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Program of Action for Sustainable Development in China in the Early

Posted on: Friday, 25 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

xfdws SUSTAINABLE-DEVELOPMENT sked Emerging Markets Datafile

July 25, 2003

XINHUA

CHINA

ENGLISH

Program of Action for Sustainable Development in China in the Early 21st Century, XINHUA-Part 2

ASIA WorldSources, Inc. 322 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE 2ND FLOOR, NE WASHINGTON, DC 20002 COPYRIGHT 2003 BY WORLDSOURCES, INC., A JOINT VENTURE OF FDCH e-Media, INC. AND WORLD TIMES, INC. NO PORTION OF THE MATERIALS CONTAINED HEREIN MAY BE USED IN ANY MEDIA WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION TO WORLDSOURCES, INC.

Forest resources. Tighten protection, management and oversight of forest resources and improve law enforcement; stop unlawful felling and enhance public awareness of forest protection. Clarify the obligations, rights and interests in forest protection; deepen reform of the forestry sector by adjusting and improve outdated forest policies and reducing taxes. Apply high technology to transform traditional industries and phase out outdated production modes; accelerate the development of fast-growing, high-yield timber production bases and industries. Step up ecological conservation and implement on a full scale key projects of protecting natural forests.

Grassland resources. Improve institutional building for grassland protection and strengthen grassland management and enforcement. Clarify the obligations, rights and interests in grassland protection; apply high technology to transform the way grassland resources are utilized from quantity-based to quality-and efficiency-based growth. Implement a series of projects to protect natural grasslands such as artificial grass-planting, grass-planting by airborne seed-sowing, imposing a moratorium on grazing, grassland improvement, and pest control. Double efforts to improve desertified, alkalized and degraded grasslands.

Mineral resources. Improve legislation on mineral resources protection; scientifically draft and strictly implement plans for mineral resources development; strengthen macro-regulation of mineral resources development; and promote rational distribution of mineral resources exploration and development. Further improve work in mineral resources surveying, evaluation and exploration, and enhance security of mineral resources. Implement a protective development policy for strategic mineral resources. Improve the system of utilizing mineral resources at a cost. Promote structural improvement and optimization for mineral resources utilization toward greater efficiency through advances in science and technology and scientific management. Make full use of domestic and international capital, resources and markets and build large mineral resources bases and overseas mineral resources bases. Strengthen ecological conservation in mineral-rich areas and gradually build environmentally sound mines.

Marine resources. Develop plans for rationally utilizing and protecting marine resources. Strictly implement plans for allocation of marine functions; strengthen marine management; tighten examination and approval of marine resources utilization; and fully introduce the practice of using marine resources at a cost. Build up capacities for maritime monitoring and enforcement management. Conduct a nationwide study on the state of the country 's maritime ecology. Develop high technology to develop deep-sea and oceanic resources.

Climate resources. Further enhance public awareness of climate resources. Improve legislation on climate resources utilization and protection. Develop plans for the reasonable utilization and protection of climate resources; revise and update climate resources plans in a timely fashion. Adopt advanced computer information processing technologies and remote-sensing technology and improve climate resources monitoring and evaluation. Build pilot bases for reasonably utilizing climate resources, in particular focusing on the monitoring, planning and piloting of agricultural climate resources, wind energy and solar energy. Strategic mineral resources reserves. Establish a strategic mineral resources reserve system and improve relevant economic policies and management practices. Build an early-warning system for the security of supply of strategic mineral resources and introduce a water reserve system of multiple water sources in large cities. Build up strategic reserves for oil and other major mineral resources through a combination of public and private efforts.

4. Ecological Conservation and Development Build a scientific and sound system for ecological monitoring and management and establish nature reserves of all types with rational distribution and appropriate sizes. Build an anti-desertification system and reinforce efforts to combat soil erosion. Improve the ecological environment for farming; improve afforestation in urban areas, thereby ameliorating the quality of the ecological environment.

