The State Council has approved in principle a five-year
environmental protection plan for tackling pollution.
The plan, approved during an executive meeting presided by
Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday, mainly focuses on "pollution control
and prevention" in order to achieve the environmental protection
targets set by the government last year.
The government set goals in its 11th Five-Year Plan to reduce energy
consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent
and major pollutant discharges by 10 percent ending in 2010.
"China is suffering from increasing conflicts between economic
and social development and constraints in resources and energy,"
the State Council said in a circular.
The plan includes:
(1) Accelerating economic restructuring to create an industrial
system that will aid resource conservation and environmental
protection, along with the control of inappropriate development
activities.
"Techniques, facilities and backward production measures that
lead to too much waste of resources and serious pollution must be
eliminated," the circular said.
(2) Improving supervision, management and law enforcement of
pollution.
(3) Advancing environmental science and technology through
innovation to improve environmental protection capability.
(4) Enhancing cooperation between government departments and
local governments to better resolve trans-regional environmental
problems.
(5) Reinforcing environment education to enhance the public's
awareness of protecting the eco-system.
"A mechanism should be established to encourage government,
enterprises, and non-government forces to invest in pollution
control projects," the circular said.
China's environment watchdog said at the beginning of this year
that the country failed to reach its pollution control goals last
year as the economy grew faster than expected.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency September 27,
2007)
