The sixth China Water Conservation Forum, hosted by the Central Committee of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party (CPWDP), was held in Yinchuan, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, on Sept 4. The forum focused on promoting the economical and intensive use of water resources in the Yellow River Basin.

Yang Zhen, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and executive vice-chairman of the CPWDP Central Committee, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

Yang noted that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to water governance, formulated a clear approach to it, and stressed treating water resources as the most rigid constraint. It has called for determining the scale of cities, land use, population, and industrial development based on available water resources, he said.

He stressed that fully implementing this principle fundamentally requires making development decisions based on available water resources, and keeping development within water resource limits. Water resource carrying capacity should serve as an important prerequisite for planning development and making scientific decisions, with rigid constraints applied throughout the entire process of economic and social development, he noted. Efforts should ensure that population, urban development, agriculture, and industrial distribution are compatible with water resource conditions, and the green transformation of development should be promoted through changes in water use, he added.

He called for optimizing development patterns based on water availability, prioritizing water conservation and advancing intensive water-saving and water-use control in key sectors, and pursuing systematic governance to improve water resource allocation and governance efficiency across river basins. He also stressed the importance of leveraging the combined role of government and market forces to strengthen the internal drivers for water conservation and governance, and encouraging pilot programs to allow exemplary regions to play a demonstrative and leading role.

Yang said the CPWDP would leverage its strengths and pool wisdom and strength to offer suggestions on promoting the economical and intensive use of water resources in the Yellow River Basin, demonstrating through concrete actions the distinctive strengths of China's political party system.

Li Yifei, secretary of the CPC Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Committee and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region People's Congress, also delivered a speech. Chen Yong, chairman of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Committee of the CPPCC, attended the event. Wang Lu, deputy secretary-general of the CPPCC National Committee and full-time vice-chairman of the CPWDP Central Committee, presided over the opening ceremony of the forum.

Yu Qiyang, chief planner of the Ministry of Water Resources, and Chinese Academy of Engineering academicians Kang Shaozhong and Wang Hao, as well as officials from relevant departments in Ningxia and experts and scholars in water conservation from universities and research institutes, delivered speeches at the forum.