Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: The program aims to promote sustainable economic development of the Mountain, River and Lake (MRL) region through the formulation of environmentally sound policies, integrated planning and management of its land and water resources.

     Training and educational initiatives: The program will provide continued assistance to the MRL Office in order to strengthen institutional capacity as well as to develop the administrative, personnel, and financial managerial skills of the staff.

Background in summary:

     Promoting sustainable economic development of the Mountain, River and Lake (MRL) region: In the early of 1980s sever ecological and economic issues in MRL Region such as serious soil erosion, frequent flooding and draught, ever-expanding pollution, ecological degradation and rural poverty was apparent and disturbing. In order to solve such problems, Jiangxi province initiated the Mountain-River-Lake (MRL) Regional Development Programme in Jiangxi Province, which is a leading project of the Priority Project Plan of China's Agenda 21.

     The goal of MRL Program: The overall goal of the MRL Programme is to realize the MRL regional economically, socially and ecologically sustainable and coordinated development by strengthening the region's sustainable development capacity, and systematically improving the region's environment while helping alleviate poverty of population.

     Measures designed to reach this goal:

• Strengthening the coordination, planning and implementation capacity of the programme.
  
  
• Jiangxi Provincial MRL Regional Development Committee headed by the Provincial Governor was established.
  
  
• MRL Programme under the committee is responsible for planning, experimentation and demonstration of deferent types of development models and implementation of pilot projects.

     Achievements of MRL Program: Through the implementation of MRL Programme Jiangxi province has achieved notable effect in integrated utilization of natural resources, ecological and environmental management and poverty reduction. Within 15 years:

• 2 million hectares of forest has been planted, forest coverage increased from 35% to 53%;
  
  
• soil erosion reduced from 33,000 square kilometers per annum to 9,000 square kilometers;
  
  
• 4 million people were brought above the poverty income level.

See also Sustainable Development of Mountain, River and Lake Region in Jiangxi (UNDP)

Peer Review Committee 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.	3	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
2	Socio-cultural adaptability.	1	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
2	Level of development adaptability.	2	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
2	Style of government adaptability.	2	Ability to attract political interest/support
2	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	-	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:      Training and educational initiatives: Judging only from the data that has been provided in the context, the work done under this project has been quite impressive, especially in terms of the environmental concerns and in terms of socio-economic development. However, taking into account the total area concerned, the severity of the problems, the number of people linked, the impact may be quite low. Of the 40 million people only 4 million were brought above poverty income level and the training has reached even a lesser number of people.      In the following phase, training courses for local capacity building should increase the coverage in terms of people- compared to the recent figure of 120,000 people out of a total 40 million- and also, area. The local people should be ensured of job and income security. They should also be made aware of the relationship between environment and their socio-economic conditions. This is to prevent environmental damages from local business activities. Sustainability of the project:      Awareness and visions: Chinas approach towards solving social and environmental problems has improved both conditions of the MRL region. That is because much consideration has been given to the relationship between socio-economic development and ecological sustainability when planning and implementing program measures. Many countries have been unsuccessful in sustainable development because they have neglected the importance of ecological sustainability, especially in past experiences. Adaptability of the project to other situations:       This example may be found rather location specific in terms of measure for implementation, but in terms of concept, it is similar to other sustainable development ideas, which is to integrate environment, economic and social context into development planning decisions. Process of decision making and implementation:   Cost efficiency:      According to the project document (see link in Documentation: ), which was last updated in October 1997, budget figure allocated for the project during a period of 3 years is US$ 879,000. Though the cost efficiency is not clear, certainly it is not a very cheap project that a community, for example, can afford tomorrow without financial assistance.