A decade ago in Chongqing, a city in the western part of China, President Xi Jinping organized the first symposium on the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, a bold and farsighted step aimed at reshaping the approach to development along the river and its tributaries. This was development with the goal of developing not just the economy but also the environment. A bit of an environmental-economic tango, it marked a turning point in the pursuit of economic growth to the exclusion of other lesser objectives such as the environment.

The Yangtze River Basin is critical to both China's economy and the environment. Stretching from the snow-capped plateau in the west to the East China Sea, it has roughly a third of the country's freshwater resources. On its banks are some of China's greatest cities. At the mouth of the river sits Shanghai, with its fine examples of early-20th-century European architecture, just across the river from modern skyscrapers. Suzhou, in Jiangsu province, while not on the main bank of the river, is in the Yangtze River Delta region. Moving up the Yangtze, we come to provincial capitals such as Hefei in Anhui province, and the more land-locked cities in the Chengdu-Chongqing area. These cities all have their own character and charm.

Shanghai is perhaps the quickest to absorb and reflect international culture; for example, the city is often referred to online as the coffee capital of Asia. From my workplace in Shanghai it is a quick train ride to Suzhou, also called the "Venice of the East" for its canals. I sometimes go to Suzhou and soak in the sun at Tiger Hill and the nearby Cendre Hotel. The pace of life is perhaps the most relaxed in Chengdu, Sichuan province, where I enjoy sitting outside for a spicy meal and visiting the panda breeding and research center.

The Yangtze River Delta has been a key driver of economic growth. Blocks of modern residential flats were constructed at a rapid pace, skyscrapers came up across the river from the Bund in Shanghai, and commerce was everywhere. But this meteoric growth of gross domestic product in the country and this region came at a cost to the environment, as it often does. The Chongqing symposium in 2016 was a central directive to fix it, a call to arms.

A decade later, this region has become more important than ever economically, but not at the cost of the environment. Official statistics show that, as part of the development plan, over 1,000 unauthorized docks on the rivers were dismantled or modified to fit regulations and 200,000 sewage outlets were regulated. In late 2018, the central government launched a campaign to protect and restore the river with clear targets for water quality. By the end of 2020, nearly all monitored sections of the river basin had achieved "good" water quality status, a remarkable turnaround by any standard. Perhaps best of all, the Yangtze finless porpoise, a national first-class protected species, was observed more often along the river, their numbers having grown to over 1,000.

To carry this legacy forward, China implemented a 10-year fishing ban across key sections of the Yangtze River to restore aquatic ecosystems. The Yangtze River Protection Law was enacted to institutionalize this policy by involving all levels of administration, from the province to the cities and the villages.

But the government adopted a people-centered approach while implementing the fishing ban: Compensation and re-training programs were offered to help former fishermen transition to new jobs.

Growth has not lagged behind. If anything, the Yangtze River Economic Belt has entered a phase of higher-quality growth driven by the exploration of new green and digital technologies, rather than the exploitation of natural resources. Eastern Shanghai now houses companies using cutting-edge technology to build humanoid robots, prototypes of which are already being deployed in high-traffic environments such as border crossings. Artificial intelligence, digital technologies and green industries are becoming new growth drivers, reshaping the region's industrial structure while reducing its ecological footprint.

We are well and truly entering the age of AI technology, but with an eye on Mother Nature who sustains us. The message is clear — not ecology versus economy, but ecology sustained by a flourishing and greener economy. This is a blueprint for economic development that various regions can try to emulate.

The author is an associate professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.