Appendix: Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators" />
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Appendix: Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators

I. Freshwater Environment
Total Water Resources refers to total volume of water resources measured as run-off for surface water from rainfall and recharge for groundwater in a given area, excluding transit water.
Surface Water Resources refers to total renewable resources which exist in rivers, lakes, glaciers and other collectors from rainfall and are measured as run-off of rivers.
Groundwater Resources refers to replenishment of aquifers with rainfall and surface water.
Duplicated Measurement of Surface Water and Groundwater refers to mutual exchange between surface water and groundwater, i.e. run-off of rivers includes some depletion with groundwater while groundwater includes some replenishment with surface water.
Water Supply refers to gross water supply by supply systems from sources to consumers, including losses during distribution.
Surface Water Supply refers to withdrawals by surface water supply system, broken down with storage, flow, pumping and transfer. Supply from storage projects includes withdrawals from reservoirs; supply from flow includes withdrawals from rivers and lakes with natural flows no matter if there are locks or not; supply from pumping projects includes withdrawals from rivers or lakes with pumping stations; and supply from transfer refers to water supplies transferred from first-level regions of water resources or independent river drainage areas to others, and should not be covered under supplies of storage, flow and pumping.
Groundwater Supply refers to withdrawals from supplying wells, broken down with shallow layer freshwater, deep layer freshwater and slightly brackish water. Groundwater supply for urban areas includes water mining by both waterworks and own wells of enterprises.
Other Water Supply includes supplies by waste-water treatment, rain collection, seawater desalinization and other water projects.
Water Use refers to gross water use distributed to users, including loss during transportation, broken down with use by agriculture, industry, living consumption and biological protection.
Water Use by Agriculture includes uses of water by irrigation of farming fields and by forestry, animal husbandry and fishing. Water use by forestry, animal husbandry and fishing includes irrigation of forestry and orchards, irrigation of grassland and replenishment of fishing pools.
Water Use by Industry refers to new withdrawals of water, excluding reuse of water within enterprises.
Water Use by Households and Service includes use of water for living consumption in both urban and rural areas. Urban water use by living consumption is composed of household use and public use (including services, commerce, restaurants, cargo transportation, posts, telecommunication and construction). Rural water use by living consumption includes both households and animals.
Water Use by Biological Protection includes replenishment of rivers and lakes and use for urban environment.
Waste Water Discharged by Industry refers to the volume of waste water discharged by industrial enterprises through all their outlets, including waste water from production process, directly cooled water, groundwater from mining wells which does not meet discharge standards and sewage from households mixed with waste water produced by industrial activities, but excluding indirectly cooled water discharged (It should be included if the discharge is not separated with waste water).
Waste Water Directly Discharged into Sea refers to the volume of waste water directly discharged into sea through outlets of enterprises situated by sea without going through municipal sewerage networks or any other intermediates or being affected by any other water bodies.
Industrial Waste Water Meeting Discharge Standards refers to volume of industrial waste water discharge which, with or without treatment, reaches national or local standards.
Ratio of Industrial Waste Water Meeting Discharge Standards refers to percentage of industrial waste water meeting discharge standards over total industrial waste water discharge. It is calculated as:
Ratio of Industrial Waste Water Meeting Discharge Standards = Industrial Waste Water Meeting Discharge Standards/Total Industrial Waste Water Discharge×100%
Water treatment component as an integral part of the facility is not counted separately. Scrapped equipment is not included.
Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) refers to index of water pollution measuring the mass concentration of oxygen consumed by the chemical breakdown of organic and inorganic matter.

