The work of CCICED has made new progress over the past year under strong support of each Chinese and international Member as well as domestic and international experts. Now I would like to present the work report of 2006 for your reference.
I. Chinese Government Leader Attaches Importance to the Work of CCICED
During the Fourth Annual General Meeting (AGM) of CCICED Phase III, Premier Wen Jiabao met the international representatives, listened to the policy recommendations of CCICED to the Chinese Government on sustainable urbanization, introduced to them relevant issues during the process of economic growth, social development and urbanization. He said: "Right urban planning and construction has its good implications for the next 50 or even over 100 years. If we make mistakes in urban planning and development, then everything cannot be retrieved." This reflects the precaution of top Chinese government leader on environmental issues during urbanization process. Premier Wen confirmed the value of the Policy Recommendations of CCICED to the Chinese Government in terms of government decision making and appreciated the work of CCICED targeting specific fields rather than vain talk.
At the executive meeting of the State Council soon after the Fourth AGM, Premier Wen mentioned and praised the Policy Recommendations of CCICED Phase III on sustainable urbanization. When making a speech in December of 2005 in France mentioning the absorption of human achievements, Premier Wen especially said the Chinese Government has invited many international experts to establish a high-level international consultation institution—CCICED to provide good recommendations to the development of China.
II. Feedback of Relevant Departments and Local Governments on Policy Recommendations of CCICED
Up to now, 20 departments under the State Council and 26 provincial people's government have presented their feedback about the adoption of the Policy Recommendations of the Fourth AGM of CCICED Phase III. These government departments and provinces are National Reform and Development Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Railway, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, People's Bank of China, State Assets Management Commission, General Administration of Customs, State Administration of Taxation, General Administration of Industry and Commerce, State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Engineering, State Meteorological Administration, State Oceanic Administration and the government of Beijing, Tianjin,Shanghai, Chongqing, Hebei,Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Liaoning Jilin, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Guizhou,Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai.
. Their feedback shows: 1) local governments pay high attention to the adoption of relevant policy recommendations of CCICED. The provincial governments of Hainan and Shaanxi ask relevant departments to carefully study and adopt relevant contents of the Policy Recommendations and put them in place in the specific work of 2006. 2) Specific recommendations of the Policy Recommendations of CCICED such as the encouragement of resource saving and recycling, improving the efficiency of resources and energy, total amount control for pollution release, establishment of appropriate environmental monitoring system, planning and management of urbanization in a scientific way have attracted high attention by relevant departments and local governments. The detailed information about the feedback is in Annex I of the current report.
III. Work of CCICED Task Forces and Lead Experts
The four task forces of CCICED, i.e. the Task Force on China's Environment and Development Progress and Prospect, Task Force on Environmental Governing Capacity, Task Force on Ecological Compensation Mechanism and Task Force on Economic Growth and the Environment have held a total of 18 task force work meetings, 8 international and domestic workshops and carried out 5 domestic and international visits or investigations over the past year.
Generally speaking, all Task Forces have finished their studies and presented their policy recommendations under the joint hard work and efforts of both the Chinese and international experts. During the Fifth AGM, the 4 task forces will report their research findings at the meeting.
It should be mentioned that under the chair of Chinese Co-chair Mr. Song Jian and International Co-chair Ms. Huguette Labelle, the high profile Task Force on China's Environment and Development Progress and Prospect has comprehensively reviewed and summarized the role and influence of CCICED Policy Recommendations on environment and development policies of China over the past 15 years, analyzed potential new situation and new problems China is going to face in the next 10-15 years in the field of environment and development, projected the future direction of the environment and development policies of China by 2020 and presented relevant policy recommendations. Their research and report have laid a solid foundation for 2006 AGM and overall review and summary of the work of CCICED Phase III.
The work of Task Forces of CCICED of the past year presents the following characteristics:
1) The research of each Task force focuses on close combination with the real economic and social situation of China. For example, the Task Force on Economic Growth and the Environment and Task Force on Environment Governing Capacity organized the site visits and investigations in provinces or municipality like Shandong, Hebei, Jilin, Chongqing and Jiangsu etc. to make their research better meeting practical requirements.
