Economic cooperation between China and Africa has produced great achievements, while new standards, particularly green modeling, are called for by environmental groups and officials to help reach an economic, social and ecological balance in Africa.
Development has not only brought huge economic growth to Africa, but has also put pressure on the African environment, Liu Guijin, former director general of the African Department at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a seminar held in Beijing on Monday.
For example, he said,a large number of Chinese companies have invested in Africa's infrastructure construction, mining and energy in particular. But mining pollution is one of the most serious problems that locals deal with.
Other environmentally sensitive sectors including forestry, agriculture, fishing, oil and gas, also requires environmental responsibility from Chinese investors, according to a WWF report released at the seminar.
Therefore, one of the best ways is to promote a long- term development for mutual cooperation, especially on protecting environment, improving people's livelihoods and maintaining peace and security for the continent, Liu said.
However, Africa alone cannot meet its sustainable development challenges and needs the international community to share the burden, said Lila Hanitra Ratsifandrihamanana, former foreign minister of Madagascar.
"Speaking on the eve of the 5th Forum on China and Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), I'd like to draw more attention to the joint actions for promoting green economies," she said.
China has started addressing the sustainability of its overseas investment and building steps towards international standards, for example, the Ministry of Commerce and State Forestry Administration in 2009 issued voluntary guidelines of oversea investing in the forestry sector, the WWF report says.
Since 2004, the Export-Import Bank of China, one of China's institutional banks, has been providing green credits for investors, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission has also issued green lending guidelines in February 2012 to support green trading in Africa, according to the seminar.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) also provides green policies and trust funds for investment companies, and makes sure the environment is being integrated into investment planning, said Anthony Nyong, Manager of Compliance and Safeguards Division of the AfDB.
China is Africa's largest trading partner, and the bilateral trade between the two economies exceeded US$100 billion in 2008, with approx half of China's exports going to Africa and half of its imports coming from Africa, Liu Jian, director from Unite Nations Environment Program, said at the seminar.
Li Ganjie, vice minister for Environmental Protection, said, "China and African countries are both developing nations, facing the same issues like population and resources pressure, unbalanced and unsustainable development; Therefore, environmental and economic development are our common goals."
"We are determined to achieve a deeper and wider cooperation under an effective mechanism of China-African dialogue and promote green development and innovation model."
The meeting aims to promote green development in China-Africa cooperation, and was held in Beijing on Monday by the World Wild Fund in Nature (WWF) and The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED).
The 5th Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC will launch July 18-19, 2012 in Beijing.