Report
On the State of the Environment In China
2 0 0 2
Environmental Management
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Investigation and Evaluation on Ecological Retirement of Sloping Arable Lands in Western Regions
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Improvement Water Supply and Sanitary Facilities in Rural Areas
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Organic Food, Green Food and Pollution-free Agricultural Products
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The Closure of Mountains and Prohibition of Grazing in Certain Regions
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Investigation of the State of Eco-environment in Middle-Eastern Regions
In 2002, a total of 11 extremely serious or serious pollution
accidents occurred across the country, leading to 12 people died and almost
3000 people poisoned and hospitalized. The direct economic losses reached
several million Chinese Yuan, and resulted in a certain harm to the environment
and the society. Environmental
Policies and Legislation On October 29, 2002, the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress promulgated the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment
and the Law on Promotion of Cleaner Production. The State Council promulgated
the Ordinance on Management of Collection and Use of Pollutant Discharge
Fees. In 2002, the Chinese delegations attended important international
meetings, including the World Summit on Sustainable Development; the 6th
COP on Biodiversity Convention, the 6th COP on Basel Convention; the Environment
Minister’s Meeting of ASEAN, the Tri-partite Environmental Minister's Meeting
among China, Japan and South Korea; the 6th INC on Stockholm Convention;
and the 2nd Review Meeting on Nuclear Safety Convention. China successfully
hosted the Asia-Europe Environment Minister's Meeting, the 2nd Assembly
of GEF, the 1st Meeting of the 3rd Phase CCICED, the 11th Meeting on Environmental
Cooperation in Northeast Asia, and other international meetings. China
and UNEP jointly organized the international commemorative activities
for the World Environment Day.
Mr. Xie Zhenhua, the Minister of SEPA, was honorably
awarded The Ministry of Land Resources organized 12 western provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities to conduct an investigation and
evaluation on the ecological retirement of sloping arable land in western
regions. The result showed that there were 4.27 million hectares of arable
land with a slope above 25°, accounting for 8.8% of the total arable land
area in the west regions. There were also 9.08 million hectares of arable
land with a slope between 15 and 25 degrees. The total area of the above
two types of sloping arable land were 13.36 million hectares, about 27.6%
of the total arable land in the western regions. In 2002, there were 237,225 new construction projects
in the nation. Among these, 233,080 projects were conducted environmental
impact assessment, a ratio of 98% of the total projects. The investment
on environmental protection for these construction projects totaled 200.49
billion Chinese Yuan, accounting for 0.6% of the total project investment
in the same period. SEPA reviewed a total of 360 construction projects,
including 245 industrial projects and 115 ecological construction projects.
In 2002, in accordance with the criteria for national
environmental protection model cities, SEPA examined and awarded the title
of environmental model city to 6 cities including Rushan and Jiaozhou
in Shangdong province, Shaoxing in Zhejiang province, Haimen and Yangzhou
in Jiangsu province, and Changchun in Jilin province. As of the end of
2002, the total number of national environmental protection model cities
reached 30, and the number of urban district awarded the title was 2.
Weihai City in Shangdong province and all of its affiliated cities including
Rongcheng, Wendeng and Rushan were awarded the title of national environmental
protection model cities, therefore, forming the first cluster of national
environmental protection model cities in China. In 2002,the population with access to tap water was increased
by 23.08 million. 6.56 million sanitary privies were newly constructed.
The diffusion rates of running water supply and sanitary toilets was increased
by 1.5% and 2.6% respectively, which was helpful to the prevention and
control of water-borne transmitted diseases and intestinal infectious
diseases. In the past years, the prevention and control of endemic
diseases achieved great success, as the Party and the governments at different
levels attached great importance to the issue. The phased target for elimination
of diseases caused by low iodine was basically achieved across the country.
Remarkable progress was also made in the prevention and control of endemic
diseases caused by fluorine and arsenic. About 80% of the regions having
Kashin Back disease and Keshan disease reached the national control standards,
and the seriousness of the illness delined steadily. Significant achievement
was also made in the prevention and control of schistosomiasis. Five provinces,
autonomous regions and municipality including Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian,
Shanghai and Zhejiang eliminated the schistosomiasis. 74% of the counties
(towns and districts) having schistosomiasis reached the standards for
interdiction and control of its spreading. 310 million yuan from the central budget and infrastructure
construction fund was invested in biological and well-off community projects,
such as the development of bio-gas, solar energy, improvement of fire-woods
and coal efficiency, and etc. in 1877 villages of 428 counties in China,
which benefited over 400,000 rural families. By the end of 2002, application
had been widely promoted in the following areas: household biomass pools
built for 11.09 million rural families, 1301 large- and medium-scaled
biomass projects in stock-farms, 115,000 biomass pools constructed for
domestic sewage purification, 180 million families benefited from improved
fire-woods and coal combustion facilities, 16.21 million m2 of solar energy
water heater, 11.94 million m2 of solar house, and 480,000 sets of solar
cookers. To promote sound and orderly development of the management
of organic food in China, in 2002, the Organic Food Approval Committee
certified 8 organic food certification institutions and held training
workshop for state registration inspectors of organic food two times.