II. Marine Environment
Clean Area refers to marine area meeting the national quality standards for Grade I marine water, suitable for marine fishing, marine nature preserves and protection area for rare or endangered marine organisms. 
Relatively Clean Area refers to marine area meeting the national quality standards for Grade II marine water, suitable for marine cultivation, bathing, marine sport or recreation activities involving direct human touch of marine water, and for sources of industrial use of water related to human consumption.
Lightly Polluted Area refers to marine area meeting the national quality standards for Grade III marine water, suitable for water sources of general industrial use.
Moderately Polluted Area refers to marine area meeting the national quality standards for Grade IV marine water, only suitable for harbors and ocean development activities.
Heavily Polluted Area refers to marine area where the quality of water is worse than the national quality standards for Grade IV marine water.
Chief Pollutants refer to pollutants that surpass the standards by the largest margin for the entire marine areas or the average level of marine areas under survey.

III. Atmospheric Environment
Average Temperature Temperature refers to the air temperature, generally expressed in centigrade in China. Thermometers used for meteorological observation are placed in sun-blinded boxes 1.5 meters above the ground with good ventilation. Therefore, temperatures cited in general are the temperatures in sun-blinded boxes 1.5 meters above the ground. The monthly average temperature is obtained by the sum of daily temperatures of the month, then divided by the number of days in the months, and the sum of the monthly average temperatures of the 12 months in the year divided by 12 represents the annual average temperature.
Annual Average Relative Humidity Humidity is the ratio between the actual hydrosphere pressure in the air and the saturated hydrosphere pressure at the present temperature, usually expressed in percentage terms. The average humidity is calculated in the same way as the average temperature.
Annual Sunshine Hours Sunshine refer to the duration when the sunshine falls on earth, usually expressed in hours. It is calculated with the same approach as the calculation of precipitation.
Annual Precipitation Precipitation refers to the volume of water, in liquid or solid (then melted) form, falling from the sky onto earth, without being evaporated, leaked or eroded, express normally in millimeters. The monthly precipitation is obtained by the sum of daily precipitation of the month, and the annual precipitation is the sum of monthly precipitation of the 12 months of the year.
Industrial Waste Air Emission refers to discharge into atmosphere of waste air containing pollutants generated from fuel burning and production process in enterprises within a given period of time. It is converted into standard (273K, 101325Pa) with the following formula: Emission =Waste Air Emission from Fuel Burning +Waste Air Emission from Production Process
SO2 Emission by Consumption and Others is calculated on the basis of consumption of coal by households and others and the sulphur content of coal with the following formula:
Emission=Consumption of Coal by Households and Others × Sulphur Content of Coal × 0.8×2
Industrial SO2 Emission refers to volume of sulphur dioxide emission from fuel burning and production process in premises of enterprises for a given period of time. Its calculation formula is:
Emission=SO2 Emission from Fuel Burning +SO2 Emission from Production Process
Industrial Soot Emission refers to volume of soot in smoke emitted in process of fuel burning in premises of enterprises.
Soot Emission by Consumption and Others refers to net volume of soot emitted by fuel burning from all social and economic activities and operation of public facilities other than industrial activities. It is calculated on the basis of coal consumption by households and others.
Industrial Dust Emission refers to volume of dust that suspend in the air for sometime, emitted by production process of enterprises during a given period of time, including dust from refractory material of iron and steel works, dust from coke-screening systems and sintering machines of coke plants, dust from lime kilns and dust from cement production in building material enterprises, but excluding soot and dust emitted from power plants. The volume of emitted industrial dust can be calculated by the capacity of dust-removing systems and the dust density at the exit of dust-removing systems, using the following formula:
Emission= Dust Density at Exit of Dust-removing Systems × Ventilation Capacity of Dust-removing Systems × Operating Hours of Dust-removing Systems