Ecological monitoring and security evaluation. Build a sound technical and standard system for ecological monitoring and security evaluation at different levels: national, regional and protection zone. Adopt remote-sensing and terrestrial monitoring technology to monitor and manage the following: forests, grasslands, wetlands, farmlands, nature reserves, deserts, soil conservation, agricultural ecology, biodiversity, large ecological projects, major resources development areas, and changes in land use. Introduce emergency monitoring for disasters such as serious pollution accidents, red tides, oil spills and sandstorms. Build an ecological security evaluation and early-warning system.

Key ecological projects. Focus on the protection of natural forests in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, and the natural forests in northeast China. Curb soil erosion, alleviate damages done by sandstorm, strengthen protection of biodiversity, build fast-growing and high-yield timber production bases, and gradually meet demands for ecological soundness and forest products. Step up implementation of six key projects: protection of natural forests and return unfit cultivated farmland to forest; remove sandstorm sources around Beijing and Tianjin; build shelter belts in north China, northeast China and northwest China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River; construction of wild animal and plant protection parks and nature reserves; and the construction of fast-growing, high-yield timber production bases in targeted regions.

Nature reserves. Build up existing nature reserves-including those of forest ecosystems, rare wild animal protection zones, desert ecosystems, inland wetland and water ecosystems, grassland and meadow ecosystems, marine and coastline ecosystems, wild plants, geological sites, and paleontologic sites. Build a number of high-quality and highly-effective nature reserves in source regions for major rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow rivers and major natural wetlands in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, and in ecologically volatile regions such as southeast, northeast and northwest China and habitats for rare and near-extinct species. Rationalize the distribution of nature reserves and step up construction of biological corridors.

Ecological conservation zones. Strengthen construction and management of existing ecological conservation zones. Build new conservation zones in source areas for rivers; important wetlands (lakes) in the valleys of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Songhuajiang River and inland river systems such as the Tarim River and the Heihe River; hilly red-earth regions in the south, the Loess Plateau, and earth-rock mountainous areas in the north; areas where farming and animal husbandry are intermingled; drought-hit grassland areas; and coastal water fishing zones. Adjust the industrial structure in those conservation zones by developing environmentally-friendly industries and minimizing the impact of human activities on the ecosystem. Adhere to the principles of ``

conservation through moratorium on productive activities'' and restore and rebuild the ecosystem.

Anti-desertification. Develop operational mechanisms and policies favorable to economic development in desertified regions; study and apply appropriate farming techniques that can prevent or curb land desertification. Build an anti-desertification system that combines prevention with control and utilization. Focus on conservation of existing vegetation in desert-bordering and oasis areas and build shelter belts in peripheral areas around oases; conserve and restore vegetation in semi-desertified areas; for high-altitude desertified areas, improve desertified land in areas where there is a heavy concentration of human activities while ensuring conservation of existing vegetation.

Fully improve and develop wherever possible desertified land in the semi-wet or wet parts of the Yellow-Huaihe-Haihe Plain; comprehensively improve and develop desertified land in the south. Take measures to prohibit development of whole tracts of desertified land not appropriate for control or development. Soil conservation. Improve the soil conservation policy; implement state policies that encourage retirement of unfit farmlands and switching them to planting trees and grass; improve water conservation for basic farmlands and grasslands.

Integrate water conservation with development, anti-soil erosion efforts with efforts to fight poverty and develop the local economies; introduce an integrated approach to fight soil erosion by treating large river systems as backbone and small river valleys as components, so as to prevent man-made soil erosion in the course of massive development and construction. Build a comprehensive anti-soil erosion mechanism that combines engineering measures with biological and farming measures. Study, develop and apply appropriate techniques for soil preservation. Step up international cooperation and exchanges and introduce advanced technologies, superior varieties, management methods and means.

