World Bank urges China to do more on environment
Date: 13-Aug-01
Country: CHINA
"China has done many things right in the environmental area over the past decade, including large-scale afforestation and massive investments to reduce air and water pollution," it said in a report released late last week.
"But in many respects, economic growth in China is overwhelming investment in conservation and environmental protection," said the report entitled "China: Air, Land and Water."
Land degradation is worsening, forests are shrinking, water quality is deteriorating and the explosive growth in car use is becoming a significant new source of air pollution, it said.
"The 'one-size-fits-all' approach, as exemplified by various mass environmental campaigns, played a useful role in the past, but is provingly increasingly inadequate to meet current demands," the World Bank said.
China faced a number of challenges, including a complex environmental agenda too big for one government agency and budgetary constraints, it said.
The World Bank called for new institutional arrangements for environmental protection, including the possible re-establishment of a super-ministry to coordinate work of different agencies.
China should also set up an independent, state-level body to manage nature reserves and create new and separate river basin management institutions, the World Bank said.
The government should boost spending on air and water pollution alone to two percent of gross domestic product through 2020, compared with the 1.3 percent for all environmental expenditure set out in the state plane for 2001 to 2005, it said.
Beijing could also control pollution by requiring permits or licences for all significant point sources - industrial and municipal - with required fees and enforced by punitive fines, the World Bank said.