IV. Solid Waste
Industrial Solid Wastes Produced refers to total volume of solid, semi-solid and high concentration liquid residues produced by industrial enterprises from production process in a given period of time, including hazardous wastes, slag, coal ash, gangue, tailings, radioactive residues and other wastes, but excluding stones stripped or dug out in mining (gangue and acid or alkaline stones not included). A stone is acid or alkaline if the pH value of the water is below 4 or above 10.5, when the stone is in, or soaked by, the water.
Hazardous Wastes refers to those included in the national hazardous wastes catalogue or specified as any one of the following properties in the national hazardous wastes identification standards: explosive, ignitable, oxidizable, toxic, corrosive or liable to cause infectious diseases or lead to other dangers.
Industrial Solid Wastes Utilized refers to volume of solid wastes from which useful materials can be extracted or which can be converted into usable resources, energy or other materials by means of reclamation, processing, recycling and exchange (including utilizing in the year the stocks of industrial solid wastes of the previous year). Examples of such utilizations include fertilizers, building materials and road materials. The information shall be collected by the producing units of the wastes.
Ratio of Industrial Solid Wastes Utilized refers to the percentage of industrial solid wastes utilized over industrial solid wastes produced (including stocks of the previous year). Its calculation formula is:
Ratio=Industrial Solid Wastes Utilized / (Industrial Solid Waste Produced + Stocks of Previous Year Utilized)×100%
Stocks of Industrial Solid Wastes refers to volume of solid wastes placed in special facilities or special sites for purposes of utilization or disposal. The sites or facilities should take measures against dispersion, loss, seepage, and air and water contamination.
Industrial Solid Wastes Disposed refers to quantity of industrial solid wastes which are burnt or placed ultimately in the sites meeting the requirements for environmental protection and not salvaged or recycled (including disposition in the year of those wastes of previous years). The disposition includes landfill (Safe landfills should be conducted for hazardous wastes), incineration, containment spaces, deep underground disposal, backfill in mining pits and disposal at sea.
Industrial Solid Wastes Discharged refers to volume of industrial solid wastes discharged by producing enterprises to disposal facilities or to other sites. The wastes exclude stones stripped or dug from mining (gangue and acid or alkaline waste stones not included).
Output Value of Products Made from Waste Gas, Waste Water and Solid Wastes refers current value of products with waste gas, waste water and solid wastes as main materials of production. Products sold and ready to sell shall be included while those produced for own use shall not be included.

