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| Measures Set for China's Ecological Modernization |
China's ecological modernization is expected to reach the world's middle level around 2050, according to a recent report by China's top scientific institutions. China's Ecological Modernization Report 2007, published by the China Academy of Sciences on January 27, found the starting phase of the world ecological modernization coincided with China's period of reform, during which China's industrialization and urbanization embarked upon a fast track and China's modernization drive scored remarkable progress. In the next five decades, the report says, China's ecological modernization can make breakthroughs in three areas: ecological economy, ecological society and ecological awareness. Taking "dematerialization, greening, ecologization and decoupling" (decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation) as the main thrusts, the country's ecological modernization will strive to complete the ecological transformation of the trends in modernization and to realize a strategic change in environmental management from the policies emphasizing emergency response to policies emphasizing prevention and innovation. The report suggests that in the first half of the 21st century, the following 10 measures should be taken to promote China's ecological modernization: 1. A road map for China's ecological modernization and its national and regional ecological modernization should be formulated and implemented. A road map for China's ecological modernization represents a collection of the strategic goals and canal path of China's ecological modernization. Its main contents can be divided into eight parts: the canal path, the strategic goals, the basic tasks, the monitoring indicators, the monitoring of ecological progress, the monitoring of ecological economy, the monitoring of ecological society, and the strategic measures for China's ecological modernization. First, the canal path for China's ecological modernization: In accordance with the principle of integrated ecological modernization, efforts should be made to coordinate and push forward ecological modernization, integrated modernization, green industrialization, green urbanization; modernization should be knowledge-based, light-weight, greening, and ecologically sensitive. It should realize an absolute decoupling of economic development from environmental degradation and should seek a win-win result for both the economy and the environment; China should try to match the level of ecological modernization in developed countries. China's goal is for ecological modernization to reach the world's middle level in 2050 and the world's advanced level at the end of the 21st century respectively. Next, the strategic goals of China's ecological modernization: China's ecological modernization will reach the world's middle level in the first half of the 21st century, its economic growth will be absolutely decoupled from environmental degradation, ecological modernization will be largely realized, and its level of ecological modernization will be among the top 40 countries in the world. In the second half of the 21st century, a virtuous coupling between economic and the environmental progress will be realized, ecological modernization will reach the world's advanced level, comprehensive ecological modernization will be realized, and the level of ecological modernization will rank among the top 20 countries in the world. Third, the basic tasks of China's ecological modernization: the country has to accomplish three basic tasks in the 21st century. One, China's ecological modernization will go up three steps internationally. The international level of China's ecological modernization will move from the low level to the preliminary level around 2020, rise to the world's middle level by 2050 and reach the world's advanced level by 2100. Two, the historical process of China's ecological modernization will move through three phases. The historical process of China's ecological modernization will be in the starting phase in 2000, enter the developing phase around 2030, reach the mature phase around 2050, and reach the stable phase around 2080. Three, the international status of China's ecological modernization will advance by about 80 rankings. China's ecological modernization index will be about 40 rankings higher in the first half of the 21st century and another 40 rankings higher in the ensuing five decades. Fourth, the monitoring indicators of China's ecological modernization: 36 monitoring indicators for ecological progress, ecological economy and ecological society; 36 monitoring indicators respectively for China's social modernization and for its economic modernization. In all, 108 monitoring indicators will be used to measure China's modernization drive. Fifth, the monitoring of ecological progress in China's ecological modernization: 12 indicators including environmental quality and land quality, and the general goals, staged goals (2010 – 2020 – 2030 – 2040 – 2050) and tasks for the first half of the 21st century. Sixth, the monitoring of ecological economy in China's ecological modernization: 12 indicators including ecological efficiency and ecological structure, and the general goals, staged goals (2010 – 2020 – 2030 – 2040 – 2050) and tasks for the first half of the 21st century. Seventh, the monitoring of ecological society in China's ecological modernization: 12 indicators including green homeland and green living, and the general goals, staged goals (2010 – 2020 – 2030 – 2040 – 2050) and the tasks for the first half of the 21st century. Eighth, the strategic measures for China's ecological modernization: three breakthroughs, namely ecological economy, ecological society and ecological awareness; three distributions, namely sectional distribution, geographic distribution and technological distribution; three securities, namely resource security, energy security and environmental security. The next two decades (2020~2030) will be an extremely crucial period for China's ecological modernization. During this period, China will gradually complete industrialization and urbanization, its population size will reach the maximum value, and its resource demand and environmental pressure will likely reach the maximum values. The report suggests that an expert group should be set up to consider national and regional strategies for ecological modernization in the next two decades. 