The 5th Annual General Meeting of the 3rd Phase of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (hereinafter referred to as the China Council) was held in Beijing during November 10~12 of 2006. The theme of the meeting is "Scientific Development towards a Well-off (Xiaokang) Society". All the 38 Chinese and International Council Members, 8 Chinese and International Co-chairs of all Task Forces reporting at this AGM, 16 special guests and 83 observers participated in the meeting. The meeting was presided by the Bureau of the China Council.

This AGM was successfully concluded after accomplishing all the preset tasks, which signifies the smooth conclusion of the work of the 3rd Phase of the China Council.

The major contents of the meeting are as follows:

1. Premier Wen Jiabao Meeting the International Representatives

In the morning of November 10 of 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao met the international representatives attending this Meeting at the Great Hall of the People. Mr. Robert Greenhill, the International Executive Vice-chair of the China Council and also the President of CIDA reported to the Premier of the major policy recommendations of this AGM of CCICED Phase III to the Chinese Government. In return, Premier Wen Jiabao had candid and friendly dialogue and exchanges with the international representatives on a range of issues including China's fulfillment of the targets defined in the 11th "Five-Year" National Plan, borrowing the experience on sustainable development from the international communities to China, the future development direction of the China Council, the capacity building in environmental governance, resources and environment pricing, ecological compensation mechanism, public participation and the realization of the "Three Transformations" concerning environmental protection. During the meeting, Premier Wen spelt out his expectations on the long-lasting convocation of the China Council until that the international community is fully satisfied with the environmental protection cause of China. He requested that the next Phase of the CCICED should pay close attention to and make an annual evaluation of the impact of economic structure and economic growth mode on sustainable development during the development progress of China. He also stressed the need of the improvement of environmental governance with the focus not only on responsibility designation but also on the establishment of accountability system; that the mindset of regarding sound ecological environment as a form of productivity must be set up among government officials at various levels and they must care about their generations rather than merely pursuing the present profits; an integrated ecological environmental protection mechanism must be actively studies and established with a sound pricing system in place and strict implementation of the related rewarding and punishment system; the input from government and enterprises on environmental protection must be treated the same as that for the securing of production; the "Three Transformations" is an enormous change for the shift of economic growth pattern, which serves as the rudimental and directional measure for ensuring the scientific and sustainable development of China's economy.

The international representatives at the meeting expressed their appreciation for Premier Wen's meeting with them and also extended their admiration and thanks to the support as well as direct participation from the Premier. They underscored that this kind of direct participation is conducive not only to the environmental protection cause of China, but also to the smooth development of the environmental protection undertaking of the entire world. It is under the strong support from the Chinese Government that the China Council has developed into the most authoritative council on environment and development around the globe. Mr. Robert Greenhill noted that the Canadian Government has already committed to offering support to the work of the 4th Phase of CCICED as demonstration of the trust from the Canadian Government of the China Council as well as that of the sound progress of the cooperation between China and Canada in the field of environment and development and the normal relationship between the two nations. All the International representatives paid great honor to the farsighted perspectives on sustainable development of the Chinese Government as well as the in-depth analysis of the existing problems in Premier Wen's remarks. They were also greatly inspired by Premier Wen's recognition of the work and the policy recommendations of the China Council as well as his defining of the future development path of the China Council.

2. Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan Addressing the Meeting

In the afternoon of November 10, 2006, Vice Premier and the Chairman of the 3rd Phase of the China Council, Mr. Zeng Peiyan attended and addressed the opening ceremony of the meeting. In his address, Vice Premier Zeng hailed the tremendous work and efforts made by the China Council as well as its Secretariat, thanked the full support from relevant national governments and international organizations and institutions to the China Council. In addition, he also analyzed the macro-economic situation of China as well as its environmental status; requested the proper handling of the major works of energy and resource conservation, improvement in water pollution prevention and control, intensifying atmospheric pollution prevention and control, initiation of the pollution prevention and control in rural areas and of soil as well as the augmentation of the efforts in ecological protection and construction in a bid to establish a resource-saving and environment-friendly society in full scales through all the sectors of the society including production, circulation, consumption and construction. He clearly demanded the 4th Phase of the China Council to carry out profound deliberation on environmental and development policies, organize well-targeted special research, vigorously participate in the construction of energy-saving and environmentally-friendly projects, upgrade the efforts in personnel training and exchange, heighten international cooperation on environment and development and better play its role as an advisory body.

