China should take the path of environmentally friendly
sustainable consumption and production while building a well-off
society, senior officials and experts agreed yesterday.
The officials and experts, from home and abroad, are in Beijing
for the second meeting of the China Council for International
Cooperation on Environment and Development's (CCICED)
third phase, which opened yesterday and will end on Saturday.
The meeting has the theme of "A Well-off Society and Sustainable
Industrialization."
Many experts agree China has entered a crucial time and its
environment will be ravaged if it fails to make the correct
decisions for development, said Paul Thibault, president of the
Canadian International Development Agency and a vice chairman of
the council.
Mans Lonnroth, former state secretary of Sweden's Ministry of
Environment and also a council vice chairman, said China's fast
economic development leaves little time for thought and each sector
is evolving in its own way.
It means co-ordination among different sectors has to be
strengthened to stave off unsustainable development, he said.
Thibault said the Chinese government has already noticed the
environmental challenge it faces and is making great efforts to
find solution.
During the past year, China has enacted a series of
environmental laws to promote cleaner production, introduced a
requirement for environmental impact assessments and better
controlled radioactive pollution, among other steps, according to
China's Environmental Protection Administration Minister Xie
Zhenhua.
Actions also include a nationwide campaign to inspect and close
down or halt the production of enterprises which are responsible
for pollution. Local governments in China are actively seeking
practicable patterns of sustainable development, Xie, also a
council vice chairman, said yesterday.
For example, several regions, including south China's Hainan,
northeast China's Jilin and Heilongjiang, and east China's Fujian,
Zhejiang, Shandong and Anhui provinces, are making efforts to
become "eco-provinces." It basically means their economic
development is striving to be in harmony with the local
environment.
Xie said China must change its conventional practice which
features high consumption and serious pollution with a low
production capacity.
The country should instead adopt a high-tech system of low
energy consumption and pollution with high efficiency, while making
full use of its human resources.
Qu Geping, another council vice chairman, called for the
establishment of a comprehensive policy making system for
sustainable development as soon as possible.
The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment
and Development (CCICED), a high-level non-governmental advisory
body, was established by the State Council of China in 1992. It
aims to strengthen cooperation and exchange between China and the
international community on environmental and development
issues.
The CCICED chairman is currently Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan.
Members of the council are Chinese ministers and vice ministers,
experts and professors in the fields of environment and
development, as well as ministers from other countries and the
leaders of international organizations.
The council, which meets annually, is currently in its third
phase.
CCICED Phase I (1992 -1996) mainly carried out policy research
on key environmental and development issues in China, and examined
international experiences and best practice.
CCICED Phase II (1997 - 2001) drew on the earlier research to
trial new policies in pilot projects.
State leaders meet with council members during the annual
general meeting of CCICED and listen to their recommendations.
These recommendations are also distributed in written form to
relevant ministries under the State Council and the provincial
governments, which study them for possible adoption.
The ministries normally give their feedback on recommendations
prior to the next annual general meeting.
(China Daily October 31, 2003)