''Green'' agriculture. Step up enforcement of legislation on protection of wild agricultural biological resources; collect specimens from key areas and build pilot conservation areas or sites. Introduce protective farming techniques and continue to implement dry farming pilot projects in drought-hit counties. Develop effective policies and management mechanisms; develop and apply key technologies and models for ``green'' agriculture; encouraging farmers to adopt clean-production technologies and use less chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Recycle agricultural wastes and build a sustainable ecosystem for agricultural development. Improve legislation, standards and testing procedures for organic or pollution-free farm products; better the testing, evaluating and pre-warning systems for the agricultural ecosystem; build up agricultural production bases and improve product safety management; create demonstration bases and brands for organic or environment-friendly agricultural production.

Scenic spots protection. Develop and implement plans for scenic spots in accordance with the principle of ``strict protection, uniform management, rational development and sustainable utilization''. Specify the scope of protection for the core part of a scenic spot (which includes ecological, natural or historic sites) when making plans for overall protection. Make special plans, identify key areas and take special measures to protect those key areas. Prevent any construction project unrelated to resources conservation from taking place within the core areas of scenic spots. Align the planning of scenic spots to local land use planning.

Urban environment. Rationally plan land use for urban construction; establish and strictly implement a ``green line'' rule for urban management. Ensure a certain portion of public green in urban planning and a sizable area of a shelter belt around large cities as befitting modern cities. Step up urban landscaping and improve the air quality in urban areas. Promote Garden Cities and alleviate the ``urban thermal-island effect''. Improve management of construction sites and streets and reduce dust and noise.

5. Environmental Protection and Pollution Control Control the aggregate discharge of pollutants and curb water pollution in river systems. Reinforce air pollution control in key cities and water cleanup efforts in key sea areas. Improve legislation and law enforcement on environmental protection and revise technical standards for environmental protection. Aggressively apply clean production and environmental-protection industries and actively participate in regional and global environmental initiatives, contributing to global environmental conservation while improving the quality of China's environment.

Water pollution control. Step up water pollution control along major rivers and lakes and tighten protection of drinking water sources; clean up lakes and reinforce pollution control at water sources. Promote clean production and further reduce discharge of pollutants. Control the total discharge of pollutants and increase wastewater treatment. Introduce zero discharge of wastewater in selected industries. Continue to build up infrastructure for urban sewage and garbage disposal. Rationalize the industrial and product mix; develop and apply high technology and processes for curbing heavy pollution in line with China's national conditions; raise the overall level of industrial development and water pollution control.

Marine pollution control. Improve the national marine monitoring network to boost monitoring of marine pollution and the ecological environment. Reduce discharge of land-based pollutants into the sea and sea pollution caused by marine production and development activities. Control the total discharge of pollutants into the sea. Clean up the environment in key sea areas and step up protection and construction of the ecological environment along the coast. Air pollution control. Control the emission of acid rain-causing substances, hazardous and harmful industrial gases; control acid rain, particulate substances, optical chemical smog and indoor air pollution.

Urban traffic management. Improve urban traffic structures by giving priority to public transit. Develop rail transportation in mega-cities and build a road system that favors public transit. Control automobile exhaust emission and noise pollution in cities.

Solid waste control. Gradually introduce garbage sorting, collection and recycling and increase environment-friendly garbage disposal rate and recycling rate. Further raise the recycling rate for solid wastes and step up ecological conservation and restoration efforts at mines. Improve the safe disposal of hazardous wastes.

The environmental protection industry. Regulate the environmental protection industry and market; rationalize the industrial structure by building a market-oriented technical service system and a sound market mechanism through commercializing pollution control. Develop policies to support the development of the environmental protection industry and intensify R&D of key technologies and processes for environmental protection; boost the production capacity for high-efficiency and practical environmental protection equipment and promote the serialization and standardization of key equipment. Guide the development of the environmental protection industry through standards, technical policies, demonstration projects and key practical technologies. Introduce the ISO14000 environmental management system and ``

environment-friendly'' labeling and certification practices. Improve intermediary services, technical and engineering services to facilitate environmental protection.

