Ninghai county in Ningbo was honored as a national innovation base to implement the "Clear Waters and Lush Mountains are Invaluable Assets" theory, according to an announcement on Nov 17.

The announcement was made by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment at the China Ecological Civilization Forum held in Shiyan, Hubei province.

Ninghai has become the first county/district in Ningbo to win the honor.

In recent years, the county has been adhering to a green development path, a decision which is showing strong results.

Ninghai has been designated as a national ecological county, national pilot zone for sustainable development and national all-in-one tourism demonstration zone.

A survey showed that the city's public satisfaction with ecological and environmental quality has ranked first in Ningbo for eight consecutive years.

The strong results are largely due to efforts by local authorities to tackle pollution and nurture strategic emerging industries.

The city has improved or shut down more than 200 polluting companies in the past years, official data shows.

The ecological economic scale of Ninghai has experienced an average annual growth rate of more than 10 percent over the past five years, now standing at 15 billion yuan ($2.23 billion), accounting for a quarter of its regional GDP.