中国作为一个发展中国家，面临着发展经济和保护环境的双重任务。然而，我国人口众多，资源相对不足，经济规模越来越大，经济发展与资源和环境之间的矛盾日益突出。环境污染严重，生态状况恶化、资源耗费巨大、回收率低而导致环境破坏等问题，已成为中国经济保持可持续发展的瓶颈。
从国情出发，中国在全面推进现代化的进程中，已将环境保护视为一项基本国策，将实现经济可持续发展视为一项重要战略，同时在全国范围内开展污染防治工作和生态环境保护活动，环境恶化的状况基本得到了控制。实践证明，我们协调经济发展与环境保护两者之间关系的做法是行之有效的。人类发展只有合理地利用自然界，与自然界保持和谐关系，才能维持和发展人类所创造的文明，才能与自然界共生共荣、协调发展。中国作为国际社会的成员，在努力保护自己环境的同时，还积极参与国际环保事务，促进国际环保合作，并认真履行国际义务。所有这些都充分表明了中国政府和人民保护全球环境的诚意和决心。
As a developing country, China is confronted with the dual task of developing its economy and protecting its environment. However, a country with a large population, relative insufficiency of natural resources and an expanding economy, China suffers an increasingly significant disparity between economic development and natural resources and the environment. The serious environmental problem caused by severe pollution, deteriorating ecological conditions, huge consumption of resources and low reclamation has already become a bottleneck for the sustainable development of the Chinese economy.
Proceeding from its actual conditions, China has, in the process of promoting its overall modernization program, made environmental protection one of its basic state policies, regarded the realization of sustained economic development as an important strategy and meanwhile, carried out nationwide campaigns for pollution prevention and treatment as well as environment and ecology conservation, the conditions of environmental degradation have been controlled fundamentally. Practice shows that our practice of coordinating the relationship between economic development and environmental protection is effective. Only if man makes reasonable use of nature and keeps a harmonious relationship with it in the process of development can the civilization created by him be maintained and developed, can he share subsistence and glory with nature and develop with nature in a coordinating way. As a member of the international community, China, while making great efforts to protect its own environment, has taken an active part in international environmental affairs, striven to promote international cooperation in the field of environmental protection, and earnestly fulfilled its international obligations. All those have given full expression to the sincerity and determination of the Chinese government and people to protect the global environment.
