Problem overview:
Policies and measures:
Implementing action plans for the environment require specific, detailed plans of actual projects designed to improve environmental conditions. In this example, we see how China decides which pollutants to control and how to control them.
Background in summary:
Goals for environmental protection: The Ninth Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Term Objectives through the Year 2010 proposes the goals to be attained for environmental protection during 1996-2000, which is, by 2000, the trend of accelerated pollution and ecological degradation must be brought under control and the environmental quality in selected cities and regions must improve.
Controlled pollutants:
- Atmospheric pollutants: smog, industrial dust, sulfur dioxide.
- Waste water pollutants: chemical oxygen demand (COD), oils, cyanogen compound, arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium, sexavalence chromium.
- Solid wastes : industrial solid wastes.
Discharge control:
- The eastern region should strive to reduce discharge further from the mid-1990s level
- The central region should try to control discharge at the mid-1990s level
- The western region may, depending on circumstances, be exempted from certain requirements.
- Strict controls on toxic pollutants that cause great hazards to the effect that their discharge by 2000 will decrease from the mid-1990s.
- Discharge of smog, industrial dust, COD, oils and industrial solid wastes must be controlled at the mid-1990s level,
- Control the discharge of sulfur dioxide at the mid-1990s level in areas targeted for acid rain and sulfur dioxide controls.
Basic practices:
- Verify the discharge base of 1995
- Draft a national plan
- Assign compulsory quotas for discharge
- Sub-divide quotas among subordinate units
- Increase output without increasing pollution.
- Make annual plans.
- Conduct annual examinations and reviews and publicize at regular intervals
- Institute a system
See document in full
Good practice rating:
(1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score) |
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Sustainability
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Efficiency
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| 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 |
| 2 |
Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?) |
3 |
Participation of resource owners/users |
| 2 |
Socio-cultural adaptability. |
2 |
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. |
- |
Ability to attract political interest/support |
| 2 |
Degree of decentralization adaptability. |
- |
Procedures for feedback and review. |
Comments on this example:
When policies and measures are too absolute, it is very hard for affected parties to comply. For instance, if China had immediately ordered factories to reduce their pollution discharge within a year to be within a certain acceptable standard, the factories would surely refuse to cooperate because they would feel that they have been forced to do something that is impossible, technically and financially. Fortunately in reality, the Government of China has laid at pollution mitigation plans spanning over a period of more than 10 years time. (According to the Ninth Five-year Plan). This gives the affected parties an opportunity to gradually make changes in order to comply with the governments policies and measures.
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Sustainability of the project:
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Adaptability of the project to other situations:
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Policies and measures:
- A plan to control pollutants on a phased out basis is also in line with the climate change convention requirements. The reduction on a regional basis is quite applicable for an industrial country like China, as usually only a total reduction is considered. In addition, to air, water pollution has also been addressed in the planning process. The process though useful, its adaptability will depend on the current state of development of a country.
- China has taken an absolute approach in mitigating and/or controlling pollution as stated in its policies and measures of the Ninth Five-Year Plan. These policies and measures have been well thought of and could be applied to other countries, but in a milder sense and longer terms.
- Like China, many countries in the ESCAP region have well written policies and measures for pollution prevention and abatement. However, success of carrying out these policies and measures are not necessarily the same for every country. That is because the actual implementation has been carried out differently. Some countries are very strict while others countries tend to be more lenient.
| Process of decision making and implementation: |
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Documentation: |
Literature or other written project review references
Brief Introduction to China's Ninth Five-Year Plan
UNDP, China
October 1996
Web site http://iggi.unesco.or.kr/web/iggi_docs/05/952580796.pdf
China Pollution Indicators and Status
Summary information about pollution, pollution impact, and environmental conditions in China
World Bank
Website http://www.worldbank.org/nipr/data/china/status.htm
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Source of Information: |
China Environment yearbook 1997
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Contacts: |
Mr. Yu Chaoran
Tel: 0086-10-67628653
Fax: 0086-10-67113772
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Submitted by: |
Mr. Chen Yuxiang
Deputy Director
The Administrative Centre for China's Agenda 21
Beijing, China
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