In 2002, SEPA formally approved Panjin city of Liaoning
province to be the first national organic food production demonstration
base. The establishment of the demonstration base indicated a step forward
for China in the aspect of construction and development of organic food
bases. According to the statistics of SEPA Organic Food Development Center,
1.5 million mu of land was certified in 2002, among which 300 thousand
mu had been converted to organic land. This created the opportunity to
speed up the development of organic food in China.
Ministry of Agriculture stipulated a series of documents
to promote and guarantee the development of green food and pollution free
agricultural products, such as Comments on Speeding up the Development
of Organic Food, Management Measures on Pollution Free Agricultural Products
and etc. The use of 18 types of pesticide, 29 types of beast drugs and
39 types of fish drugs were banned. The use of 19 types of pesticide,
8 types of beast drugs and 5 types of fish drugs were restricted. 122
sector standards for pollution free food and 4 standards for organic tea
were promulgated. In 2002, 18 environmental standards were revised and
promulgated, including 12 national standards such as “Water Quality Standard
for Surface Water” and etc., and 6 sector standards, such as “Technical
Specifications for Monitoring of Surface Water and Wastewater” and etc.
5 technical specifications for certification of products with environmental
label were promulgated. In 2002, the total investment on pollution treatment
in the country was 136.34 billion Yuan, an increase of 23.2% compared
with that in the previous year. Among that, the investment on construction
of urban environmental infrastructure was 78.53 billion Yuan, an increase
of 31.8% compared with that in the previous year. The investment for treatment
of industrial pollution sources was 18.84 billion Yuan. The investment
on “three simutaneousness” for newly constructed projects was 38.97 billion
Yuan, an increase of 15.8% compared with that in the previous year. The
investment on pollution treatment in 2002 accounted for 1.33% of the GDP.
By the end of 2002, there were 660 cities in the country
with the total population of 353.4378 million. Among that, 220.6002 million
were people not engaged in agriculture. The area of the cities was 464.772
thousand square kilometers with 25.97255 thousand square kilometers of
constructed area. The density of the population in cities reached to 760
people per square kilometer.
At the end 2002, the green area in constructed
districts of the cities was 772.749 thousand hectares, an increase of
13.3% compared with that last year. The green coverage rate increased
from 28.4% last year to 29.8%. The public green areas in cities of China
reached to 188.536 thousand hectares, an increase of 25.513 thousand hectares
compared with that in the previous year. The public green area per capita
in cities was 5.33 square meters, an increase of 0.77 square meters compared
with that of the previous year.
The newly increased production capacity or efficiencies
were as the following: 8.18 million cubic meter of daily comprehensive
production capacity for water supply, 4.03 million cubic meters of daily
production capacity for coal gas, 2.8 million cubic meters of storage
capacity for natural gas, 6859 kilometers of urban road, 7.07 million
cubic meters of daily treatment capacity for urban sewage, 14.388 thousand
tons of daily treatment capacity for municipal garbage.
In 2002, the total volume of water supply in cities reached
to 46.6 billion cubic meters, the same as that in the previous year. The
volume of water consumption for production operation was 2.09 billion
cubic meters, accounting for 44.8% of the total volume of water supply,
a decrease of 1.2 billion cubic meters compared with that in the previous
year. The volume of water consumption for public service in the year was
6.2 billion cubic meters, accounting for 13.4% of the volume of water
supply. The volume of water consumption for households was 15 billion
cubic meters, accounting for 32.2% of the volume of water supply compared
with 31.1% in 2001. The urban population consuming water was 273.3591
million. The popularization rate of urban water consumption was 77.3%,
an increase of 5.08 percent compared with that in the previous year. The
daily domestic water consumption per capita was 213 liters, a decrease
of 3 liters compared with that in the previous year. In 2002, the volume
of water saved in cities was 3.7 billion cubic meters. The volume of recycled
industrial water reached to 46.1 billion cubic meters.