6. Capacity Building Build a legal framework for population, resources and environmental management and improve law enforcement. Make full use of the mass media to enhance public awareness of sustainable development. Build a set of indicators and monitoring system for sustainable development and establish an information-sharing system for government offices, the general public and the research community.

Legislation and enforcement. Strengthen legislation on sustainable development and improve the legal system. Draft and improve laws and regulations on population, resources, the ecological environment, prevention and alleviation of natural disasters, and information sharing and utilization, based on the principle of sustainable development. Revise relevant laws and regulations in line with market rules and the WTO rules. Establish and improve a law enforcement mechanism to ensure that laws are enforced.

Indicator system, monitoring and evaluation. Build an indicator system and monitoring/evaluation system in line with China's conditions to measure sustainable development. Monitor and evaluate sustainable development at both national and regional levels and regularly publish relevant reports.

Information sharing. Build databases on basic public data, population, socioeconomics, resources, ecology, the environment and disasters to allow information sharing based on high-speed networking; make information publicly available and enable the databases to process and analyze data. Build an information-sharing network that meets the government's needs for decision-making.

Part IV: Safeguard Measures Adopt administrative, economic, scientific and technological and legal measures to realize the goals set forth in this Program against the backdrop of the current international and domestic environment. Steps include better inter-agency coordination, expanded funding channels, bolstered support for science, technology and education, and improved laws and regulations. Implement the sustainable development strategy with a heightened sense of responsibility and mission, in compliance with the requirements of the ``Three Represents'' theory (the Chinese Communist Party represents the development trend of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China). 1. Employ administrative means to improve decision-making Strengthen leadership. Governments at all levels should carry out the sustainable development strategy conscientiously, incorporating the tasks listed in the Program on population, resources and the environment into their routine work agendas.

The policy of holding the chief executive responsible for population, resources and the environmental work should be continued and faithfully executed. Responsibilities should be divided clearly between governments at different levels. Governments should be responsible for coordinating different departments in decision-making, ensuring that responsibilities, measures and funding fall into the right places. The government should make continuous efforts to improve its ability to plan, coordinate and standardize management.

Reinforce supervision. Develop a standardized and rational performance review and award system for public servants to motivate leading government officials at all levels to pay great attention to sustainable development of population, resources and the environment. Governments at all levels should ensure that the idea of sustainable development be incorporated into relevant strategies, programs and plans and be integrated into the entire process of implementation. Over time, government officials should be evaluated chiefly by their performance in implementing sustainable development, as measured by the outcome of the evaluation and final inspection mission.

Balanced development. Build and improve a coordinating mechanism for balanced development of the population, resources and the environment and social and economic development, as well as an incentive mechanism for integrated decision-making. Develop an indicator system favorable to measuring the level of sustainable development in targeted areas and enterprises and introduce, on a trial basis, the cost of resources and the environment into the accounting system of the national economy. Introduce, on a trial basis, the system of assessing the impact on sustainable development for major projects and decisions. Create ways for public participation in decision-making and improve public services for promoting sustainable development.

2. Create an investment regime that favors sustainable development through economic leverages Build a fund-raising mechanism conducive to sustainable development. Gradually increase spending by governments at all levels in sustainable development, encouraging non-state sector capital or even foreign capital to go into sustainable development and drastically improving the security and stability of funding for sustainable development. Improve management and efficiency of funding.

Establish a more reasonable pricing mechanism that encourages all stakeholders to participate in sustainable development. Use pricing to encourage all stakeholders to strengthen conservation of resources, strictly protect the ecological environment in both urban and rural areas, and give full play to the role of pricing in regulating resources supply and demand and sustainable utilization.

