Ecology is one of the more used scientific and technical terms, but there are many different understandings and perceptions of the meaning of this term. From the domestic situation, there are four general understandings: First, it is believed that ecology cannot modify the environment, and the commonly said ecological environment should be understood as ecology and environment. Second, it is thought that when something or an issue is related to both ecology and environment, or when it is not quite clear whether it is an ecological or environmental issue, ecological environment is used, that is, it is understood as ecology or environment. Third, ecology is used as a positive word to modify the environment, and ecological environment is understood as an environment that does not include pollution and other problems and is more in line with human ideas. Fourth, ecology is the environment, and pollution and other environmental problems should be included and not separated.

It should be said that all the above four understandings have their basis and reasonableness, but as a scientific and technical term, there cannot be too much ambiguity for a long time. From the three aspects of scientific research and innovation, exchange and dissemination of information and knowledge, and scientific education and popularization, it needs to be standardized as soon as possible.

Academician Lu Yongxiang, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, has pointed out that the standardization of scientific and technical terms has a fundamental role in scientific research and innovation, the exchange and dissemination of information and knowledge, and scientific education and popularization, and that it is important to deeply understand the significance of the standardization of scientific and technical terms.

Ecology is a combination of two terms, ecology and environment. The word ecology originates from the ancient Greek word, which originally refers to the state of all living things, and the relationship between different biological individuals and between living things and the environment. The German biologist E. Haeckel introduced the concept of ecology in 1869 as a discipline that studies the interactions between animals and plants, and between plants and animals and the environment. However, the scope of ecological terminology has become broader and broader, especially in China, where ecology is often used to characterize an ideal state, and references to ecological cities, ecological villages, ecological food, ecological tourism, etc. have emerged.

The environment is always relative to a central thing. Human society takes itself as the center and considers the environment as the external carrier of human life or the external world around human beings. Expressed in scientific terms, it means that the complex of material conditions on which human beings depend for survival and development is actually the human environment.

The human environment can generally be divided into the natural environment and the social environment. The natural environment is also called the geographical environment, i.e. the natural world around human beings. It includes the atmosphere, water, soil, organisms and rocks, etc. Geography divides the factors that constitute the natural environment in general into five natural spheres: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the biosphere, the soil and the lithosphere. The social environment refers to the artificial environment formed gradually by human beings on the basis of the natural environment and for the continuous improvement of material and spiritual civilization, based on survival and development, such as cities, villages, industrial and mining areas, etc. The Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, on the other hand, defines the environment from a jurisprudential perspective: "The environment referred to in this Law refers to the totality of various natural and artificially modified natural factors that affect human survival and development, including the atmosphere, water, sea, land, mineral deposits, forests, grasslands, wildlife, natural relics, human relics, scenic spots, nature reserves cities and villages, etc."

As can be seen, ecology and environment are both distinct and related. Ecology emphasizes the interrelationship between living things and their surroundings, and is more systematic, holistic, and interrelated, while environment emphasizes external factors centered on human survival and development, and reflects the extensive space, abundant resources, and necessary conditions for the production and life of human society.

The earliest combination of the term ecology and environment can be traced back to the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People's Congress in 1982. Both the fourth Constitution of the People's Republic of China (draft) and the government work report (discussion draft) of that year used the then-popular reference to the protection of ecological balance. Huang Bingwei, then a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Director of the Institute of Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out during the discussion that balance is dynamic and nature is always breaking the old balance and establishing a new one, so it was not appropriate to protect the ecological balance. The conference accepted this formulation, which eventually resulted in Article 26 of the Constitution: The state protects and improves the living environment and ecological environment, and prevents and controls pollution and other public hazards. A similar formulation was used in the government work report. As a result of the use of this expression in the Constitution and the government work report, the term "ecological environment" has been used ever since. Since neither the constitution nor the government work report explained the term at that time, its meaning has been disputed until now.

After Huang Bingwei proposed the term "ecological environment," he reviewed a large amount of foreign literature and found that the term was rarely used in foreign academia. Academician Qian Zhengying, former vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), in an article entitled "Suggestions for Gradually Correcting the Term "Ecological Environment Construction"" published in the Journal of Scientific and Technological Terminology (Vol. 7, No. 2) in 2005, relayed Academician Huang Bingwei's later view that "As the name implies, ecological environment is the environment. Therefore, my formulation is wrong". I think the Committee on Natural Science Terminology of China should consider this issue, and it has the right to change this thing."

Chen Baiming, a researcher and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that to express ecology and environment, ecology or environment, it is better to add "with" and "or" to avoid different interpretations. It is no longer appropriate to equate ecological environment with environment.

At present, the term "ecological environment" should be precisely defined and its connotation and extension should be stipulated. Finally, the term should be confirmed by the Committee on Interpretation of Constitutional Terms or Natural Science Terms.

Based on the interpretation of the meaning of ecological environment in Article 26 of the Constitution, and the fact that ecology is often used as a positive adjective to describe the ideal state pursued by human beings over the years, Chen Baiming, a researcher and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that ecological environment should be defined as an environment that is more in line with human concepts, excluding pollution and other major problems, or a complex of material conditions suitable for human survival and development.

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