OVER-EXPLOITATION of natural resources and urbanization had brought much pressure to bear on the human environment and constituted a bottleneck to sustainable development, a conference was told yesterday.The speaker was city Vice Mayor Zhuo Qinrui, at the opening of the Fifth International Eco-City Conference, which runs from August 19 to 23. The conference will focus on various aspects of eco-city building with environmental topics to be discussed at several symposiums.“This conference brings together not only scientific and technical experts and social researchers but also decision makers of local governmental authorities,” said Veronique Ploco-Fichelet, executive director of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment.She said that through exchanges of opinions and ideas all those involved could help improve the human ecological environment.

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