Fujian, a coastal province in Southeast China, has achieved stunning results in its drive to protect its beautiful natural environment over the last five years.

The province has long been a leader on environmental policy in China. The idea of building an "ecological province" was first proposed in 2000, and 14 years later Fujian was named China's first demonstration zone for ecological protection.

In 2016, Fujian also became the nation's experimental area for ecological protection.

The faith placed in Fujian by China's central government has been amply repaid, as the province has continued to set records for environmental quality over the last half-decade.

In the region's 12 main rivers, more than 96 percent of the water is now classified as Grade 3 or above on China's water quality index, meaning that the water is safe for use as drinking water. This is 25 percentage points higher than the national average.

The number of days when Fujian's air quality meets national standards is even higher, at 98.4 percent, which is 19.6 percentage points above the national average.

The average density of PM2.5 particles in the province's air, a reliable indicator of air pollution, is now just 27 micrograms per cubic meter, 42 percent lower than the average across China.

This has been aided by Fujian's increasing forest coverage ratio, which has now reached 66 percent.

Fujian's success in protecting its environment is largely a result of a series of effective measures launched by local governments in recent years.

The approach to soil erosion in Changting county has set a good example to the whole province.

In the past five years, China has invested more than 1 billion yuan ($150 million) in carrying out 113 environmental projects in Changting county, which is under the administration of Longyan city in western Fujian province.

Meanwhile, mechanisms have been implemented to attract non-governmental investment worth 150 million yuan to deal with soil erosion through contract, lease and shareholding cooperation.

As a result, the area in the county affected by soil erosion has dropped from 1.462 million mu (1 mu equals 0.0667 hectares), covering 31.5 percent of the land in the county, to just 396,000 mu or 8.5 percent of the county’s land.

In addition, the area affected by serious soil erosion has shrunk by 28,700 mu since 2012 and the problem of soil erosion in 70 percent of the severely afflicted areas has been alleviated.