2) With full use of "external brains", "peer reviews" and the introduction of the latest research findings, the Task Forces have understood and grasped the latest developments in their research fields. They take initiatives to organize and hold various kinds of international and domestic workshops, invite famous international and domestic experts to evaluate their findings and progress, improve and revise the findings according to the latest ideas and findings of these experts to ensure high quality of their research work. Ecological compensation policy is one of the concerns of the leaders of the central government. The Task Force on Ecological Compensation Mechanism has organized a high-level international workshop. TF members have improved the policy recommendations based on the research findings and wide and in-depth communications. In doing so, they have improved the awareness of the government and general public in ecological compensation, strengthened their attention to the issue and expanded the influence of CCICED on policy studies.
3) Under relatively tight schedule, all Task Forces have improved their efficiency with the application of advanced telecommunication methods. The Task Force on Environment Governing Capacity held a teleconference in Beijing and Berlin at which international and Chinese experts discuss relevant issues and obtain information with the help of modern video and audio means. This helps to raise the efficiency and ensures the completion of research work on time.
The guiding role of the Lead Experts on Task Forces has obtained evident improvement over the past year. Focusing on the theme of 2006 AGM "Scientific Development and Xiaokang Society", CCICED Lead Experts have convened a special meeting to listen to the briefing of the progress of each Task Force, provided technical support to the research of Task Forces and presented quality and time requirements from their perspective for the research work of each Task Force.
In order to summarize the CCICED Phase III, the Lead Experts and their team have put lots of resources in the research work on China's environment and development progress and prospect. Based on the policy recommendations of each Task Force and new findings, the Lead Experts and their team has prepared in advanced the draft Policy Recommendations of CCICED to the Chinese Government, which will serve as the basis for both the formal Policy Recommendations of the Fifth AGM of CCICED to the Chinese Government and the Outlines of such recommendations that will be briefed to Chinese Premier during the AGM.
IV. Work of the Secretariat
Under the leadership of the Secretary General, CCICED Secretariat (including the Canadian Office) has made new progresses in all aspects over the past year. CCICED Secretariat has enhanced the coordination on routine operation of CCICED in an all round way, highlighted timely notification of the information to Chinese & international members and experts, strengthened the support to and management of the work of each task force, intensified the contacts with relevant countries and international organizations and enhanced the working relations among relevant departments of the Chinese government. In addition, it has taken various measures to intensify the publicity of the outcomes of CCICED, organized and carried out a series of activities aiming to expand the influence of CCICED at home and abroad. The outcomes of the Secretariat of the past year embody the followings aspects.
(I) Enhanced coordination and management on policy studies of CCICED
CCICED Secretariat has actively taken part in the preparation of the Task Force on China's Environment and Development Progress and Prospect and coordinated the holding of and participated in the TF work meeting to study relevant issues. It has organized the working meeting of TF Chinese and international members, invited Chinese Co-chair Mr. Song Jian and International Co-chair Ms. Labelle attending the meeting with expected achievements. In addition, it has organized and coordinated four working meetings of the TF Chinese members as well as arranged TF Chinese members to have expert meeting in Canada.
Moreover, the Secretariat keeps close contacts with the Task Force on Environment Governing Capacity, Task Force on Ecological Compensation Mechanism and Task Force on Economic Growth and the Environment and takes part in their activities. It has convened a number of liaison work meeting to understand the progress and problems of each Task Force and provided necessary services. In addition, it has participated many meetings or activities organized by CCICED Task Forces.
With clear identification of its terms of reference and responsibilities, the Secretariat proactively promotes and coordinates the work of the Lead Expert team and passes on in time the instructions of the Bureau and Secretary General to the Lead Experts. In addition, it takes initiative to hold a number of working meetings between the Secretariat and the Lead Experts to discuss existing problems and form a more perfect team.