V. Ecological Environment
Area under Land Survey refers to the total area of land, under the land survey, including land for agriculture use, land for construction and unused land.
Forest Area  refers to the area of forest where trees and bamboo grow with canopy density above 0.2, including land of natural woods and planted woods, but excluding bush land and thin forest land. It reflects the total areas of afforestation.
Area of Man-made Forests refer to the area of stable growing forests, planted manually or by airplanes, with a survival rate of 80% or higher of the designed number of trees per hectare, or with a canopy density of or above 0.20 after 3-5 years of manual planting or 5-7 years of airplane planting.
Forest Coverage Rate refers to the ratio of area of afforested land to total land area. Forest area includes the area of trees and bamboo grow with canopy density above 0.2, the area of shrubby tree according to regulations of the government, the area of forest land inside farm land and the area of trees planted by the side of villages, farm houses and along roads and rivers. It is a very important indicator that reflects the status of abundance of forest resource and ecosystem balance. The formula for calculating forest coverage rate is as follows:
Forestry Coverage Rate (%)= (Area of Afforested Land/Area of Total Land) ×100% + Area of Shrubby Tree/ Area of Total Land ×100% + Area of Forest Land inside Farm land /Area of Total Land ×100% +Area of Trees Planted by the Side of Villages, Farm Houses and Along Roads and Rivers /Area of Total Land×100%
Total Standing Stock Volume    refers to the total stock volume of trees growing in land, including trees in forest, tress in sparse forest, scattered trees and trees planted by the side of villages, farm houses and along roads and rivers.
Stock Volume of Forest refers to total stock volume of wood growing in forest area, which shows the total size and level of forest resources of a country or a region.It is also an important indicator illustrating the richness of forest resource and the status of forest ecological environment.
Total Area of Afforestation   refers to the total area of land suitable for afforestation, including barren hills, idle land, sand dunes, "grain for green" land, on which acres of arbores or bushes are planted through manual planting, airplane planting, plant seedlings, etc. in accordance with the required density standards of the Technical Procedures of Afforestation, and with a survival rate of over 85% in line with the Implementing Rules of the Forest Law of the People’s Republic of China (or a survival rate of 75% in areas with less that 400 mm of annual rainfall and without irrigation facilities). Included in the this category are trees planted alone the roadsides, riversides, or next to houses that occupy an area over 0.066 hectares, or where more than 4 lines of trees are planted. Total area of afforestation is further classified by ownership (state-owned, state-collective, collective or private), by approach of planting (manual, airplane), and by type of forests (timber, by-products, protection, fuel, special use, etc.).
Timber Forests refer to forests which are mainly for the production of timber, including bamboo groves planted to harvest bamboos.
By-product Forests refer to forests that mainly produce fruits, nuts, edible oil, beverages, indigents, raw materials and medicine materials. By-product forests are planted to harvest the fruits, leaves, bark or liquid of trees, and consume them as food or raw materials for the manufacturing industry, such as tea-oil trees, tung oil trees, walnut trees, camphor trees, tea bushes, mulberry trees, fruit trees, etc.
Protection Forests   refer to forests, trees and bushes planted mainly for protection or preservation purpose, including water resource conservation forests, water and soil conservation forests, windbreak and dune-fixing forests, farmland and pasture protection forests, riverside protection forests, roadside protection forests, etc.
Fuel Forests refer to forests planted mainly for fuels.
Forests for Special Purpose   refer to forests planted mainly for national defence, environment protection or scientific experiments, including national defence forests, experimental forests, mother-tree forests, environment protection forests, scenery forests, trees in historical or scenic spots, forests in natural reserves.
Project on Preservation of Natural Forests  is the Number One ecological project in China’s forest industry that involves the largest investment. It consists of 3 components: 1) Complete halt of all cutting and logging activities in the natural forests at the upper stream of Yangtze River and the upper and middle streams of the Yellow River. 2) Significant reduction of timber production of key state forest zones in northeast provinces and in Inner Mongolia. 3) Better protection of natural forests in other regions through rehabilitation programs.
Projects on Converting Cultivated Land to Forests and Grassland (Grain for Green Projects)   aiming at preventing soil erosion in key regions, these projects are ecological construction projects in the development of forest industry that have the widest coverage and most sophisticated procedures, with strong policy implications and most active participation of the people.
Projects on Protection Forests in North China and Yangtze River Basin   covering the widest areas in China with a rich variety of contents, these projects aim at solving the problem of sand and dust in northeastern China, northern China and northwestern China and the ecological issues in other areas. More specifically, they include phase IV of project on North China protection forests, phase II of project on protection forests at the middle and lower streams of Yangtze River and at the Huihe River and Taihu Lake valley, phase II of project on coastal protection forests, phase II of project on Pearl River protection forests, phase II project on greenery of Taihang Mountain and phase II projects on greenery of plains.
Projects on Harnessing Source of Sand and Dust in Beijing and Tianjin these Beijing-ring projects aim at harnessing the sand and dust weather around Beijing and its vicinities. As the key to the development of Beijing-Tianjin ecological zone, these projects are of particular importance as it concerns the image of China’s capital city and the whole country.
Projects on Preserving Wild Animals and Plants and on Construction of Nature Reserves  aiming at gene preservation and protection of bio-diversity, nature and wetlands, these projects look into the future with strategic perspective and are integrated with international trends.
Projects on Fast-growing Timber Forests Bases in Key Regions these are key projects for the forest industry to strengthen its capacity in supplying more timber and forest by-products.
Nature Reserves   refer to certain areas of land, waters or sea that are representative in natural ecological systems, or are natural habitats for rare or endangered wild animals or plants, or water conservation zones, or the location of important natural or historic relics, which are demarked by law and put under special protection and management. Nature reserves are designated by the formal approval of governments at and above county level (including those approved by relevant departments or "revolutionary committees" before 1980). Scenic spots and cultural preservation zones are not included.
Ecological Demonstration Zones   refer to administrative areas approved by the environment protection agencies of central and provincial governments and established by provincial, prefecture or county governments in line with the approved program for ecological demonstration zones. They include those evaluated and accepted by the environment protection agencies of central and provincial governments and those under pilot development stage.
Wetlands   refer to marshland and peat bog, whether natural or man-made, permanent or temporary; water covered areas, whether stagnant or flowing, with fresh or semi-fresh or salty water that is less than 6 meters deep at low tide; as well as coral beach, weed beach, mud beach, mangrove, river outlet, rivers, fresh-water marshland, marshland forests, lakes, salty bog and salt lakes along the coastal areas.

