Problem overview:
Awareness and visions: The Shanghai case represents successful implementation of one of the major concepts that an extended urban region should have an environmental strategy embedded in physical and developmental planning processes.
Framework for coordination: Transfer of environmental information or environmental management experiences from one Shanghai municipal to other jurisdictions and also the central government requires a proper framework for coordination.
Meeting information requirements: There has been continuous monitoring and assessment of various indices of environment by Shanghai municipal in order to be used for policy making.
Background in summary:
Undertaking environmental monitoring and assessment functions: Shanghai Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau (SEPB) was established in 1979 to undertake activities related to environment. Its mandate includes licensing and fee collection for pollution discharge, and EIA. It also assists in decision making in regard to identification and implementation of key subprojects in related to the environment. Thus its mandate is one that closely connects the monitoring and assessment functions.
Developing a center for monitoring the environment: Within the SEPB, the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center focuses on continuous monitoring of key emissions, plus data processing and analysis of raw data obtained from monitoring sites. The Center has a key role in guiding other municipal departments, such as industry, agriculture, water conservancy, and hundreds of economic enterprises, in their monitoring activities. This is important in addressing potential problems of different sectors.
Coordinate environmental assessment with other jurisdictions: Shanghai Coordinating Meeting on Urban Comprehensive Environment (UECH), which addresses the need to co-ordinate environmental assessment and action in the core municipality with nearby suburban and exurbia jurisdictions. As noted above, coordination of environmental assessment among local governments in an extended urban area is essential if meaningful improvements are to be realized.
Environmental information transfer to central government: Yet another important feature is the link to the national government. Assessment information is forwarded to the central government through its National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) providing the basis for learning and also healthy competition to improve urban environments in China. The NEPA appears to be playing a positive role in setting minimum national standards for many pollutants, while still providing cities, such as Shanghai, with the latitude to develop their own systems.
In summary, the Shanghai case study exhibits many of the best characteristics of urban region environmental monitoring and assessment and deserves careful attention from other extended urban regions in the ESCAP region.
See document in full
Good practice rating:
(1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score) |
|
Sustainability
|
Efficiency
|
| 2 |
 Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other. |
- |
Cost efficient. |
| 2 |
Sustainable over time (not one-off) |
Process |
| Adaptability |
- |
Participation of the community |
| 3 |
Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?) |
2 |
Participation of resource owners/users |
| 3 |
Socio-cultural adaptability. |
2 |
Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private) |
| 3 |
Level of development adaptability. |
2 |
Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments. |
| 2 |
Style of government adaptability. |
- |
Ability to attract political interest/support |
| 2 |
Degree of decentralization adaptability. |
2 |
Procedures for feedback and review. |
Comments on this example:
|
Sustainability of the project:
|
Awareness and visions:
- From the strategy point of view, two fundamental features need to be mentioned. Firstly, it is clear in Shanghai that the community leaders have a vision of what role they want Shanghai to play in the future - namely that of a knowledge or advanced tertiary sector city. This vision is well grounded in historical and strategic analysis. Given the long and complex history of Shanghai, past functions as well as future needs are blended into this vision.
- Secondly, from this vision, it is clear that local authorities have clearly defined what such a vision implies in terms of the urban environment and how they intend to achieve it. Their vision led to improvements in Shanghai's environment, which can be attributed to good planning and design combined with monitoring and assessment.
- An important characteristic of the Shanghai case, is the linking of environmental pollutants to economic growth. These environment - economic indicators relate pollution (in the "three wastes" area: waste water, gas, and residue) to industrial output. To the extent that pollution can be reduced relative to industrial production, progress is being made. This is an more accurate indicator than ones which monitor increases in pollutants without taking into accounting increased industrial output; or, in other contexts, increases in population, automobiles, etc.
|
Adaptability of the project to other situations:
|
| Process of decision making and implementation: |
Framework for coordination:
- In order to plan for sustainable development, it is necessary to have information about the impact of economic policies on the environment and vice versa. That is why Shanghai municipal set up the Shanghai Coordinating Meeting on Urban Comprehensive Environment (UECH) to act as a supporting body to Shanghai Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau (SEPB) by coordinating with the central government and other jurisdictions in transferring important environmental information that will be useful for decision-making and bench-marking performances.
- Environmental information is of course useful for policy making only if it could reach policy makers and if policy makers are able to analyze such information correctly. Coordination from the source of information to the end users of information will assure that end user actually have access to the information and correctly analyze and utilizes it.
Meeting information requirements:
- At the more macro assessment level, Shanghai has attempted to estimate the total costs of environmental degradation. Currently, approximately 2% of potential GDP is lost due to environmental degradation.
- The identification of 28 single indices and 13 sub-indices of urban conditions, which are then compared with other Chinese and international cities, are useful for bench marking, public education and awareness, and the setting of priorities. Such indices enable city authorities to ascertain what is possible based on the achievements of analogous urban regions.
- Like many Asian and Pacific cities, "unnecessary transportation" is generated by inappropriate land uses. The fact that "irrational location of productivity" is included in environmental assessment is most interesting; it represents a link between the land use planning process and more traditional environmental assessment I monitoring which traditionally focuses on point source pollutants, etc., rather than flows. Similarly, the monitoring of investment in urban infrastructure creates a link between urban investment and the environment. In the future, if urban infrastructure investment were disaggregated into categories of environmental, transportation, and service infrastructure (other than environmental), this monitoring could be even more useful.
- Monitoring of microclimates in the urban areas is also a useful exercise. Often policy makers and citizens are unaware of the intensity of this effect, which, according to the case study, can reach 6 degrees in Shanghai. This appears high, but is "order of magnitude" comparable with other Asian and Pacific cities, for example, Bangkok appear to have a normal "heat island" effect in the order of 3 degrees. Heat island effects have considerable economic impact related to energy costs (primarily associated with air conditioning of building and automobiles) thus assessing such impacts and taking measures to control them can be important in Asian and Pacific urban areas.
|
Documentation: |
Literature or other written project review references
|
Source of Information: |
|
Contacts: |
|
Submitted by: |
|
|