(II) Further strengthened the communications with relevant countries and international organizations
As an international consultancy institution, it is of great importance for CCICED to maintain and strengthen the contact with relevant countries and international organizations. With the application of many approaches in the past year, CCICED Secretariat continues its contacts and communications with relevant stakeholders especially the donor countries and institutions, having them fully informed of the work progress of CCICED. The Secretariat has arranged many high-level discussions between the Chinese Executive Vice Chairman, Secretary General of CCICED and international stakeholders. In addition, the Secretariat has carried out many working meetings with the representatives of Canada, Germany, France, OECD, American Environmental Defense, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Australia and Netherlands respectively. It has introduced to relevant stakeholders the progress and work plan of CCICED and facilitated further cooperation with them.
(III) Some breakthroughs in developing wide cooperation partnership
Aiming at the long-term development of CCICED, the Secretariat has actively developed wide cooperation partnerships with various domestic and international institutions and explored different cooperation pattern. It takes initiative to establish working relations with such Chinese and international institutions such as Tsinghua University, Central Party School of Communist Party of China, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Environmental Defense. In the first place, it supports those units to carry out research activities relevant to CCICED. In the second place, it carries joint activities with those units. For example, it jointly organized the China-India Dialogue Meeting on Environment and Development.
It has held the "Workshop on Innovation and Environmentally Friendly Society". Making full use of the Chinese and international resources of CCICED and the high-level consultation on policies, participants of the workshop listened to the comments of experts on innovative policies about the development of the environmentally friendly society. The topic policy report and recommendations of this workshop serve as a reference by relevant departments.
In addition, it has intensified the communications with other ministries and commissions of the State Council, made more efforts in its work and coordination and strived for the understanding and support of each department of the Chinese government to the activities of CCICED. It has organized the CCICED discussion participated by 20 departments, held the workshop on environment and development policies and taken initiative to introduce CCICED policy research findings to each department.
(IV) New developments of capacity building of the Secretariat
Under strong support of SEPA, the Secretariat has a separate office with relatively complete facilities as the supporting office. According to the requirements of Chinese and International Members as well as the donor countries that the Secretariat should have international representations, the Secretariat now has accepted international employees, which has further intensified the capacity of the Secretariat. As a result, the capacity and quality of the staff of the Secretariat has been improved and gradually met new standards and requirements.
(V) Improvement and innovation on information communications and publicity
According to international practice, the Secretariat has sent the well-printed Proceedings (in Chinese and English version) of the Fourth AGM of CCICED Phase III to all Chinese and International Members one and half months after the conclusion of the meeting. This ensures the promptness of the proceedings and obtains the recognition of those members.
It has developed and implemented the CCICED foreign publicity plan and published the Policy Recommendations of CCICED to the Chinese Government on Environment and Development (English version). In addition, it has printed and distributed CCICED Newsletter (in both Chinese and English). Beginning from Issue 3, it has revised the edition of the Newsletter and added academic and policy contexts. Moreover, it has also regularly sent e-version CCICED UPDATE (in both Chinese and English) to enable relevant people understand the progress of CCICED in time. At present, there are nearly 600 fixed readers of CCICED UPDATEs. CCICED website has been redesigned and improved.
(VI) Major progress in the planning for CCICED Phase IV
Under the leadership of the Executive Chairman and Secretary General of CCICED, the Secretariat has carried out lots of research on the establishment of CCICED Phase IV, maintained close consultation with major donor countries and put forward the Conception Document on CCICED Phase IV and its revised version. At the same time, the Secretariat has kept close communications and discussions with Chinese and international stakeholders and relevant institutions on the establishment of CCICED Phase IV. It has listened to their comments and suggestions and strived for their support. At present, the Chinese Government has approved the establishment of CCICED Phase IV.
V. Financial Support to CCICED in 2006
The work of CCICED in 2006 has obtained continuous attention and support of the Chinese Government, the governments of donor countries as well as international institutions. These supports have provided a solid foundation for normal operation of CCICED. For detail information about financial support, please refer to Annex II of the current Work Report.
