Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen,
Sustainable development has been designated as a major strategy for China's future growth since 1994, when the State Council, the country's highest executive body, adopted China's Agenda 21 - White Paper on China's population, Environment and Development in the 21st Century as a guideline for national economic and social development. Public awareness of sustainable development and environmental preservation has been greatly enhanced. Various departments and localities have formulated their own agenda 21s, action plans and priority projects in line with the ideas and objectives of sustainable development, taking into consideration their own specific conditions and needs.
The nation is now striving to achieve those established goals. In the past, we reported the overall implementation of China's Agenda 21 to members of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. Today, on behalf of the State Planning Commission and the State Science and Technology Commission, I have the pleasure of briefing you on what we believe to be practices with Chinese characteristics in implementing sustainable development.
1. INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
The sustained and rapid growth of the Chinese economy has constantly raised the standards and quality of life for the people. Today, the most pressing tasks facing the nation are to revamp the economic structure; raise economic efficiency; develop industries with a high value-added; use new technologies to transform traditional industries with excessive consumption of energy and materials and heavy pollution; improve the ecological environment; life the 58 million population living in destitution out of dire property before the year 2000; and narrow the disparity between the Eastern and Western parts of the country.
As a developing country, China faces a dual pressure for economic development and ecological preservation. Without the backing of a strong economy and advanced science and technology, it is impossible to protect the environment; on the other hand, the quality of economic growth is not assured, not to mention sustainable, if the environment is degraded and natural resources are abused. After many hard struggles and intensive experimentation, the Chinese government and people, in line with their own need for development, have chosen sustainable development as part of the "two fundamentals transitions" (transition from a planned to a mark et economy, and transition from quantitative to qualitative growth). We are willing to draw on any useful experience from other countries and rely on modern science and technology and innovative management to address the problems we have en countered in balancing environmental protection and economic development.
China has a different agenda for sustainable development from the industrial nations. To industrialize to countries, preserving the environment lies at the core of sustainable development; to China however, equal attention must be paid to both development and environment. Economic development, in fact, is the precondition and ultimate goal for environmental preservation, so that the 1.2 billion people can lead comfortable life as soon as possible. At the same time, we must preserve the ecological environment, step up efforts to clean up pollution, and provide a sound environment for economic development. Without a sustainable environment, economic development will ultimately go awry. Practice has shown that this policy suits China's national conditions and is conducive to the country's development.
2. EXTENSIVE AND INTENSIVE IMLEMENTATION
The idea of sustainable development has been accepted by all walks of life and industries. Compared with just a few years ago, it is no longer an abstract concept; instead it has become a concrete goal, and we are working toward that goal on a daily basis. Work ha s been done primarily in the following areas shown below.
2.1 Enacting and improving laws and regulations on sustainable development
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the nation's legislative body, and the State Council have formulated and improved a series of laws and regulations concerning sustainable development. Existing laws and regulations on environmental protection and resource management have also been revised and a mended. The amended Criminal Law, for example, specifies a number of major crime s and penalties for excessive polluting and damaging the environment and resources. Amendments have also been made to the Law on Prevention of Atmospheric Polluting, the Law on Prevention of Water Pollution and the Law ion Minerals and resources. These efforts have improved the enforcement and operation of environmental legislation.
In addition, the state Council has issued Provisional Regulations for Prevention and Clean up of Water Pollution along the Huihe River Valley, the first regional environmental law of its kind in China. So far, China has promulgated six laws on environmental protection, nine laws on management of natural resources, more than 30 sets of administrative regulations on environmental protection and resource management, and more than 30 other laws and regulations pertaining to sustainable development. Furthermore, the government has published 364 national standards for environmental protection and 600 local regulations on environmental preservation and resource management. These constitute a legal framework suited to China's national conditions.
At the same time, great efforts have been made to improve law enforcement and the buildup of supervisory organizations. A four-tiered system for the protection and management of environment and resources has been established at the central, provincial, municipal and county levels. Regular inspections on law enforcement have been carried out. Since 1993, the NPC Committee on Environment and Resource protection and the State Council's Committee on Environmental Protection, the country's two most important watchdogs for environmental affairs, have, for four years in a row, inspected 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities an d called many sport inspections of law enforcement in order to prevent and clean up water pollution in Huihe River, Taihu Lake and Songliao River areas. There have had significant repercussions nation-wide.
2.2 Formulating sectoral and local sustainable development strategies
Departments and localities have, in line with their own conditions, formulated their own action plans to facilitate the two fundamental transformations. One way to proceed with sustainable development at departmental or regional level is to organize model projects before applying the practice on a wider scale. In July 19 96, the General Office of the State Council approved recommendations submitted b y the State Planning Commission and the State Science and Technology Commission on further enhancing the implementation of China's Agenda 21.
