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ABOUT SEE (Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology)

Why did we entrepreneurs from all over China come to the Alxa Desert?

Why did we establish the SEE to engage in sandstorm control in China?

It is because we still hold hopes and dreams in us.

We hope the Chinese economy will grow stronger and Chinese people will be affluent.
We hope people in China will become more friendly and kinder to each other.
And we hope China will preserve the vigor and health of its environment.
We hope people all over the world will live together in a beautiful and harmonious global village.
We dream for a world where each and every one of us has the opportunity to realize our aspirations. 

 

Based on such awareness and consensus, we entrepreneurs from different regions, different industries and different ownership consciously converge in the Alxa Desert and jointly sign this declaration. We will all do our best to make the "SEE " recognized by the Chinese society and the world, so as to make it the most important environmental public welfare organization in controlling sandstorms in China. We are willing to make sincere efforts for the wishes and dreams advocated in this declaration. 

Declarers: All the initiators of SEE
Venue: Moon Lake in Tengelitala Desert 
Date: Saturday, June 5, 2004

Why did we entrepreneurs from all over China come to the Alxa Desert? Why did we establish the SEE to engage in sandstorm control in China? It is because we still hold hopes and dreams in us. We hope the Chinese economy will grow stronger and Chinese people will be affluent. We hope people in China will become more friendly and kinder to each other. And we hope China will preserve the vigor and health of its environment. We hope people all over the world will live together in a beautiful and harmonious global village. We dream for a world where each and every one of us has the opportunity to realize our aspirations. 

Driven by China's modernization process, Chinese society has stepped on a path of peaceful development, and the Chinese nation has entered a completely new period of development. As a result of that, Chinese economy has been keeping a stable growth, and the Chinese people have greatly improved their material life. Chinese society has made all-round progress. Looking back at the century-long suffering history of the Chinese nation, we really take pride in our era. We cherish the great opportunity that history has given us for free innovation and peaceful development in our times. We are willing to face various difficulties and problems we encounter rationally with a constructive attitude and solve them one by one.

However, with the rapid growth of China's economy, we are aware that some of our ways of thinking, production and lifestyle are unfriendly to the nature we closely depend on. We are destroying our natural environment. Many of our economic achievements in the past were accomplished at a great cost of natural environment. Environmental problems such as air pollution, water pollution, exhaustion of rivers and lakes, frequent occurrence of floods and droughts, shrinkage of forest areas, degradation of grassland, sharp declination of biodiversity, desertification of land and bursting of sandstorms are seriously exposed. These issues affect the safety of people’s lives and property, the environment in which our business operate, the stability of our society, and the survival foundation of the Chinese nation. As we all know, natural environment is a patron of human beings. If we devastate natural environment surrounding us, we will have nothing to rely on to seek our dreams and aspirations. Facing today's deteriorating ecological environment, we have to ask ourselves a question: what can we do for improving the environmental quality? 

China's modernization process will continuously bear pressures from environmental resources as China has a large population, scarce resources, small environmental capacity and low accumulation of science and technology by enterprises. Under the dual pressures of economy and ecology, we entrepreneurs should consciously include both enterprise development and environmental protection into our vision. We should actively seek the unity of economic growth and environmental protection, and strive to explore a new path for China's modernization. In light of the new problems and new responsibilities in the new era, we should constantly overcome our own shortcomings and limitations to develop new values, new ideals, new personalities and new codes of conduct for ourselves. 

Based on such awareness and consensus, we entrepreneurs from different regions, different industries and different ownership consciously converge in the Alxa Desert and jointly sign this declaration. We will all do our best to make the "SEE " recognized by the Chinese society and the world, so as to make it the most important environmental public welfare organization in controlling sandstorms in China. We are willing to make sincere efforts for the wishes and dreams advocated in this declaration. 

 
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On June 5th, 2004, near 100 entrepreneurs initiated the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology Conservation (SEE) in Tengger Desert, which is located in Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, marking the founding of China’s first NGO embodied by entrepreneurs dedicated to ecological protection and social responsibility .

 

In order to effectively promote the development of environmental protection projects and build a diversified organization structure, SEE and its members have established 17 institutions, including 7 foundations, 5 private non-enterprise units, 3 social groups and 2 social enterprises. Their jobs focus on desertification control, climate change and business sustainability, coastal wetland protection, biodiversity protection, nature education, Yangtze River protection, green supply chains, industrial development and other relevant environment issues.

In 2008, the SEE Conservation initiated the SEE Foundation in Beijing (the foundation was entitled to fundraise with the public in 2014). It has been committed to environment protection projects such as 100 Million Suosuo, Green starters and Growing Up Together, in which the former one is for desertification control and the latter two cultivating non-governmental forces for environmental protection and public welfare. In 2012, SEE founded the Mangrove Foundation (MCF), the first public fund-raising foundation for environmental protection initiated by a NGO, and it has grown to be a role model for coastal wetland protection in China. In 2016, SEE started the Hubei Changjiang Conservation Foundation(CCF) to facilitate the national strategy of “Yangtze River Protection”. In 2017, SEE founded the Xi'an Entrepreneurs Environmental Protection Foundation to protect the ecology of Qinling, a major chain of mountains in Central China. In 2018, SEE launched Shenzhen Aleshan Foundation, which brings into full play entrepreneurs’resourcefulness and innovative spirit, and provides sustainable support for public welfare organizations and projects. In 2019, SEE founded the SEE Environmental and Philanthropy Institute to train professionals and experts in environmental protection.

With over 900 entrepreneur members till now, SEE currently runs a total of 32 regional project centers to profoundly make the entrepreneurs, environmental protection organizations and the public participate in local environmental protection undertakings. SEE has directly or indirectly supported more than 800 eco-friendly NGOs and individuals in China, while encouraging the participation of 600 million people in environmental protection activities. SEE has been awarded with numerous honors such as the National Exemplary Social Organization from Ministry of Civil Affairs, Beijing Social Organization Demonstration Base, China-Europe Green Award for the Ecological Transition, and the title of 5A Level organization in China Social Organization Evaluation Grade, Ford Environmental Protection Award, Paulson Prize for Sustainability, Mother River Award of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League.

After 16 years since its founding, SEE has entered into a new phase of development. We are putting in a lot of effort to establish an inclusive platform to coordinate environmental protection projects in different places and push them forward. By carrying out the Green “Belt and Road” initiative and “One Vertical, One Horizontal” strategy, SEE is determined to mobilize more entrepreneurs and resources to invest, and call out the participation of a wider public into these eco-friendly undertakings. SEE hopes we will grow into a public welfare platform widely participated by the public for the benefit of environmental protection.