VI. Natural Disasters
Landslides   refer to the geological phenomenon of unstable rocks and earth on slopes sliding down along certain soft surface as a result of gravitational force. Role of surface water and underground water, and destruction of the stability of slopes by irrational construction work are usually main factors triggering the landslides. Several damages are often caused by landslides in open mining, in water conservancy projects, and in the construction of railways and highways.
Collapse   refers to the geological phenomenon of large mass of rocks or earth suddenly collapsing from the mountain or cliff as a result of gravitational force. Usually caused by weathering of rocks, penetration of rain or earthquakes, collapse often destructs buildings and blocks river course or transport routes.
Mud-rock Flow refers to the sudden rush of flood torrents containing large amount of mud and rocks in mountainous areas. It is found mostly in semi-arid hills or plateaus. High and precipitous topographic features, loose soil mass, heavy rains or melting water contribute to the mud-rock flow.
Land Subside   refers to the geological phenomenon of surface rocks or earth subsiding into holes or pits as a result of natural or human factors. Land subside can be classified as karst subside and non-karst subside.
Environment Pollution and Destruction Accidents   refer to sudden accidents, due to economic or social activities that are in contrast to environment protection laws or due to unforeseen factors or natural disasters, that lead to the environment pollution, the destruction of protected wild animals, plants or nature reserves, the damage to human health, the economic and property losses, and the negative impact on the society.

VII. Investment in the Treatment of Environment Pollution
Investment in the Treatment of Environment Pollution  refers to the proportion of investment in fixed assets in the total investment in harnessing industrial pollution and in the construction of urban environment infrastructure facilities. It includes investment in harnessing sources of industrial pollution, investment in environment protection facilities designed concurrently with construction projects, and investment in urban environment infrastructure facilities.
Investment in Fixed Assets for Afforestation   refers to the investment in capital construction and updating projects in afforestation during the reference period.
Unspent Capitals from Last Year refer to capitals from the last year that have not been invested in the fixed assets, including value of materials that have not been used yet, the value of equipment yet to be installed, as well as cash in hand and bank deposits.
Completed Investment during the Year   reflecting the actual size of investment completed during January 1 and December 31 of the reference year, this indicator is important in estimating investment efficiency and in making annual analysis of the performance of the national economy.