2. A green development road should be adopted to control and reduce new environmental pollution. The principles of the green development road are: high efficiency, low waste, high quality, low density, high standard, low emission, no toxicity, no hazard, cleanliness, health, mutually beneficial coupling between green industrialization, green urbanization and environmental protection, and a win-win result for both development and environmental protection. First it's necessary to explain the road of green industrialization. China's Modernization Report (CMR) 2005 specified the features of new industrialization. Simply put, new industrialization means information, knowledge, greening and ecological corrections to the traditional industrialization and also means a systematic integration of industrialization, information-based industry, knowledge-based industry, environment-based industry, ecology-based industry and globalization. By implementing the new industrialization strategies and by taking the green industrialization road, the environmental pressure from newly-built industries will be reduced. Green industrialization has 10 specific requirements and measures. Next are the goals of the road of green urbanization. The CMR 2006 put forward the new strategies for urbanization and suggested that urbanization, suburbanization, having an information-based city, a knowledge-based city, an environment-based city, an ecology-based city and internationalization develop in a coordinated way so as to build a green homeland that highlights an urban-rural equilibrium. By implementing the new urbanization strategies and by taking the green urbanization road, the new urban pollution will be reduced and controlled. Green urbanization has 10 specific requirements and measures. Third, other environmental projects should be executed simultaneously, such as the green homeland project and the green consumption project. 3. The programs to control pollution and transform traditional industries should be continued so as to eliminate the environmental pollution left over from the past. The programs to control environmental pollution in an integrated way in key regions and key industries should continue. First, in the regions and river valleys where traditional industries and polluting industries are concentrated, the pollution-control projects should be executed to eliminate the environmental pollution left over from the past and to control and reduce new pollution. Next, the traditional industries and especially the resource-intensive, energy-intensive and pollution-intensive traditional industries should have their industrial processes transformed for environmental soundness so as to control and reduce industrial pollution. Third, the total-amount pollution control regime and the emission permit institution should continue to be observed. Fourth, records and rankings should be established for the enterprises emitting toxic materials and pollutants, and should be published on a regular basis. 4. The ecological improvement projects such as the one for natural forest conservation should continue and the national ecosystem evaluations should be held on a regular basis. The projects designed to protect natural forests, to facilitate forestation and to build planted forests should continue so as to increase forest coverage to about 35 percent in 2050 and about 40 percent in 2100. Construction of nature reserves should be sped up, the project to "revert cultivated land back to forestation" should be improved, and the natural grassland and pastures should be protected and improved. The goals and tasks specified in the "National Plan for Ecological Environment Construction" should be implemented in a comprehensive way. 5. Active efforts should be made to promote the construction of ecological cities, ecological urban areas, ecological parks and ecological rural areas. The construction of ecological cities has six priorities. First, planning should be done for ecological cities and ecological urban areas. Second, the ecological reconstruction of old urban areas should be encouraged and new ecological cities should be built. Third, the waste and wastewater treatment capacities of the cities should be expanded and the environment of the cities should be improved. Fourth, urban landscaping should be expanded and clean energy and green transportation should be developed. Fifth, urban residents should be encouraged to choose a green and ecologically sound way of life. Sixth, the cities should be encouraged to adopt the environmental standards such as those for a model environment, model habitation, and environmentally beautiful town and township. The construction of ecological rural areas covers six aspects. First, the Plan of Action for Ecological Homeland and Enriching the People should continue to be executed, clean energies should be developed and rural sanitation projects should be promoted. Second, the Project to Improve Rural Water Supply and Toilets should continue to be executed so as to increase the coverage of safe drinking water and health facilities in the rural areas. Third, the Project of "Reverting Cultivated Land Back to Forestation" and the construction of nature reserves should continue to be improved so as to enhance the ecological quality of the rural areas. Fourth, the structures of rural energy and transportation should be improved to enhance the quality of the rural life. Fifth, ecological agriculture, organic agriculture and pasture agriculture should be developed to increase the income of the peasants. Sixth, the process of urbanization should be expedited to reduce the density of the rural population and the pressure on the rural environment. 