A nationwide environmental awareness campaign featuring the 2008 Beijing Olympic mascots and Chinese
celebrities will kick off early next year through a 3-year project
launched on December 18 in Beijing by the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) and the Chinese government.
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Entitled "China Environmental Awareness Program (CEAP)", the
project seeks to raise public awareness about environmental issues
through media campaigns built around high-profile national events
such as?the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo in
2010.
"Creative media campaigns are a good way to generate public
interest on environmental challenges and to encourage people to
actively respond to these concerns," said Yang Lan, one of China's
top television journalists while speaking at the ceremony.
"The Olympics provide a unique opportunity to spotlight
environmental issues at a national and global level and get people
everywhere involved in environmental work," said Yang, who was one
of the ambassadors for?the Beijing 2008 Olympic bid.
To be launched in early 2007, CEAP will raise awareness among
decision makers and the general public on environmental issues, a
critical factor highlighted by Premier Wen Jiabao as one of the major reasons behind
China's severe environmental problems earlier this year.
"To respond to the very issue on top of the government agenda,
our challenge and goal will be to raise awareness and convert
environmental knowledge into a change in behavior, attitude and
practice, " said Khalid Malik, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP
Resident Representative in China, when addressing the launch.
According to Malik, the national campaign will focus on issues
of air pollution, climate change, access to clean water and
sustainable consumption through a variety of media vehicles such as
public-service announcements, documentaries and TV shows.
Through a newly established partnership between UNDP and the
Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
(BOCOG), the official Olympic mascots, the "Fuwa", representing the five elements of nature
and four animals from diverse regions in China, will be linked to
environmental messages in a series of animated public service
announcements to be broadcasted on Chinese television and on the
monitor screens within the Olympic facilities and stadiums.
"In addition to the Olympic mascots, the
UNDP-BOCOG partnership will feature transporting athletes on
fuel-cell buses through the Olympic compound to promote clean
public transport, showcasing environmentally friendly materials and
solutions used in building the Olympic facilities and establishing
an education center inside the Olympic venue to raise public
awareness on innovative approaches to water conservation, " said Yu
Xiaoxuan, director of the Environment Department of BOCOG.
Along with the national campaign, CEAP will also adopt
tailor-made approaches to enhance?environmental consciousness
of different social sectors and groups, including plans to
introduce Green MBA programs in Chinese universities,?training
Chinese journalists?covering environmental stories and an
award-scheme to recognize Chinese environmental leadership,
supported by a series of targeted local campaigns with special
attention placed on women and children in Western China.
The project is a joint effort between UNDP, the State
Environmental Protection Administration of China (SEPA), and the
China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges
(CICETE) under the Ministry of Commerce. It is funded by Arcelor
Mittal, the world's largest steel producer, committed to promoting
technologies on energy-efficiency and CO2 emission reduction, and
the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
(china.org.cn December 19, 2006)