VIII. Urban Environment
Length of Paved Roads at the Year-end refers to the length of roads with paved surface including squares bridges and tunnels connected with roads by the end of the year.  Length of the roads is measured by the central lines for vehicles for paved roads with a width of 3.5 meters and over, including roads in open-ended factory compounds and residential quarters.
Urban Bridges refer to bridges built to cross over natural or man-made barriers, including bridges over rivers, overpasses for traffic and for pedestrian, underpasses for pedestrian, etc. Both permanent and semi-permanent bridges are included.
Length of Urban Sewage Pipes refers to the total length of general drainage, trunks. branch and inspection wells, connection wells, inlets and outlets, etc.
Annual Volume of Water Supply refers to the total volume of water supplied by water-works (units) during the reference period, including both the effective water supply and loss during the water supply.
Percentage of Urban Population with Access to Tap Water refers to the ratio of the urban population with access to tap water to the total urban population. The formula is:
Percentage of Population with Access to Tap Water= Urban Population with Access to Tap Water /Urban Population ×100%
Daily Disposal Capacity of Urban Sewage refers to the designed 24-hour capacity of sewage disposal by the sewage treatment works or facilities.
Consumption Wastes Transported refers to volume of consumption wastes collected and transported to disposal factories or sites. Consumption wastes are solid wastes produced from urban households or from service activities for urban households, and solid wastes  households, commercial activities, markets, cleaning of streets, public sites, offices, schools, factories, mining units and other sources.
Ratio of Consumption Wastes Treated refers to consumption wastes treated over that produced. In practical statistics, as it is difficult to estimate, the volume of consumption wastes produced is replaced with that transported. Its calculation formula is:
Ration= Consumption Wastes Treated / Consumption Wastes Produced×100%
Length of Gas Pipelines refers to the total length of pipelines in use between the outlet of the compressor of gas-work or outlet of gas stations and the leading pipe of users, excluding pipelines within gasworks, delivery stations, LPG storage stations, refilling stations, gas-mixing stations and supply stations.
Volume of Gas Supply refers to the total volume of gas provided to users by gas-producing enterprises (units) in a year, including the volume sold and the volume lost.
Percentage of Urban Population with Access to Gas refers to the ratio of the urban population with access to gas to the total urban population at the end of the reference period. The formula is:
Percentage of Population with Access to Gas = (Urban Population with Access to Gas / Urban Population) × 100%
Heating Capacity in Urban Area refers to the designed capacity of heating enterprises (units) in supplying heating energy to urban users during the reference period.
Quantity of Heat Supplied in Urban Area refers to the total quantity of heat from steam and hot water supplied to urban users by heating enterprises (units) during the reference period.
Length of Heating Pipelines refers to the total length of steam or hot water pipelines for sources of heat to the leading pipelines of the buildings of the users, excluding internal pipelines in heat generating enterprises.
Consumption Wastes Transported refers to volume of consumption wastes collected and transported to disposal factories or sites. Consumption wastes are solid wastes produced from urban households or from service activities for urban households, and solid wastes regarded by laws and regulations as urban consumption wastes, including those from households, commercial activities, markets, cleaning of streets, public sites, offices, schools, factories, mining units and other sources.
Ratio of Consumption Wastes Treated refers to consumption wastes treated over that produced. In practical statistics, as it is difficult to estimate, the volume of consumption wastes produced is replaced with that transported. Its calculation formula is:
Ration= Consumption Wastes Treated / Consumption Wastes Produced*100%
Number of Vehicles under Operation at the Year-end refers to the total number of vehicles under operation by public transport enterprises (units) at the end of the year, based on the records of operational vehicles by the enterprises (units).
Area of Urban Gardens and Green Areas refers to the total area occupied for green projects at the end of the reference period, including public green land, green land in residential quarters, green land attached to institutions, protection green land, production green land, roadside green land and forest in scenic spots. It does not include the following:
(1) Greenery and plants on roofs, balconies, indoors and vertical green areas;
(2) Forest, cultivated land, grassland, orchards and bamboo grooves that are for production purpose.
(3) Water areas that are not included in urban master plan as green land.
Public Green Area refers to green areas open to the public such as municipal, community and neighborhood parks and roadside parks, including waters within parks. Neighborhood parks should occupy an area larger than 10,000 square meters, and the width of roadside parks should occupy an area larger than 400 square meters, with a width of more that 8 meters.

IX. Rural Environment
Rural Population refers to population living in towns and villages under the jurisdiction of counties.
Population Benefiting from Water Improvement Projects refer to population who have benefited from various forms of water improvement projects.
Sanitary Lavatories refer to lavatories with complete flushing and sewage systems in different forms, and lavatories without flushing and sewage system where ordure is properly disposed of through high-temperature deposit process for making organic manure.
Households Using Public Lavatories refer to the number of households using public sanitary lavatories in the village without building their private sanitary lavatories.

(This English version is for your reference only.In case any discrepancy exists between the Chinese and English context, the Chinese version shall prevail.)

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