6. Three ecological industries should be developed: ecological agriculture, environmental industry and recycle economy-based industry. The ecological agriculture can be divided into four layers. First, the peasants, farms, pastures and agricultural enterprises should be encouraged to develop ecological agriculture, organic agriculture, natural agriculture, or pasture agriculture. Second, the development of specialized ecological agricultural zones or ecological agricultural towns and townships should be encouraged. Third, the organic food and green food industries should be developed. Fourth, the development of ecological agricultural counties should be encouraged. The environmental industry can be divided into four aspects. First, the utilization of waste resources and the development of renewable energies should be encouraged. Second, the development of environmental technologies and the technical and commercial services for environmental protection should be encouraged. Third, the development of the enterprises that produce and provide environmental products and services should be promoted. Fourth, the development of environmental parks should be encouraged. All environmental industries should raise their own resource utilization efficiency and reduce their energy and material consumption and waste emission. The development of the recycle economy-based industry can be divided into four aspects. First, the enterprises should be encouraged to increase waste re-utilization, reproduction and recycling. Second, the development of the waste collection and service industries should be encouraged and the construction of the outlets engaged in sorted waste recycling and waste recycling should be encouraged. Third, the development of the enterprises that utilize wastes in an integrated way should be encouraged. Fourth, the development of recycle economic parks and ecological industrial parks should be encouraged. 7. Three ecological institutions should be established: the institution of ecological compensation, the environmental responsibility institution for key posts, and the environmental risk evaluation system for key projects. The functional service zones of China's eco-systems should be divided in accordance with the principles of ecology and the features of China's eco-systems. A National Law on Regional Development should be considered and enacted so that regional development can have legal foundations. The construction of national nature reserves should be strengthened and the ratio of nature reserves should be raised. The central, provincial and municipal finances should establish ecological compensation funds at three levels, and scientific and rational ecological compensation mechanisms should be worked out to ensure that the local residents in the reserves at various levels can reach the average living standards of the country or their provinces and cities and that their living standards can be raised largely in step with the average levels of the country or their provinces and cities. At the same time, the dependence mentality should be prevented. Protecting the environment is a responsibility for all people. Different posts involve different responsibilities. The report suggests the Environmental Protection Law be amended and an environmental responsibility institution be established for key posts. A letter of environmental responsibility should be signed by those who are appointed to key posts and a letter of environmental audit should also be signed by those who leave key posts. The environmental responsibilities for key posts should be valid for 20 years. An environmental risk rating system for key projects should be established, which will have the following basic contents. First, the key projects (including fairly large projects) having fairly large environmental risks should be identified through environmental impact evaluation. Second, environmental risk evaluations should be conducted for key projects on a regular basis, with the evaluation cycle being 5~10 years long (an evaluation for every five years for the extremely key projects). Third, the environmental responsibility institution for key posts should be introduced for the key posts of key projects. 8. Three ecological projects should be executed: the green homeland project, the green service project and the green consumption project. In the existing urban areas and the densely-populated towns and townships, the green homeland project should be introduced to popularize the safe drinking-water and sanitary facilities, raise the ratio of domestic wastewater and waste treatment, increase the per capita landscaping area and raise the ratio of clean energies so that safe drinking-water and sanitary facilities can reach all people, that wastewater and wastes can all be treated, that the air quality can reach the national grade-1 standard and that the habitation environment can be completely improved. The green service project should be introduced to encourage the development of the modern green service industry and make the economy dematerialization, greener and more ecologization. The project has the following basic contents. First, the development of the green service industry should be accelerated. Second, the energy and resource consumption of the service industry should be reduced. Third, the labor and resource productivity of the service industry should be enhanced. Fourth, the quality of the working environment of the service industry should be improved and enhanced. Fifth, the emission of wastes and toxic and hazardous materials of the service industry should be controlled and reduced. Sixth, the recycled use of wastes of the service industry should be promoted. The green consumption project should be introduced to encourage the enterprises to develop and produce green products (such as organic foodstuffs) and provide green services, and to encourage the residents with financial capacity and environmental awareness to purchase and consume green products and green services. This constitutes the groundwork for expanding the green market. The key element of the green consumption project is honesty. Only when the green producers guarantee the quality of their green products and only when the government and the market establish mechanisms for preventing fake green products, will the green consumers be willing to pay the "green expenses" for their green consumption. 