China has at least 2,000 registered organizations devoted to environmental protection, a Sino-U.S. non-governmental environmental protection forum was told Thursday.

Non-governmental environmental protection organizations have mushroomed during the past three decades, striving to promote environmental protection in China by increasing public awareness of environmental protection, and offering environmental protection training to teachers.

Over 150 people representing non-governmental environmental organizations from the two countries and universities attended the seminar.

The seminar, held by People University of China and China Environmental Protection Fund of the United States, focused on the issues of environment and mass media, women and the environment, rural development and environmental protection, environmental protection organizations within universities, and the role of environmental NGOs in formulating policies on environmental protection.

The first such seminar was held in 1999 in Washington D.C. of the United States.

(People's Daily November 16, 2001)