In 2002, the total volume of coal gas supplied reached
to 19.9 billion cubic meters, an increase of 6.2 billion cubic meters
compared with that in the previous year. The total volume of natural gas
supplied was 12.6 billion cubic meters, an increase of 2.6 billion cubic
meters compared with that in the previous year. The total volume of LPG
supplied was 11.36 million tons, an increase of 1.54 million tons compared
with that in the previous year. The number of people consuming gas in
cities was 236.541 million. The popularization rate reached to 66.9%, an
increase of 6.5% compared with that in the previous year.
At the end of 2002, the capacity of heat supply by steam
was 83.346 tons per hour. The capacity of heat supply by hot water was
148.498 thousand MW. The area of central heating reached to 1.53767 billion
square meters, an increase of 5.1% compared with that in the previous
year. In 2002, the State Meteorological Center, Satellite Meteorological
Center and related provincial (regional) Meteorological Bureaus started
to develop and promote meteorological monitoring and early-warning technology
for prevention of forest fire. The meteorological departments located
in major forest regions set up meteorological service system for prevention
of forest fire and provided meteorological services to forestry departments
and armed police forest command center. The decision was made to ban grazing in the whole province
or region by Shaanxi, Ningxia and Hebei provinces and region. The area
of grassland fenced, suspended for grazing, rotated for grazing and banned
for grazing reached to 156 million mu, accounting for 16.35% of the area
of usable grassland. Shanxi provincial government issued the Decision
on the Implementation of Mountain Closure and Grazing Ban to Treat Soil
Erosion Areas to conduct overall closure of mountains and prohibition
of grazing in key treatment areas. Qinghai provincial government issued
the decision of “ three closures and two prohibitions”. Due to frequent human activities and long history of
development and utilization of resources, the ecological problems in middle-eastern
regions was rather serious under the influence of natural and human factors.
The ecological problems at early stage has been turned round. New ecological
problems emerged rapidly. The artificial eco-environment has been improved,
however, the degradation of original eco-environment is accelerated. The
singly type ecological problems have been controlled to certain extent,
but systematic ecological problems is getting more and more serious. Simple
ecological problems have been solved, nevertheless, sophisticated ecological
problems become outstanding. Overall speaking, the degradation of ecology
has been alleviated to certain extent, but the essence of the ecological
degradation has not been changed. The trend of ecological deterioration
is exacerbated. The ecological disaster is severe and the ecological problems
are more and more complicated. The state of eco-environment is not optimistic.
Environmental
Pollution and Damage Accidents
There were 8 cases of poisoning gas leakage (2 cases of chlorine gas leakage,
2 cases of H2S leakage, 1 case of burning of bromide, naphthalene,
P2O5
and yellow phosphorus each), and 3 accidents of water pollution. Among
these, 9 cases were resulted from improper safety management in the enterprises,
while the other 2 cases were caused by traffic accidents. 
SEPA formulated the Regulation on Classified Management of Environmental
Protection for Construction Projects and the Regulation on Review and
Approval of Environmental Protection Documents for Construction Projects.
SEPA also promulgated the Technologies and Policies for Prevention and
Control of Pollution Caused by Sulfur Dioxide Emission from Coal Combustion.
The study on environmental protection strategies for the new century was
conducted. The Report on Strategy of National Environmental Safety was
completed.
SEPA seriously investigated and dealt with a series of significant cases
of environmental law violation, and handled two cases for environmental
administrative reconsideration.
International
Environmental Cooperation and Exchanges
Progress was achieved in bilateral cooperation with Japan, Canada, Norway,
France, the United States and Netherlands. Several cooperative projects
using foreign funds and under non-governmental cooperation were developed;
the environmental cooperation agreements or MOUs were signed with Morocco,
Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Slovakia and Sweden. The environmental
dialogues with EU and ASEAN were conducted. China actively participated
in regional cooperation including the network for monitoring acid deposition
in East Asia, the Action Plan on Northwest Pacific Ocean, and UNEP/GEF
Project for Reversing the Deterioration of Environment in South China
Sea and Thailand Bay. China was also involved in the negotiation on trade
and environment in the new round of WTO negotiation. The cooperation with
international organizations and multilateral financial agencies like UNEP,
the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and GEF was further strengthened.
the Global Environment Leadership Award for 2002 by the Global Environment
Facility.
Investigation
and Evaluation on Ecological Retirement of Sloping Arable Lands in Western
Regions
Among these, 3.87 million hectares with a slope above 25 degrees and 2.1
million hectares with a slope between 15 and 25 degrees were not suitable
for cultivation. A total of 5.96 million hectares of sloping arable land
should be retired gradually.
Environmental
Management of Construction Projects
In 2002, SEPA implemented environmental supervision for the first time
on 13 national key projects including the construction of Qinghai-Tibet
railway, West-to-east gas transmission, Yuhuai railway and Gongbo Valley
hydra-power plant.
