A new environmental research project, aimed at providing
policy-makers with guidelines for environmentally friendly
development, was launched on Friday in Beijing.
The two-year project is a collaboration between the State
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and the Chinese
Academy of Engineering.
The completed guidelines will comprise four parts an
introduction to the project's work followed by in-depth advice on
protecting the ecosystem, dealing with man-made pollution and
providing incentives for green policy-making.
The basis for the project will be research into how to protect
China's ecosystem, with studies into preventing water, air, noise,
waste, oceanic and radioactive pollution, according to Xu Kuangdi,
vice-chairman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Sections on dealing with man-made pollution will confront hot
issues such as industrial pollution, cleaning up urban environments
and protecting public health.
Research into the causes of industrial pollution will focus on
heavily polluting industries such as petroleum, chemicals, iron and
steel, power generation and papermaking.
Work on rural environmental protection will look at water
security, pesticide and fertilizer use, and developing biomass
energy.
"Currently, the quality of research into pollution in China is
not very high," said Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan.
He urged the research group to look for ways economic growth and
environmental protection could go hand in hand.
Zeng said that besides traditional environmental problems like
air and water pollution or desertification, China is increasingly
facing new issues, such as persistent organic pollution, heavy
metal pollution, radiation and electronic waste pollution.
According to Zeng, about 70 percent of China's water is now
polluted. Improving the quality of water held behind the Three
Gorges Dam has been newly listed as a key pollution project.
Last year, China failed to reach its pollution and energy
consumption reduction targets, which aim to see major pollutants
cut by 10 percent and energy consumption per unit of gross domestic
product (GDP) fall by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010.
Sulfur dioxide emissions increased by nearly 463,000 tons, 1.8
percent higher than the previous year. Chemical oxygen demand, a
water pollution index, reached 14.31 million tons, 173,000 tons
more than the year before and 1.2 percent higher than in 2005,
according to SEPA data. Mass accidents caused by environmental
problems have increased by 30 percent annually.
Energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped 1.23 percent
year-on-year in 2006, the first annual decline since 2003, figures
from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
This year, the country has launched a series of programs
designed to meet the environmental targets, such as the national
pollution source investigation and a drive to close down
small-scale power plants.
(China Daily May 12, 2007)
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