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Environmental Degradation in China
Outline of Remarks
By
Adrian A. Bennet
China's Environmental Degradation:
Problems, Causes, Responses, Realities
Department of History
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
email: aabenn@iastate.edu
I. Problems
A. soil deterioration: erosion, alkanization, salinization,
desertification
B. vegetation destruction: forests and grasslands
C. air pollution: energy demands and private vehicles
D. water resource depletion and pollution
E. declining urban and rural environments
Shenyang example
F. waste disposal problems
1.China the favored dump for the industrial world
II. Causes
A. demographic pressure on limited arable land: need for more food,
housing, clothing, lumber, water and land
B. persistent drives for economic growth since 1950, unregulated
C. family contract system since 1978 promotes:
1.cash crop focus;
2.decline of traditional recycling approach;
3.increasing reliance on chemicals (fertilizers and
pesticides)
D. use of coal as primary source (76%) of energy;
1.coal: high sulphur, high ash content, 15% washed;
2.results: acid rain; major cities suffer high incidence of
suspended particles and noxious gases
a.emphysema (along with stroke) is commonest cause
of death in middle age Chinese
E. state control of pricing of key ingredients:
1.water, lumber, coal and oil all priced under cost
F. town village enterprise system, produce 40% of GNP in 1992,
expanding at annual rate of 30% 1984-89
1.ministry of agriculture estimates that by 2000 TVEs will
account for one half of the national industrial output
2.since 1994 rules and laws inacted to regulate TVEs
G. special economic zones (SEZs) developed in 1986 in unregulated
manner attracting recognized polluters: sponge, glue, food
processing, tanning, dyeing, plastic moulding
III. Responses
A. governmental laws, regulations, policies, training, involvement
in international conferences, creating enforcement agencies
scientific associations, new journals
1.all since 1979 unmatched in any other Asian or developing
nations
2.and China keeps tightening the rules: most recent (10-1-97)
amended criminal laws includes special articles on
punishing (with years of imprisonment and fines) those work
units and people who import waste for dumping, storage or
disposal; dumping toxic wastes is targeted; personnel in
EPA departments who via dereliction of duty allow serious
pollution to occur face fines
B. eco-farming since 1982
1.1200 villages have established eco-farming units; there are
at least 138 such units at township and district level; 50
counties designated eco-farming units.
2.United Nations has recognized four villages in China (1987,
1988, 1990, 1991) and 16 other units, for achievements in
eco-farming
a.eco-farming units focus on agricultural production,
but include guidelines and plans for rural
industrialization under sound ecological
considerations (sustainable development models?)
C. stricter laws in special economic zones
1."harmonious development" campaign stressign efficiency by
recycling and pollution abatement programs, as well as:
a.limiting types of firms allowed into China
b.requirements for self-cleaning technologies and
appropriate siting
c.crackdowns on violators (e.g. make the manager not
the enterprise responsible for fines)
d.push environmental inspection teams into every
corner of China
e.use the five and ten year plans to focus on
environmental concerns (control, protection, or
focused targets, e.g. firms using material
threatening to ozone layer.)
D. spontaneous popular responses to local environmental problems
E. scientific community raises concern for deteriorating
environmental situation
F. environmental education programs
1.environmental consciousness is lacking in China
2.government sending technicians into rural China to spread
modern farming and make rural industry ready for world
economic competition
3.launch of television series on China's laws and predicament
"A journey into the next century for environmental
protection" examines 20 provinces to expose polluters and
praise those protecting the environment
G. outside financial and technical assistance,
1.UN/World Bank/Agenda 21 which is China's response to the
Rio summit on the environment
a.underscores China's hopes for high speed
b.development along with efficient production of the
environment and natural resources. 62 projects
listed for priority implementation and Beijing
promising to fund 60% of the costs with balance
coming from foreign sources. projects include:
environmental education, sustainable agricultural
policies; cleaner industrial pollution,
conservation, water pollution treatment, hazardous
waste disposal
H. deregulating natural resources prices
1.re-think price controls on water, coal, timber
I. redefine ownership of land and factory
1.promoting enterprise ownership by shareholding among
workers might clarify who owns the factory, and thus who is
responsible for pollution
2.promoting landownership (at present long term
lease/contracts are the rule) might clarify what is the
public domain or what is public good and what is private
good
3.both ideas would change China's view of responsibility
J. Use of national standard as a measure for status of Chinese
economy
1.presently most countries use standard accounting, which
charts growth
2.national standards incorporates long term, if not
permanent, loss of environmental wealth (including: costs
of commuting, car accidents, urbanization, water, air and
noise pollution, loss of farmlands and wetlands, depletion
of non-renewable resources as well as estimating long-term
environmental damages)
IV. Realities
A. lack of enforcement of legal provisions
B. reliance on local and provincial governments for revenue
generated by TVEs (a primary pollution source in rural areas), thus
reluctance to regulate check or police
C. poor training and understaffing of environmental agencies
D. lack of environmental conciousness on part of managers and the
public at large
E. overall strategy behind the emphasis on TVEs
F. insufficient investment on the part of the state, provincial and
local governments in environmental control
G. constant populaiton pressure - may make a mockery of all efforts
1.14-15 million new Chinese every year
a.equivalent to one Australia every year
2.rising middle class in China 100 million now
3.of China's total population of 1.2 billion 750 million
(63%) under the age of 35 suggests potential of an economic
juggernaut in the 21