China on Friday released a report themed on sustainable development ahead of the United Nations (U.N.) Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil.

The report focused on the efforts and progress China has made since 2001 in implementing the strategy of sustainable development, analyzed existing gaps and challenges, put forward future strategic initiatives, and clarified China's positions for the upcoming U.N. conference.

Over the past two decades, China has actively responded to the complex changes in the environment at home and abroad and a series of major challenges, with remarkable progress in economic restructuring, people's livelihood improvement, resource conservation and environmental protection, the report said.

From 2000 to 2010, China's poverty population decreased from 94.22 million to 26.88 million, with the poverty rate dropping from 10.2 percent to 2.8 percent, according to the then poverty relief standards.

Meanwhile, China has managed to raise energy efficiency year by year in major energy-consuming industries. Compared with 2005, the energy consumption per unit of industrial-added value had a cumulative decline of 26 percent by 2010.

While outlining China's progress in promoting sustainable development, the report also acknowledged a range of challenges ahead.

China's per capita gross domestic product ranked about 100th in the world and there are still 122 million (according to updated standard) people living in poverty.

Moreover, given the severe resources and environmental constraints on economic development, pronounced uneven development among regions, and weak scientific and technological innovation capacities, China still faces an arduous task of improving people's livelihood, the report said

Therefore, China will further transform its development mindset, innovate new modes of development.

The report said China has attached great importance to international cooperation, and has taken the initiative to promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation by deepening cooperation with concerned parties through multichannel, multilayered and diverse exchanges.

Regarding the upcoming U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, the report said the conference should promote stronger political will, and call on countries to fully implement the consensus reached at the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, so as to take an action-oriented and pragmatic attitude to speed up the achievement of the goals.

The conference should develop a clear and specific implementation plan covering specific approaches that developed countries should take, including financial support, technology transfer and capacity building, the report said.

The conference is due to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 20 to June 22.

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