengthening the ecological governance system of the Yellow River, and enhancing legal safeguards to form a coordinated management mechanism and a sound ecological compensation system to ensure the sustainable development in the Yellow River Basin.