Global perspective Human stories

Chinese economic project wins UN-linked award for sustainable development

Chinese economic project wins UN-linked award for sustainable development

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A Chinese city’s project for economic development that draws inspiration from traditional medical practices to tackle "imbalances" degrading the environment has been selected by a United Nations-linked panel as the year’s best cultural practice contributing to sustainable development.

Guiyang, in Guizhou province, guided by the motto “reduce, re-use and recycle,” has launched a development project that looks at the environment as a closed circuit, based on the traditional medicine of the Miao community, according to which the body is a system that functions as a closed circuit.

To locate the origin of the disease, Miao medicine looks for an imbalance of yin and yang, and considers that the body is capable of healing itself by correcting this imbalance.

The project was selected by the Harmony List, created last year by a partnership between the International Fund for the Promotion of Culture (IFPC) and I.DE.A.M – Groupe Crédit Agricole.

Created in 1974, the IFPC supports cultural development projects and is managed by an administrative council of 15 people appointed by the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It enjoys a large degree of autonomy.

I.DE.A.M, Integral Development Asset Management (Crédit Agricole Group), is a portfolio management company exclusively dedicated to socially responsible investment. It currently manages assets amounting to one billion euros ($1.2 billion). Its management philosophy centres on the selection of stocks based on sustainable development criteria, and takes a variety of forms within disciplined processes that are adapted to clients' needs, be they French and international institutional investors, companies or individuals.