Various industries and department have also developed plans in light of their needs to promote China's Agenda 21. Here are just a few examples:
(1) The State Plan on Poverty Eradication proposes that the 80 million rural residents living in dire poverty be raised out of poverty in seven years (1994-2000). By the end of 1996, the impoverished population had declined to 58 million.
(2) A Priority Programme for China's Agenda 21 has been effectively implemented. During 1994-1996, a total of US$ 1.29 billion was invested in these projects, o f which US$ 960 million (74.4% of total) was invested by China, the balance coming from the international community. These projects have served as technical guides and models. In October 196, the Second High-Level Round Table Conference on China's Agenda 21 was convened in Beijing, an event that further promoted international cooperation.
(3) Investments in technical transformation have increased in order to accelerate enterprise reform and institute a mechanism for technical progress. In early 1 996, China issued a guideline for Developing Energy-Saving Technology. In an effort to promote technical upgrading, various industrial departments tightened management on energy conservation and discontinued the operation of large quantities of equipment and products, which has high levels of energy consumption. As a result, the utilization ratio of energy has improved considerably. Energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP, for example, dropped from 5.3 tons of standard coal in 1990 to 3.94 tons in 1995. This achievement mans that a total of 358 million tons of standard coal was saved during the six years or a 5.8% ratio annually. In addition, the comprehensive utilization rate of industrial residues rose from 29.3% in 1990 to 43% in 1995. Cleaner production experiments have also been conducted in various industries and enterprises and whole-process controls imposed o n pollutants.
(4) Strategic goals and countermeasures have been proposed for the national forestry and water resources sectors in such government documents as Forestry Action Plan for China's Agenda 21 for the Industry, China's Agenda 21 on Water Resources and Guidelines for Building China's Ecological Environment. Great progress has be en made in ecological protection as well as the utilization of natural resources in an environmentally friendly fashion.
(5) Currently, China leads the world in terms of afforested acreage (34.25 million hectares). The country's forest cover has increased from 12.98% in 190 to 13. 92% today and 10% of the decertified land (involving 60 million hectares of land with serious soil erosion) has been reclaimed. A total of 799 nature reserves (covering 7.2% of the country's total landmass) have been established and five ecological projects have been completed in efforts to improve the country's forestry industry. These five projects refer to the construction of shelter belts in t he country's northern, northeastern and northwestern parts; in the middle and up per reaches of the Yangtze River; in the coastal region; in the Taihang Mountain s; and in soil-eroded fields. Altogether, 28.88 million hectares of forest have been planted and 34.2 million hectares of fields are covered with forests. In 1995, China launched another five ecological projects to protect major water systems such as the Huihe River and Taihu Lake.
(6) Recently, President Jiang Zemin and Premier Li Peng gave important instructions on preserving the ecological environment. They asked that great efforts be made to increase vegetation, so as to alleviate soil erosion and desertification, improve the ecological environment and promote the sustainable development of agriculture and even the national economy and society at large. In response to call from top leaders, the central government will increase funding for combating soil erosion and building ecological agriculture.
(7) China has also set specific goals for various areas of environmental protect ion. China's Agenda 21 for Environmental Protection and the State's Ninth Five-Y ear Plan (1996-2000) and Long-Term Objectives for the Year 2010 for Environmental Protection proposed major actions to be taken towards preservation of the environment and set objectives for the next 15 years. In addition, a Plan for Controlling the Discharge of Major Pollutants During the ninth Five-Year Plan and the Cross-Century Green Engineering Program specified steps and projects to be undertaken in cleaning up three rivers (Huihe, Haihe, Liaohe), three lakes (Taihu, Chaohu, Dianchi) and two zones (polluted by acid rain and sulfur dioxide).
(8) Today, 76.8% of industrial wastewater and 80.9% of industrial waste gas are treated, and 43% of industrial solid wastes are recycled. In urban areas, 68.4% of households have access to gas.
(9) Law enforcement for environmental protection has improved. From August to December 1996 alone, more than 60,000 small factories causing serious pollution w ere closed sown. As a result, the quality of the environment has stabilized in some areas and even improved somewhat in others. Benxi City, Liaoning Province, w as once described as being invisible from satellites because of heavy smog, which seriously affected local social and economic development and people's life. Since 1990 however, the city has realized that the traditional pattern of economic growth is no longer viable. Therefore, it has stepped up efforts to clean up the environment and protect the ecological balance by drafting an Agenda 21 for Benxi. This document spelled out a strategy for coordinated growth of the city's economy society, population, resources and environment. Today, the urban environment of the city has improved considerably. A team of reporters organized by the United Nations visited the northeastern city last year and were highly impressed with the quality of environment there.
