China′s road to sustainable development

1、seminar: economic development and culture 15.12.2005jessica sachinas road to sustainable developmentby cynthia w. cann, michael c. cann, and gao shangquansustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to m

2、eet their own needs.” brundtland-report, 1987problems in china:- extraordinary economic growth over the last ten to twenty years (gdp from 1978 to 2002 four times as high, 2002: 8% estimated)- accompanying that growth: dramatic increase in consumption of resources and production of waste- country wi

3、th worldwide biggest population (1.3 billion inhabitants) - conversion from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy- china joined the wto in 2001challenges of achieve sustainable development in china:water:- a lot of wastewater remains untreated- about half of the drinking water is

4、 polluted- use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers is the highest worldwide = are transported in the ground water- the 7 largest rivers are all heavily polluted- pollution of the coasts by oil from offshore operations and discharge of waste from coastal cities- critical water deficiencies mainly in th

5、e north, were 66% of the agriculture is located- irrigated land and high reliance on ground water, because surface waters are in big parts polluted- poor efficiency of water use- rapid economic growth and industrialization will increase demand for water- floods- significant deforestationair:- air po

6、llution is one of the highest in the world- high rate of respiratory diseases- emissions of sulphur dioxide, resulting mainly from the combustion of coal, produce acid rain, which effects 30% of chinas land area- growing number of cars, trucks and busses increase this problemsoil:- due to soil erosi

7、on and economic development china has lost 1/5 of its agricultural land since 1949- overgrowing and overplowing in northwestern china have expedited desertificationenergy:- coal accounts for 65 to 70% of chinas total energy needs- most coal-fired power plants lack sufficient pollution controls- coal

8、 produces carbon dioxide = major contributor to global warming- china emits 12% of the worlds total carbon dioxide, second behind the usa (25%)- global warming = rising sea levels = chinese coastal cities will be dramatically effected - increasing demand for electricity and cars = more greenhouse ga

9、s emissions - developing countries like china are exempt from the restrictions of the kyoto protocol = but they should be included in new international treaties- momentarily hydroelectric projects like the three gorges dam are common- china imports 30% of its oil needs; in the 80s it had still expor

10、ted oiltransportation:- high energy demand and pollution resulting from rapidly growing use of motor vehicles- agricultural land is used to build highways and parking lots = this affects the food problempopulation:- 1979: one-child-per-couple policy- estimation: growth to 1.5 to 1.6 billion up to 20

11、40, then a slow decline will startfood:- increased demand for animal products = increased demand for crop to feed the animals- dependence on imports, e.g. soybeans from the usa- increasing global temperatures = floods and lack of water in rainy and dry season respectively = wheat and rice production

12、 will be affected chinas progress in sustainable development:2 main plans for sustainable development:1) agenda 21 was established at the unced in rio de janeiro in 1992 and had to be employed afterwards in each participating country2) chinas tenth five-year plan 2001-2005 includes sustainable devel

13、opment even as one of its main topicsfunding for sustainable development:the government is the major source of funding. main sources of external funding are the asian development bank and the world bank. funding for limiting the production of greenhouse gases has come from the clean development mech

14、anism under the kyoto protocol. water:- china is beginning to place a monetary value and a price on this scarce resource to discourage use- improvement of irrigation technology- production of food which needs less water to grow, especially production of wheat instead of rice- a permission from the s

15、tate ocean administration is needed to dump waste in the oceanagriculture and food production:- evident progress in the field of sustainable agriculture- project to reduce the number of fishing vessels to work against over fishing of waters- attempt to reduce the illegal fishery- higher productivity

16、 of land productivity by multiple croppingforest and grassland:- payments for farmers to plant trees on their cropland to reduce environmental catastrophes like flooding, loss of topsoil ,and desertification - plan: until 2010 more than 10 million hectare of grain land should be planted with trees (

17、= 1/10 of the current grain land area). biodiversity:- establishment of national germplasm banks to protect wild plants from becoming extinct- a legal framework for wildlife conservation has been established- marine nature reserves have been established in the countrys coastal regionscleaner product

18、ion and pollution control:- many environmental laws in china and the rest of the world are aimed at preventing the dispersion of toxic chemicals into the environment. these so called end-of-the-pipe solutions restrict emissions of pollutants and impose fines for emissions above set limits = ineffect

19、ive- china tries e.g. with the cleaner production promotion law which was introduced in 2002 to discourage the use or production of hazardous substances.- first nation to pass a law with cleaner production as a national policy - to support recycling and cleaner production the state established regul

20、ations to grant a tax refund, if certain products are made from recycled materials or comprehensive utilization of resources has been employed to make the products.- half of the value-added tax is also refunded for cases in which power generation is the result of e.g. peat, oil or wind. energy:- the

21、 state economic and trade commission (setc) is implementing planes to conserve energy based on a legal framework- setc also advocates certification of energy-efficient products, an energy efficiency standard, and labelling - the ministry of water resources has developed a plan to use small hydro pow

22、er plants for energy production. - 2002 china had a total installed hydroelectric capacity of 79,000 mw - 2003: 10 recently finished projects at the main river with a capacity of 8,920 mw, the three gorges dam project will be finished 2009 with an installed capacity of 18,200 mw- but this projects a

23、re accompanied by considerable environmental and social costs:- environmental problems by dams: destruction and division of wildlife habitats, silting of waterways, increased emission of methane, and the leaching of toxic heavy metals from the soil- some social costs: displacement of people (more th

24、an 1 million for three gorges dam), division of people from their neighbours, loss of natural and archaeological treasures, and loss of crop and grazing land- efforts to produce more energy-efficient appliances and buildings - china has ample wind resources, but wind power is in china about twice as

25、 expensive as coal power. that is the reason why the chinese government has reduced the value-added tax on wind by half. - 2002: 460 mw of wind power installed = comparison with other countries: of india, 1/10 of the usa and 1/30 of germany- 10. fyp: china wants to triple wind power- small energy pr

26、ojects in chinas rural areas - 1994 and 1996 china has reduced the coal subsidies by us$750 million and us$250 million to raise the coal price to a more realistic level. in addition a high tax on sulphur emissions has been introduced. - the ministry of transportation is committed to building environ

27、mentally sound public transportation systems and encouraging use of clean fuel for vehicles. leaded gasoline was banned in 2002.barriers to the implementation of sustainable development:only a limited number of plans have been implemented and fully executed. it may be concluded from this experience,

28、 that trade-offs between economic development and ecological protection are necessary to implement economic growth without degrading the ecosystem. a fundamental challenge to the implementation of sustainable development is the ongoing debate over the appropriate balance between economic growth and

29、environmental conservation.the future:scientists have developed the concept of the ecological footprint as a way to measure the sustainability of human actions. this concept takes into account the resources that humans consume and the waste they produce and, based on them, calculates the area that i

30、s necessary. in china it is 1.2ha per person, on the earth are 1.7 ha available, but in china only 0.8 ha. comparison: usa: 10.3; united kingdom: 5.2; japan: 3.4; india: 0.8. but this number is also a direct function of economic development. considering chinas rapid development some topics have to b

31、e dealt with, so that the country can grow in a sustainable manner and stay in its natural boundaries.1. rigorous control of the population2. business has to practice the triple bottom line3. stricter pollution standards, pollution prevention, and resource and energy conservation4. promotion of mass tr