In 2002, 100,298 projects were completed and commissioned in China, including
53,287 projects which were required to implement the "three
simultaneousness" policy.
A total of 51,196 projects passed the review on the "three
simultaneousness",
accounting for 96.1%. Among these, SEPA checked and accepted 120 projects
in the year. The capacity of wastewater treatment increased by 490,000
tons per day, and the capacity of waste gas treatment increased by 469.9
billion cubic meters per hour, resulting in COD reduction of 35,900 tons
per year and the industrial dust reduction of 6,202 tons per year.
In 2002, SEPA conducted for the first time a selection of "Top 100
Good Construction Projects" regarding their environmental protection efforts.
A total of 111 qualified projects nationwide participated in the selection.
Creation
of National Environmental Protection Model Cities
Improvement
Water Supply and Sanitary Facilities in Rural Areas
According to the most recent statistics, 91.7% of 947 million rural people
in China benefited from the improved water supply. 646 thousand waterworks
or tank stations have been established in rural areas, most of which are
small sized waterworks/ tank stations equipped with daily water supply
capacity of less than 1000 tons and supplying drinking water to 536.52
million rural people, or 56.6% of the total rural population. There are
66.15 million sets of manually operated motor-pumped wells, providing
drinking water to 209.17 million rural people, or 22.1% of the total rural
population. 1.56 million rainwater collecting cellars were constructed
in 20 provinces and autonomous regions, storing drinking water for 11.88
million people, or 1.3% of the rural population. The drinking water supply
for 110.73 million people has been primarily improved by other means of
water supply renovation. Nevertheless, the water quality supplied by other
means in most cases could not meet the hygienic standard for drinking
water.
48.7% of 247.88 million rural families have built varied forms of sanitary
toilets. In addition, 9.84 million families are using newly constructed
public toilets in line with hygienic standard. The rate for sound management
of excrement in rural areas reached 52.6%.
Prevention
and Control of Endemic Diseases
Development
of Renewable Energy in Rural Areas
Organic
Food, Green Food and Pollution-free Agricultural Products
Environmental
Standards, Norms and Technical Specifications
Investment
for National Environmental Pollution Treatment
Construction
of Urban Infrastructure Facilities
Forecast
of the Grade of Forest Fires
The
Closure of Mountains and Prohibition of Grazing in Certain Regions
Investigation
of the State of Eco-environment in Middle-Eastern Regions
The concrete reflections are as the following:
1) the area of arable land decreases year by year with few occupation
of arable land per capita. The use of the land is unsteady and the quality
keeps decreasing. Soil pollution is rather serious in certain areas.
2) Soil erosion was preliminarily controlled and the erosion area decreased.
However, there were big regional differences of soil erosion. The soil
erosion in certain areas kept aggravating. The treatment task was tedious.
3) The coverage rate of forest increased continuously with the expansion
of the forest area. However, the eco-system of forest faced the situation
of quantitative increase and qualitative decrease with single forest age,
single types of trees and simple structure of forest. The essential problems
of forest, such as poor quality, serious diseases and pests, and the degradation
of eco-functions, were not changed.
4) The development and utilization of water resources was intensified
with low utilization rate. The water shortage caused by the lack of water
resources, by poor water quality and by consumption of water for engineering
coexisted. The drain of rivers and subsidence of earth not only occurred
in northern regions lacking of water resources, but also occurred in southern
regions with comparatively rich water resources.
5) Lakes shrank, beaches disappeared, and natural wetland drained. The
water retaining and adjustment capacity decreased. Flood and drought occurred
frequently. The water ecology was seriously unbalanced.
6) The change of the living environment of animals and plants, the crack
of the habitats and the invasion of alien species caused the danger of
many wild species and the loss of genetic resources.
7) The eco-environment of cities and towns were more and more artificial.
The self-adjustment capacity of ecosystem was low and its functions were
weak. Various urban ecological problems, such as air pollution, noise,
water pollution, garbage and hot island effects, became outstanding.
8) The agricultural non-point source pollution and non-industrial point
source pollution caused by irrational use of pesticide, fertilizer and
membrane and intensive livestock production were serious. The problem
of food safety caused by irrational use of chemicals became increasingly
outstanding.
9) The area of deteriorated land and the land occupied by exploitation
of mines kept increasing, making serious “ three wastes” pollution and
causing severe secondary geological disaster.
10) The natural transitional belt between ocean and land was serious damaged.
The erosion of seacoast was obvious. The area of beaches sharply shrank.
The water quality of coastal areas decreased. The frequency of the occurrence
of red tides increased.