BEIJING — Forty-one individuals and groups were awarded the Specialists in Environment Monitoring in Beijing on Thursday.

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At the same time, 14 individuals and two groups also made it into a Green China project's Persons of the Year awards.

Initiated in June, 50,000 people working in environment monitoring departments nationwide participated in the competitions organized by the Specialists in Environment Monitoring project.

The Green China project's Persons of the Year, held by seven ministry-level departments, has been awarding people and organizations that contribute heavily to environment protection for five years.

Both the Specialists in Environment Monitoring project and the Green China project aim to promote environmental compliance and boost public awareness.

Zhou Shengxian, minister of environmental protection, said during the award ceremony that the energy-saving and emission-reducing mission regulated in China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2005-2010) had been accomplished ahead of schedule.

However, he added that high energy consumption by heavy industries still exists in some parts of China, and that emission reduction will remain an arduous task for a long time.