Human Rights Boosted in Environmental Endeavors

Wang Wenbiao has spent 24 years turning part of a desperate desert into an oasis with a future.

His hard work is now being recognized as a shining example of not only ecological improvement, but of how protecting the environment can also protect human rights.

In 1998, when Wang was just 30 years old, he was named by local government as the head of a salt factory deep in Inner Mongolia's Kubuqi Desert. He immediately began to explore desertification treatment, countering the nightmarish effects of the encroaching sand and greatly improving conditions for locals.

Statistics show that 65 percent of global arable land faces risks of desertification, and more than 1 billion people living in desert regions are suffering from hunger and poverty, Wang said in a paper delivered to the fifth Beijing Forum on Human Rights, which concluded on Thursday.

Vast stretches of sand are deemed romantic and spectacular by some, but desertification is labelled a "cancer of the Earth" by Wang, who was born and grew up in desert.

Wang, now chairman of the environmental issues-focused China Elion Resource Group, recalled how thick sand blocked exports of his salt and threatened to swallow his factory. He and factory staff managed to build a road crossing the desert in just three years, but it was quickly buried in a sand storm.

He responded by planting sand willows along the road to form a barrier against the sand and then carried out aerial grass seeding around the road.

The long-term survival of this crucial artery was finally assured. It has so far saved nearly 20 million yuan (US$3.2 million) for Wang's factory and helped people in the desert to reach the outside world more easily.

But Wang didn't stop there. With strong financial support from local government, he and his company have planted trees and developed agriculture across 5,000 square km of desert, an expanse of land nearly eight times the size of Singapore.

Trees and grass have dyed the Kubuqi green and green industries including desert energy, medicine, tourism and modern agriculture were also developed to increase residents' income while curbing the spread of sand.

"Treating the deserts is the greatest philanthropy," said Wang.

In June, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) conferred on Wang an award for his contribution to desert remedy and poverty alleviation.

Achim Steiner, executive director of the UNEP, commented that the Kubuqi story sets a model for the world in promoting economic development through protection of nature.

"I firmly believe that environmental protection is the foundation of protecting human rights," said Seiichi Ota, former executive director of the Industrial Development Federation of Youth Groups of Japan, at the Beijing Forum on Human Rights.

Safeguarding the Earth is intrinsically related to safeguarding human rights, said Seiichi, who has planted more than 9 million trees in China in 20 years.

Seiichi's opinion was echoed by Olga G. Sergeeva, deputy chairperson of the Constituent Court of the Republic of Belarus, who presented a paper to the forum saying that the right to a favorable environment should be an inalienable human right.

She said environmental improvement can boost people's living standards and humans can live longer and more healthily in greener surroundings.

The Kubuqi story is not an isolated case, according to Wang. The Chinese government encourages individuals' or organizations' efforts in desert treatment by offering policy and financial support.

The government has also put in place strict policies in protecting farmland and water resources, and its stewardship has seen the proportion of the country covered by forest increase from 16.55 percent in 2001 to 20.34 percent in 2012.

Apart form expanding the carbon-sink vegetative covers, the nation has also made strides in cutting its emissions of gas and pollutants.

During the 2006-2010 period, China's aggregate energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product dropped 19.1 percent from that of 2005, equivalent to a reduction of 1.46 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

China's government has also promised to invest 100 billion yuan to cut "PM2.5," microscopic air-borne particles, and treat air pollution in urban areas from 2011 to 2015, and further trim its "carbon intensity" 40-45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

China has made significant progress in improving human rights through environmental protection, and this may serve as a model for developing countries in this regard, said Elisabeth Kardos-Kaponyi, professor of the International Studies Institute at Corvins University in Budapest, Hungary.

But she told Xinhua that all countries should practice environmental protection based on their own conditions, adding that China should put more effort into protecting its environment and human rights in accordance with its rapid economic development.

The Chinese government said it will insist on the timely implementation of the second period of the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol and match promises it made to the world.

The Kyoto Protocol, the only internationally binding treaty on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, was extended to cover up to the end of 2020 following negotiations among nations at the climate conference that concluded in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday.

The European Union-led nations and Australia joined the second period of the protocol, while the United States, Japan, Russia and Canada declined to sign the treaty.