3. Provide strong support for promotion of sustainable development through scientific advances and advocacy.

Deepening the reform of the system for science and technology. Establish a science and technology regime that meets market requirements while conforming to development of science and technology. Rationalize the allocation of resources; further boost R&D and services for sustainable development; motivate scientists and technicians to engage in R&D and commercialization of sustainable development; promote the sustainable development of population, resources and the environment.

Development and application of environmentally friendly technologies. Pool resources to develop a host of key technologies that are key to sustainable development and raise the technical level and capacity. Promote clean production in the course of business restructuring. Accelerate the transition at all types of enterprises from end-control to whole process control by combining clean production with technical advancement, energy conservation, resources recycling and management improvement.

Step up the establishment of an integrated industrial pollution control model focusing on clean production; encourage and support enterprises to adopt high and new technologies, new types of energy and clean production techniques with less consumption of energy and materials and less pollution. Select qualified regions or enterprises and support the establishment of a number of ecological and environmental R&D centers; pool resources to tackle key problems in technological and equipment development, so as to boost China's capacity to manufacture complete and serialized sets of equipment.

Develop education at all levels and enhance public awareness of sustainable development. Reinforce human resources development and build up the public's capacities to participate in sustainable development. Add sustainable development to the textbooks used in elementary and higher education; introduce ``science'' courses in primary and middle schools; build a number of model parks (zones) at selected colleges; increase spending in publicity, promotion and application of sustainable development.

Open research institutes to the public; use mass media to disseminate knowledge on sustainable development. Train a large number of researchers, public servants and volunteers who are well-versed in quality childbirth and child rearing, environmental protection, resources conservation and environmentally friendly consumption. Actively encourage and support social organizations and non-governmental organizations to participate in activities promoting sustainable development.

4. Improve legislation on sustainable development Continue to improve legislation. Study and draft a number of new laws and rules; step up revision of existing laws and regulations; form a legal framework for sustainable development. Draft local regulations in line with national laws and regulations and local conditions, in order to promote sustainable development on a local level.

Supporting institutions and standard-development. Build and improve rules and procedures for sustainable development, including existing ones on environmental management, management of ownership rights for natural resources, compensation rights, transfer of use (property) rights, and management of migrant population; establish an institutional framework for the management of population, resources and the environment with Chinese characteristics.

Public supervision. Improve governance by law and strengthen the personnel resources of law enforcement and step up law enforcement. Allow the mass media and social organizations to play their due role in supervision and ensure that governments and law enforcement departments at different levels exercise their duties in accordance with law. Pay attention to the publicity, promotion and education on laws and regulations on sustainable development to enhance public awareness of those laws and regulations.

5. Select key regions and fields as model projects Improve pilot work for sustainable development, summarize experience, and gradually promote the implementation of the sustainable development strategy. Build a number of bases of sustainable development through modeling that integrates technology with management, policy and institutionalization. Conduct policy and strategic studies and key technology R&D centering around key issues in sustainable development. Solve problems faced universally by local governments such as how to utilize resources, how to preserve the ecological environment, and how to restructure the economy toward efficiency-based growth. Develop different models and apply those models in neighboring regions.

6. Strengthen international cooperation to create a sound external environment for sustainable development at home.

Actively participate in global cooperation in environmental protection and develop strategies for participating in various environmental treaties and conventions. Implement in earnest all the international treaties that China has acceded to and carry out resolutions and decisions reached at the Johannesburg summit meeting and other international meetings. Pay great attention to and actively participate in bilateral and multilateral cooperation; capitalize on all occasions to promote environmental protection at home and safeguard China's national interests.

Create a sound international environment for sustainable development. Meet the requirements of globalization and China's accession to the WTO. Establish and improve an investment and trade policy framework spearheaded by ``green'' products, technology and services, in light of economic globalization and China's accession to the World Trade Organization; make full use of both domestic and international resources and markets to advance the cause of sustainable development in China.

Copyright 2003 XINHUA all rights reserved as distributed by WorldSources, Inc.

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