3. Keynote Speeches and Speeches Made by Special Speakers at the Meeting

In his keynote speech entitled "Scientific Development towards a Well-off (Xiaokang) Society", the Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC Cheng Siwei highlighted that first step in the fulfillment of the grand target for the establishment of a Xiaokang society in an all-round way is to change people's mindset to the earnest implementation of the principle of giving top priority to the people as well as the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable scientific outlook on development. We must face up to the challenges of economic globalization and knowledge economy, make innovation in development mode and betterment in development quality. Besides, we must strengthen legislation and regulate the relationship between man, nature and the society, emphasize corporate social responsibility, step up the sustainable development mentality of the entire society to enable them have a correct understanding and handling of the relationship between man, the society and the nature and foster the moral atmosphere for environmental protection.

Mr. Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of UNEP highly commended the "Three Historic Transformations" put forward by the Chinese government in his keynote speech, saying that it is the only way out to face up to the challenges of sustainable development. He mentioned that the post-industrialization era doesn't mean the restriction to development but rather the adoption of more optimized methods in the use of global resources, and the cooperation between different cultures and different nations is very crucial. He also hoped that China could set itself as an example for other countries to learn from so as to become part of the global economy, and that the strenuous efforts China has made in the development of a harmonious society could make contributions to the change of the entire globe into a big harmonious society.

Ms. Huguette Labelle, former President of CIDA and the Honorary President of Ottawa University made a special speech under the subject of "Outlook on China's Environment and Development for 2020". In her speech, she touched upon a set of issues including the global impact of climate change and the energy and resource shortage facing China in 2020. She expressed her wish that China can increase the transparency in environment related issues and consolidate the capacity of environmental administrative governance and that China can team up with other countries to address the problems of environmental impact brought about by over-exploitation of resources and economic growth so as to make contribution to the whole world.

The Deputy Secretariat General of OECD, Mr. Kiyo Akasaka made a speech titled "Report of the OECD on China's Environmental Performance". He made suggestions on further enhancing the environmental works of China from 5 perspectives including elevating SEPA into a Ministry, levying on environmental related services, formulating a unified national climate change policy and greenhouse emission reduction target, upgrading international cooperation in the area of acid rain and that China should systematically integrate its efforts in environmental protection into international cooperation.

4. Special Presentation at the Meeting

Mr. Zhou Shengxian, Minister of SEPA and also the new Chinese Executive Vice Chairman of the China Council attended the meeting of the China Council for the first time and made a special presentation under the subject of "Advancing Historic Transformation and Achieving Comprehensive, Coordinated and Sustainable Development". His presentation fully elaborated the target, tasks and measures taken for the realization of the "Three Transformations" in the environmental protection field of China. In his presentation, he pointed out that the environmental protection work of China has already entered into a new stage featuring environmental protection optimizing economic growth and is facing the crucial opportunity of historic transformation, which demands the initiation of international environmental cooperation and exchange from a more insightful angle in a wider range of areas at a more profound level, and China and other countries should make concerted efforts in advancing the historic transformation of the environmental protection cause of China. The presentation of Minister Zhou has enriched the content of the meeting and received positive responses from the Council Members and Experts.

5. Theme Discussions and Suggestions at the Meeting

The meeting conducted in-depth discussions centered on the subject of Scientific Development towards a Xiaokang Society. All the Council Members and Experts agreed that China has experienced fast economic and social development ever since its reform and opening up at the end of 1978. China has attained in less than 3 decades the progress that a great number of developed countries has accomplished over a whole century, and the achievements China has made is extraordinary. However, with fast economic growth comes the huge pressure on resources and the environment, and the environmental problems emerged in developed countries over 100 year's time of industrialization in different stages has made a concentrated appearance in China during the last 20-odd years with the characteristics of being structural, combined and compressed.

During the next 15 years highlighting the comprehensive development of the Xiaokang society, the only way for the effective control of pollution and betterment of the resources and environment situation along with maintaining economic growth is to promote the reform and development and implement the scientific outlook on development in actual works in line with the request of "sticking to the principle of putting people at the first place and establishing a comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable scientific outlook on development" as well as "carrying out unified planning of both urban and rural development, between different regions, between economic development and social development, the harmonious development between man and nature, and between domestic development and opening up to the outside world" in face of the huge challenge of resources and the environment.

All the Council Members and Experts made in-depth analysis of the challenges and problems during the implementation of the scientific outlook on development and the fulfillment of the Xiaokang society. While borrowing the success and failure stories of other nations across the globe, they have reached consensus regarding the following issues: first, expediting the enhancement of the historic transformation; second, continuing the unremitting efforts in the sound development of the China Council; third, establishing and consolidating related mechanisms conducive to environmental protection; fourth, establishing a multidimensional pollution prevention and control system.

