Charlot Salwai, prime minister of the Republic of Vanuatu embarked on a visit to Shenzhen on July 8 and visited places including the Nanshan Energy Ecological Park.

The Nanshan Energy Ecological Park is said to be one of the few incineration plants in China that are “without walls,” where the environmental indicators for the Phase I and Phase II are far superior to the current national and EU standards.

Zhong Jiajun, deputy director-general of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, gives a brief introduction of Shenzhen and the Nanshan Energy Ecological Park to Charlot Salwai (2nd L), prime minister of the Republic of Vanuatu, at the waste-to-energy facility on the afternoon of July 8.  Photos by Lin Jianping

“This is a tremendous achievement, especially when the world is talking about the environment and climate change,” said Salwai.

In the park, Salwai visited the incinerator, centralized control room, steam turbine generator, flue gas treatment workshop, and other areas to learn about the park’s advanced technologies for domestic waste incineration.

He showed keen interest and engaged in discussions with the staff there, asking questions like, “Is waste sorted before entering the plant?” and shared Vanuatu’s environmental protection measures such as banning the use of disposable shopping plastic bags.

Salwai visited the flue gas treatment workshop at the Nanshan Energy Ecological Park.

According to Salwai, due to the small land area, how to dispose of garbage has become a real challenge for Vanuatu, and the environmental protection measures being implemented in Shenzhen and even China have great reference significance for Vanuatu.

Vanuatu is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean and consists of approximately 80 islands. It belongs to Melanesia, one of the three major archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific’s small island developing states are extremely vulnerable to climate change, according to a report previously released by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). In May 2022, Vanuatu’s parliament declared a climate emergency, and allocated US$1.2 billion to mitigate the impact of climate change on the country.

Wesley W. Simina, president of the Federated States of Micronesia, also visited the Nanshan Energy Ecological Park during his Shenzhen trip in April this year.