9. Three ecological strategies should be introduced: the national strategy for resource security, the national strategy for energy security and the national strategy for environmental security. The national strategy for resource security should include the regular evaluation of the natural resources in the world, the regular evaluation of the natural resources in China, the important ratings of the natural resources in China, the protection and national reserve of strategic resources, the strategy for international resource cooperation, and the strategy for strategic resource security. The import tariffs on key natural resources and primary products should be lowered, with the average tariff being reduced to 1 percent from the 10 percent in 2004. The structure of foreign reserves should be adjusted and a certain ratio of foreign money reserves should be turned from "currency reserve" to "strategic resource reserve". Besides, a progressive tax institution should be introduced for key resource consumption and possession so as to contain resource waste. The national strategy for energy security should include the regular evaluation of the world energy reserves and energy markets, the regular evaluation of China's energy resources and energy markets, the national strategic energy reserve project, the national energy supply balancing regime, the contingency plan for energy crisis, the program for renewable energies and new energies, the guide for clean energies and energy technologies, and the strategy for international energy cooperation. The national strategy for environmental security should include the regular evaluation of the world environmental status and development trends, the regular evaluation of the environmental status and development trends in China's neighboring countries, the regular evaluation of international environmental trade, the regular evaluation of China's environmental status and ecosystems, the regular evaluation of the environmental quality of China's key regions and key industries, the strategy for China's environmental security, the strategy for China's international environmental cooperation, the early warning and relief plan for natural disasters, the contingency plan for international and domestic environmental crises, and the plan of action for major environment improvements. 10. Three government organizations should be established: the national ministry of environment, the national ministry of energy and the national agency for regional development. Environmental security has become increasingly important. As environmental issues involve many aspects, as environmental pollution has major social impacts and as the government has a huge responsibility for environmental management, A national ministry of environment be established to exercise unified leadership over the country's work in climate, air environment, water environment, forest and biological environment, industrial environment and human habitation environment and to formulate and implement the national strategy for environmental security. The CMR 2005 suggested the establishment of a national ministry of energy from the perspective of economic modernization. From the perspectives of ecological modernization and the strategy for energy security, a national ministry of energy should be established to organize the formulation and implementation of the national strategies for energy security. The CMR 2004 suggested the establishment of a national agency for regional development from the perspective of regional modernization. From the perspective of ecological modernization, a national agency for regional development should be established to guide and coordinate regional ecological modernization. If all the above tasks are fully accomplished, China's ecological modernization will reach the world's middle level in 2050. While China's economic development will be completely decoupled from environmental degradation, the quality of the human habitation environment will be as good as that in the leading developed countries, the safe drinking-water and sanitary facilities will reach all people, the urban domestic wastewater and wastes will all be treated, the industrial wastewater and wastes will largely be treated, the productivity of resources and materials will be 10-fold to 30-fold higher than present, the density of industrial and economic wastes will be about 90 percent lower, and the density of industrial and economic energies will be about 80 percent lower. By then, 60 percent of the country's population will have green homelands with beautiful environment, 60 percent of its cities will have air of which quality meets the national grade-1 standard, and the ecological efficiency and service functions of the typical ecosystems will be completely restored. Meanwhile, about one-third of the national territory will be covered by forests (about 35 percent), one-third of the territory will be used for agricultural purpose (about 36 percent), and the remaining one-third will be used for construction and natural landscaping. In particular, land for construction purpose will account for about 9 percent of the national territory and land for natural landscaping will account for 20 percent. If the above goals are achieved in 2050, China will reach the level of the developed countries by the end of the 21st century and the probability of comprehensive ecological modernization will reach 30 percent. If comprehensive ecological modernization is realized, China's natural environment and the people's livelihood will have undergone earth-shaking changes. By then, China's skies will be blue, China's water will be clear, China's mountains will be green, and China's people will be healthy. China will become one of the most charming countries in the world. Overview of Ecological Modernization Report 2007
Overview Part One Ecological Modernization Chapter I Objective Facts of World Ecological Modernization 1. Methods for Analyzing Ecological Modernization Chapter II Theoretical Studies of World Ecological Modernization 1. Theoretical Background of Ecological Modernization Chapter III Analysis of China's Ecological Modernization Strategies 1. International Background of China's Ecological
Modernization Part Two Evaluations of Modernization in the World and China Chapter IV Three Decades of Ecological Modernization 1. 34 Years of World Ecological Modernization Chapter V World and China Modernization Indexes in 2004 1. World Modernization Index 2004 (China Development Gateway February 3, 2007) |
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