Recently, the “Green Long March” National Youth Charity Walking Race and the Seventh Mother River Award Conference were held in Beijing. Secretary Xu Xiao of the Secretariat of the League Central Committee attended relevant activities. NEFU’s Green Volunteer Association was awarded Green Team in the seventh Mother River Award Conference. Yang Bingyu, guidance teacher of the Green Volunteer Association attended the conference.  

The Green Volunteer Association was founded in 1996, as the first university community of environmental protection in Heilongjiang Province. For two decades, under the concern and support of NEFU leaders and concerted effort of its members, the Green Volunteer Association adheres to the principle of “protecting the environment, creating greenspace, saving the earth, and benefiting human beings”, and unswervingly carries out a series of environmental protection publicity and practice activities. Students regularly publicize environmental protection knowledge, and have launched 12 different NEFU Green Camp campaigns, which actively promote development of eco-environmental protection volunteer service of university students in the Northeast regions. The Green Volunteer Association has been awarded as the Advanced Collective of Social Practice by the League Central Committee, first-term Ten Outstanding Volunteer Service Groups of Heilongjiang Province, National Ten Excellent Environmental Protection Community in 2005, fourth-term Ten Outstanding Volunteer Service Groups of Heilongjiang Province, Excellent Students’ Community of Heilongjiang Province in 2010, “Blue Sky, Earth Hour” certificate issued by World Wildlife Fund (China) in 2014, National Excellent Community in the poster design competition in 2014, the title of NEFU Excellent Community for 14 consecutive years, and the title of Excellent Team in Summer Social Practice of NEFU for 6 consecutive years. The Green Volunteer Association was awarded Green Team in the seventh Mother River Award Conference this year. The award is a high recognition of the association’s two decades of efforts on eco-environmental protection, and of NEFU’s persistence on eco-civilization education and volunteer service.

The Mother River Award is co-organized by the League Central Committee, the National Greening Committee, the Environment and Resources Protection Committee of the National People’s Congress, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Committee of Population, Resources and Environment, the Environmental Protection Department, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the State Forestry Administration. It is the only award for teenagers in ecological environmental protection, and the highest non-governmental award in the field of ecological environment set up by the head team of Mother River Protection Operation. It is awarded to commend civilians who have made great contributions to the protection of China’s ecological environment, enhance protection awareness of the public on the ecological environment, expand social impact on the protection of the mother river, and encourage more people to participate in the cause of protection and improvement of the ecological environment.