Xiamen to host LivCom Awards

Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian province, will host the final round of the LivCom Awards, or the International Awards for Livable Communities, from Nov 28 to Dec 2.

The five-day event will include performances and exhibitions by the candidate cities and communities and an awards presentation. About 600 officials from more than 50 cities and communities from across the world will take part in the finale.

Sponsored by the International Federation of Parks and Recreation Administration and the United Nations Environment Programme, the annual LivCom Awards was launched in 1997, aiming to encourage best practices, innovation and leadership in providing a vibrant, environmentally sustainable community that improves the quality of life.

Dubbed "the Green Oscars", the LivCom Awards are the world's only competition for local communities that focuses on environmental management and the creation of livable communities.

So far, more than 100 cities and communities across the world have received LivCom Awards. Previous Chinese winners include Changde, Dalian, Hangzhou, Quanzhou, Shenzhen, and Xiamen.

Xiamen won the first place in Group E (reserved for cities with a population exceeding 1 million) during the 2002 contest held in Stuttgart, Germany.