2.3 China's Ocean Agenda 21 and an accompanying Action Plan proposes guidelines and objectives for the exploitation and protection of maritime resources, the cleaning up of sea pollution and the pursuance of sustainable maritime development.
Remarkable progress has also been achieved in various localities in implementing their Agenda 21s and sustainable development. By incorporating economic development and poverty relief with efforts to improve the ecological environment, these localities have gathered important experiences from their own situation and charted a course for sustainable development suited to local conditions.
Beijing, Schanghai and Guangzhou have fully realized the importance of sustainable development to their accelerated transformations of the economic system and mode of growth, and to the projection of their image as major international metropolises. Proceeding from their image as major international metropolises. Proceeding from their economic structures, industrial mix and socialized services, these cities have endeavored to apply cleaner production and resource-saving and energy-saving techniques in an effort to raise economic quality and benefits, minimize the discharge of wastes and maximize the comprehensive utilization of resources.
A number of provinces have also taken the lead in implementing China's Agenda 21. These include Shanxi, a top supplier of energy; Sichuan, the most populous province in the country; and Guizhou, a southwestern province with an underdeveloped d economy and a fragile ecological environment. In accordance with local natural conditions and levels of economic and social development, they have stepped up efforts to reorganize their industries, control population growth, improve the competence of the population, and protect the ecological environment and speed up poverty elimination. A number of priority demonstration projects have been established as a precursor to the execution of China's Agenda 21. Guanghanm Sichuan, for example, successfully resolved the problem of garbage disposal through institutional reform. Shnxi Province incorporated Agenda 21 into the agendas of governments at every level, into social-economic development plans into legislative agendas, and into grassroots activities, and has achieved admirable results in those areas.
Hunan, a province plagued by frequent floods, has advanced a strategy for promoting economic development by focusing on dredging and developing rivers, reservoirs and lakes. Hebei has implemented a two-thronged strategy for achieving sustainable development and a balanced environment by focusing on areas adjacent to Beijing and Tianjin and the Bohai Sea. In addition, as we have reported many times, Jiangxi Province launched the Project on Integrated Development and Management of Mountain-River-Lake Region, a model of poverty alleviation through an improved ecological environment. Over the past decade, the total output value of Jiangxi has risen from RMB 20.7 billion yuan to RMB 166.4 billion yuan, a seven-fold increase; 4 million people have escaped poverty; forest cover has increased from 41.5% to 54.3%; and the acreage of land with soil erosion problems has declined from 50 million mu to 20 million mu. The project serves as a good example to other areas with similar conditions. At an on-the-spot meeting called by the State Council in June 1997, participants spoke highly of the experiences of Jiangx i.
3. RELYING ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
We already have well-defined goals, policies and guidelines. Experience from the past decades suggests that without the strong backing of science and technology, it is impossible to achieve high-quality and high-efficiency growth of the national economy. Nor is it possible to transform traditional industries or resolve environmental problems.
In response to the needs of social and economic development, the State Science and Technology Commission has, on the basis of the six existing programs for advancing science and technology, introduced matrix management to coordinate steps in the effort to overcome key technological problems and to ensure sustainable development. These problems involve, in particular, the comprehensive utilization of resources, remediation of environmental pollution, cleaner production, human settlements and community environment, development of pharmaceutical and medical equipment, relic protection and labor safety.
At the same time, we have paid particular attention to the overall assembly and modeling of technology. In collaboration with the State Planning Commission, the State Commission for Economic Restructuring and 18 other government departments , we have selected typical localities across the country for pilot programs in sustainable development. In these areas, in line with local economic, social and management with rational utilization of resources and social planning, policymaking and management with rational utilization of resources and environmental protection, thereby forging a new path for sustainable development in China's urban areas. At present, 26 state-level and 42 provincial-level sustainable experiment al communities have been established across the country.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Currently, we have a good development situation. The recently concluded Fifteenth h Congress of the Chinese Communist Party heralded a new era of deepened reforms and wider opening to the outside world. Following up the commitments made in China's Agenda 21, especially those formulated by local governments, remains the focus of our work for the next stage. We wish to continue our extensive cooperation and exchanges with the international community and we invite you to visit some of the provinces, municipalities and counties to learn first-hand about progress this country has made in implementing China's Agenda 21.
Thank you very much.