On the Strategic Considerations and Paths Selection of Integrating Ecological Civilization into Economic Construction

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the integration of ecological civilization construction with the development of economy, politics, culture, and society has not only been an established strategy of deepening and consolidating the “five-sphere integrated plan” of socialism with Chinese characteristics, but it has also been an important approach to achieve ecological civilization. In order to realize it, “integration” is the living soul. Integration means that on one hand, ecological civilization construction should be in step with economic and social development; on the other hand, it is inherent with the strategic thinking that priority should be given to ecology and environmental protection. This paper explains how ecological civilization construction is integrated with economic development and also discusses its strategies and paths. The findings are as follows: The first is to cling to the bottom line that no major ecological disasters should happen. This requires adherence to the basic state policy of environmental protection, restructuring of conventional industries and transformation of development patterns. The second is to adhere to the philosophy that industrialization, urbanization, informatization, agricultural modernization and greenization be promoted simultaneously, so that they can complement with the “five-sphere integrated plan”. This requires that a green, low carbon, and recyclable path should be pursued. The third is to stay open and forward-looking. In the new era of ecological civilization with new fashion and trends, active measures should be taken to build a modern ecological and industrial development system in order to lay a solid foundation for ecological civilization construction.