6. Reports of Task Forces and the Policy Recommendations

The meeting listened to the research reports of 4 Task Forces including the TF on China's Environment and Development Review and Prospect, the TF on Economic Growth and Coordinated Environmental Development, the TF on the Study of Eco-compensation Mechanism and the TF on Environmental Governance as well as the special report from the Special Group on the Countermeasures and Research of Environmental Problems in the Development of New Countryside and carried out in-depth discussions on the policy recommendations they have proposed. Based on that, the meeting extracted and summarized the essence of the comments and suggestions of all the Council Members and Experts during the meeting and finalized and adopted the Policy Recommendations of the meeting to the Chinese Government.

7. Issues Concerning the 4th Phase of the China Council

The Vice Minister of SEPA and the Secretary-general of the China Council, Mr. Zhu Guangyao informed the meeting that the Chinese Government has approved the establishment of the 4th Phase of the China Council as well as the overall considerations for the 4th Phase of the China Council. All the Council Members and Experts fully consented the approval of the Chinese Government, and they all agreed that the environment and development cause of China has gone to the world from the platform of the China Council 15 years ago while the cutting edge environmental protection theories around the world are currently introduced into China also from here. Hence, the China Council will definitely play a more important role for the acceleration of the promotion of the historic transformations on China's environmental protection undertaking. They were all looking forward to further reform and innovation and the improvement of its policy advisory function of the China Council during its 4th Phase as part of the efforts for greater contributions to the environment and development of the whole world.

8. Awarding the Memorial Medal

Before the conclusion of the meeting, as entrusted by Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, the Minister of SEPA and the Chinese Executive Vice-chair of the China Council, Mr. Zhou Shengxian awarded the memorial medal and certificate of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development to all the Chinese and International Council Members and TF Co-chairs during its 3rd Phase in praise and appreciation of their participation in the work of the 3rd Phase of the China Council as well as their outstanding contributions to the environment and development cause of China.

The Bureau of the 3rd Phase of the China Council has decided after deliberations that the 1st Meeting of the 4th Phase of the China Council will be held in Beijing during the autumn of 2007 as per the actual progress of the organization of the 4th Phase of the China Council. The theme of the meeting is recommended to be "Innovation and Environment-Friendly Society". 

On November 10-12, 2006 the CCICED Annual General Meeting was held in Beijing. It discussed the theme of "Scientific Development and a better-off Society" and put forward policy recommendations on the basis of the work of four Task Forces and one special research .

Since the beginning of the reform and opening-up in 1978, China's rapid economic and social development yielded remarkable progress, which not only has brought a strong boost to China's national strength and people's living conditions, but also had a definite impact at the global level. China's rapid economic development comes at the cost of tremendous pressure and sometimes adverse impacts on resources and the environment.

The Chinese government and public have gone through a gradual process of recognition of the relationship between development and environmental protection. After the current administration took office in 2003, China's economic and social development has entered into a new stage, along with intensifying environmental protection measures. The Chinese government has put forward a series of new development concepts, development goals and guiding principles, the most recent of which were the "three transformations" emphasized by Premier Wen Jiabao during the Sixth National Conference on Environmental Protection.

The "three transformations" represent the new strategic approach to environmental problems by the Chinese government, and a higher degree of integration of environmental and economic concerns. It manifests the continuous exploration of the new alternative environment and development path that will help China relieve the massive resource and environmental pressures it would face, should it stay with the conventional economic growth mode.

It is at this crucial juncture that CCICED completes its work of the third phase, the output of which was highly praised and supported by Premier Wen Jiabao during his meeting with CCICED representatives, as well as by SEPA Minister Zhou Shengxian who was present during the entire course of the meeting. The meeting output was also applauded by both international as well as domestic CCICED council members.

I. Reform of the government's environmental management capacity

The successful achievement of China's environmental and scientific development targets and the integrity of environmental management systems in China depend on a strong environmental governance capacity. In order to achieve this CCICED recommends to:

--Elevate SEPA to full cabinet rank in the government. Enhance the capacity of the environmental administrative system of China's central government by increasing the budget and capacity of SEPA in order for it to adequately meet its responsibilities of regulation, enforcement， analysis, monitoring, regulation, and professional training.

--Establish a leading group on national environmental issues chaired by the Premier, with membership comprised of the Ministers of all relevant agencies with the Secretariat provided by SEPA. Establish environmental accountabilities for all ministries involved and enforce them.

--Reinforce compliance by establishing stronger penalties for non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations. Use the penalty structure to create a deterrent to pollution. Strengthen civil penalties for pollution damage and criminal penalties for the most severe violations.

--Improve multi-level governance by realigning local environmental management to create a direct line of authority to provincial environmental protection bureaus (EPBs). Equip SEPA with more human and financial resources to be provided to local EPBs to enhance their performance; charge new regional SEPA offices with the responsibility to coordinate, guide, supervise, and when necessary enforce local implementation efforts.

