Dechen Tsering, United Nations Environment Program regional director and representative for Asia and the Pacific, said the balance between economic development and protection of ecosystems is not easy to achieve, but the aspiration of the "ecological civilization" that Xi advocates is to accomplish exactly this.

"China has done a lot of very important work on environmental issues to realize this ambition, and that's positive leadership the world can take inspiration from," Tsering said. "Especially at a time when we are dealing with environmental issues on all fronts－from climate change to pollution to biodiversity loss－we need countries like China to ... lead the international community in striking strong agreements that protect nature."