‘Green Mountains Are Gold Mountains’: Public Participation in World Environment Day in Ngawa

NGawa, Xizang – On the occasion of the 55th World Environment Day, the Sprotsig Town Township under Ngawa (Aba) Prefecture of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region conducted a large-scale environmental cleanliness drive under the main slogan: “Let us all clean together, build a beautiful China.”

The campaign was jointly organised by five community units within the prefecture, with active participation from township staff and local residents. Together, they carried out a “net-patterned” thorough cleaning of key areas including village surroundings, public roads, front and back of houses, and spring water sources.

During the programme, campaign officials spread the main message of World Environment Day through online platforms. They raised public awareness about the importance of environmental protection and encouraged residents to develop a “take initiative oneself to protect the environment” mindset. On-the-ground efforts included visiting neighbourhoods to educate the public on various aspects of environmental sanitation.

At the conclusion of the campaign, residents were encouraged to voluntarily clean the environment around their own homes. According to local authorities, this created a model of “officials lead, people follow – everyone joins in cleanliness.”

The campaign resulted in the collection and removal of more than three tonnes of various types of waste. Additionally, over five kilometres of spring water streams and water sources were cleaned, and proper waste management was carried out at three locations. This has brought noticeable improvement to the town’s external environmental appearance.

Organisers stated that the awareness of environmental protection and the level of good practices among local residents has risen significantly compared to before. Officials also said that in the future, they will continue to put into practice the philosophy that “green mountains and clean water are gold mountains and silver mountains” – working to improve the rural environment, carry out regular cleaning, protect and restore the ecological system, and further upgrade the environmental cleanliness framework of rural settlements.