Ecological cities will begin to appear in China in some 20-30
years.
Shanghai is expected to be one of the earliest eco-cities by
2010. The municipality is now drawing relative goals and
criteria.
Shanghai has just started up a "healthy city" program which
needs 70 billion yuan (US$8.5 billion) spent on over 300 projects.
All the main environmental indexes will reach standards laid out by
the World Health Organization (WHO) by 2010 when the World Expo
takes place in this city.
In recent years, Shanghai has earmarked 3 percent of its GDP on
environmental protection.
Foshan
in south China's Guangdong
Province is also expected to be an eco-city by 2010. Others
like east China's Zhejiang
and Shandong
provinces have also started "eco-province" programs.
With a fast increasing ratio of urbanization in China, every big
city will face pressure on its natural resources and
environment.
?
Chu Dajian, a professor with Shanghai-based Tongji
University, considers that Chinese cities will confront
ecological pressure 3-4 times in the next 20-30 years. Till 2030,
over 400 million people will swarm into the cities. With
consumption increasing, cities will face greater pressure on
natural resources and their environment. Take Shanghai for example,
everyday over 4,400 tons of garbage and 6,500 tons of industrial
wastes have nowhere to go. The city's particle pollutants in the
air are 3-6 times compared with developed countries.
The situation in west China is even worse.
Though some cities intend to be built into eco-cities and local
governments have earmarked more funds for their eco-environment
construction, Chinese ecologists are not optimistic about the
future.
Niu Wenyuan, an academician with the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, pointed out that the deteriorative trend
of Chinese ecology cannot be restrained in a short time. However,
some large and medium-size cities can decrease natural resource
consumption by constructing "virtual cities." The strategy can
bring opportunities for the eco-city construction.
(China.org.cn by Unisumoon August 26, 2003)