British scholar Crispin Tickell was honored with a Chinese environmental award in Beijing Wednesday for his decade-long efforts to help promote environmental protection in China.

The Award for International Cooperation on Environmental Protection, set up by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), is a top honor for foreigners who contribute significantly to China's environmental protection and sustainable development, said SEPA director Xie Zhenhua.

"As the most senior member of the China Council for International Cooperation on the Environment and Development (CCICED), Mr. Tickell has made a great contribution in the past decade," Xie said at the awarding ceremony.

Tickell, a former British diplomat and current chancellor of the University of Kent, was invited to be a foreign member of the CCICED when the high-level advisory body of the Chinese government was launched in 1992.

He said China has made significant achievements in key environmental fields.

"China is one of the few countries which actually listen to the international advisory body's advice and take action," Tickell said. "I'm happy with the results."

He said China should continue international cooperation in fields such as climate change, trash and sewage disposal, land degradation, water pollution, and bio-diversity conservation.

The biennial award has also been dedicated to Italian environment official Corrado Clini, and senior World Bank officer Helen Chan early this year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2003)