 --Charge SEPA, together with other related ministries and authorities, to conduct environmental assessment of local development plans to make sure local economic development is in line with local and national environmental targets.

 --Special attention should be given to the particular roles that the government on the one hand, and the private sector (business and industry) as well as civil society (NGOs) on the other can play.

II. Improvement of efficiency and industrial structure to realize sustainable growth

In the new 11th 5-year plan period, China has set an anticipated target of yearly growth of 7.5%, which could be easily surpassed if no strong control measures are adopted. At the same time China imposed challenging mandatory targets for reduction of energy consumption（per GDP） by 20% and emissions by 10%. Because of the intensive industrialization and urbanization that China is going through, and the increased globalization of the market, a better equilibrium needs to be sought if GDP growth, industrial restructuring and environmental performance are all to be met at the same time. More efforts need to be made on industrial restructuring, efficiency improvement and adjustment of the current production mode.

Through the introduction of effective market-based instruments, the Circular Economy, the increase of flexibility and innovation, as well as the testing and adoption of existing and new environmental technologies, China can move towards much greater resource efficiency and lower emissions, thus avoiding expensive pollution control measures. Technological innovations and their application as well as the deployment of existing environmentally friendly technologies should be promoted through management as well as institutional reforms. These should include:

 --Expansion of the financial channels to a combination of government, domestic and international funding sources, such as the GEF (Global Environmental Facility) and the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism).

　  --Leapfrogging in technological research, development and deployment through expanded international cooperation and appropriate legislation, institutional structures and investment.

III. Comprehensive fiscal reform in favor of "resource saving, environmentally friendly, harmonious and sustainable development"

A reform of the existing taxation and pricing system should reflect the scarcity of resources and address the internalization of environmental costs as well as encourage technological innovation and lower implementation costs, through:

 --The establishment of inter-ministerial evaluation mechanisms in environmental fiscal reform to guarantee they are in accordance with the implementation of environmental targets.

 --The reduction and lifting of subsidies that have significant adverse impacts on resources and the environment.

 --An eco-compensation mechanism that should be created to adjust the relations between stakeholders with regard to the distribution of environmental interests and economic benefits. Laws and policies should be established to encourage environmental protection behavior.

 --The overall promotion of sustainable production, consumption and trade at the national provincial and municipal level, through possible means like tax deduction, a gradual shift from production to consumption taxes to avoid wasteful consumption, and the establishment of government procurement procedure to encourage green consumption.

IV. Information disclosure and public participation

China should improve the quality, reliability and usefulness of environment data and development indicators. Key actions should include:

 --Establishment of an environmental and economic data collection and analysis center within the government, with possible participation from civil society.

 --Initiation of a centrally-funded program to upgrade local and provincial capacity and willingness to improve environmental data gathering and analysis.

 --Establishment of reporting requirements for data to assure comparability of data across facilities and over time. Provide funding for the establishment and maintenance of an internet-based reporting system, with source by source data publicly available to all stakeholders. Public access to and analysis of environmental, natural resources and social data will enhance data quality and accountability, e.g. through "Green GDP".

 --Outreach and education of the public about the chances and opportunities to participate in environmental decision-making. Improve public access to environmental information concerning emissions and their consequences in order to empower meaningful public participation. Widely publish advance notice of proposed regulations or permit proceedings for industrial and natural resource projects to facilitate public participation.

V. Enhance environmental management in the country-side

The fast growth of intensive development patterns and the transformation of lifestyles in rural areas have accelerated the deterioration of the rural ecology and the environment. This has consequences for people's health and quality of life and is thus an obstacle to building a new countryside. Practical solutions should be considered to:

 --Establish environmental management system in the country-side.

 --Improve the access to clean drinking water; promotion of highly effective and efficient water treatment equipment.

 --Manage non-point source pollution in the country-side and promote low-cost technologies and solutions.

 --Promote the development of methane digesters, as well as solar and renewable energy sources when applicable.

 --Study and explore potential carbon sequestration potential of altered agricultural practice to achieve social, environmental and global benefits.

Successful implementation of such solutions will extend the concept of Circular Economy to agriculture, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce long-range air pollution.

VI. China's role in global environmental governance

China is gradually evolving into a world economic power in terms of production, consumption and trade. The challenge is how to create a harmonious world in which China and the international community join forces in the fields of environment and development. China should prepare to take a more active role and international responsibilities in global environment governance and sustainable development. This will increase China's positive global image and China's influence to ensure the peaceful development of the country and the world society. Among other measures this should include:

 --Active participation in establishing international environment institutions; providing scientific evidence of potential impacts; promoting global sustainable development; making continued efforts in implementing international environmental agreements.

 --The introduction of production standards for Chinese enterprises in terms of environment, health and safety, and accelerating the pace of innovations in sustainable development.