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Laws, Regulations, Rules and Standards on Environmental Protection
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The amended Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes was effective from the date of April 1, 2005. The State Council issued the Regulation on Safety and Protection of Radioactive Isotope and Irradiating Apparatus and Decision of the State Council on the Implementation of the Scientific Outlook on Development and Strengthening the Environmental Protection. SEPA formulated and issued the Administrative Measures on Qualification for Construction Project Environmental Impact Assessments, Measures on Prevention of Pollution Caused by Hazardous Waste, Administrative Measures on Automatic Supervision and Control of Pollution, Measures for the Procedure for Formulating Regulations on Environmental Protection, Regulation on the Review and Approval Procedures for Environmental Impact Assessment Statements of Construction Project, and Provisions on the Rules of Conduct and Honest Administration of Construction Project Environmental Impact Assessment.
China issued 104 various environmental standards in 2005, including 26 national standards for the control of pollutant discharge, 24 sample standards in the environment field, 53 industrial standards for environmental protection and one national technical policy concerning pollution prevention and control. The year 2005 saw the issuance of the largest number of national environmental standards. |
Rigorously Punishing Environmental Irregularities and Undertaking Special Campaigns
on Environment Protection
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As require by Notice of the Administrative Office of the State Council on Launching In-depth Special Campaigns on Treating Enterprises with Illegal Pollutant Discharge and Safeguarding the Public Health, SEPA, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Supervision, Ministry of Justice, State Administration of Industry and Commerce and State Administration of Work Safety jointly held the TV-teleconference on National Special Campaign on Treating Enterprises with Illegal Pollutant Discharge and Safeguarding Public Health. From June to November 2005, the above campaign was conducted nationwide for a period of five months. 1.32 million person/times of law enforcers nationwide were engaged in this campaign. They inspected 560,000 enterprises, and put on record and handled 27,000 environmental irregularity cases, of which 18,500 had been concluded. 2,609 enterprises that discharged pollutants illegally were either banned or closed down, 2,170 ones were ordered to suspend operation for improvements, 4,302 ones were ordered to rectify within a limited period, 9,468 enterprises went through administrative penalties, and 311 people responsible for environmental infringement were punished according to law. A group of enterprises that discharged pollutants illegally and caused heavy pollution were rigorously investigated and punished, some protruding environmental problems that impaired the public health were basically addressed, and accordingly, the environmental quality of some regions remarkably improved. |
International Cooperation and Exchanges on Environment
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In 2005, President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan and other State Leaders attended the activities of international cooperation on environmental protection on 12 occasions. SEPA leaders were involved in overseas visits and meetings for 14 occasions, while 31 inbound visits and delegations were arranged for foreign officials ranking at or above ministerial levels. 494 groups were sent to 60 countries and regions in the world, involving 1,379 person/times, and 714 person/times from 61 countries were invited to China. 230 person/times were provided with opportunities for overseas trainings. Up to 145 million U.S. dollars from overseas sources were either secured or utilized across the whole year.
In 2005, the State Council officially approved China's accession to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan attended the 23rd session of UNEP Governing Council and made his speech. China donated 500,000 U.S. dollars for the first time to UNEP to support the environmental impact assessment in the wake of the tsunami of Southeast Asia. The new office of the Permanent Representatives of China to UNEP was completed and put into operation. China signed or renewed nine bilateral cooperation documents on the environment and nuclear safety with the United States, Brazil, Ukraine and other countries. SEPA held the China-African Conference on Environment Cooperation for the first time at abroad, marking the beginning of the training programs provided by China for talents of African countries in the environment field. China further explored new cooperative mechanisms for biodiversity conservation, etc., in Greater Mekong Sub-region, and initiated the mechanism for environmental cooperation under the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. All parties concerned reached a consensus on the installation of the 4th Phase of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED). Zhou Qiang, President of All-China Youth Federation, was awarded "Champion of the Earth" by UNEP, while SEPA granted the "Award of International Cooperation on Environment Protection" to three foreign friends who had made outstanding contributions to China's international cooperation undertaking in the environment field, including Hau-sing Tse, Vice President of Canadian International Development Agency.
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On February 21, 2005, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan presented at the 23rd session of UNEP Governing Council held in Nairobi at the invitation of UNEP and the opening ceremony of Global Forum of Environment Ministers. He delivered important speeches, and met with UNEP Executive Director Dr. T?pfer and other distinguished foreign guests. He also attended China-African Conference on Environment Cooperation and made a speech. |
China's Investments in Environmental Pollution Treatment
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China invested 238.8 billion yuan RMB (an increase of 25.1% than in the year 2004) in treating environmental pollution in 2005. Among others, 128.97 billion yuan (up by 13.0%) was used for urban environmental infrastructure construction, 45.82 billion yuan (up by 48.7%) was for treating industrial pollution sources, and 64.01 billion yuan (an increase of 39.0%) went to the implementation of the "Three simultaneities" system in new projects. The total investments in environmental pollution treatment accounted for 1.31% of China's GDP in 2005. |
Inspection on National Environmental Safety
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CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to environmental safety, identified the need to carry out inspections on environmental safety (especially in chemical plants and enterprises), and urged relevant units to take precaution measures and improve corresponding preparedness plans for hidden troubles that may cause major environmental pollution. In December 2005, SEPA made emergent arrangment for local authorities to launch the inspection on environmental safety, and to investigate the following places one by one, i.e., enterprises along the banks of rivers, lakes, and seas that cause heavy pollution and pose high risks, especially the large-and medium-scale chemical enterprises or industrial parks in the upper reaches of centralized drinking water sources and surrounding residential areas, storage and disposal sites of hazardous wastes, and other major areas and units. By January 2006, 180,000 person¡¤times of law enforcers had been called out nationwide, and 49,000 enterprises had undergone inspection. 28,000 enterprises in 19 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities including Beijing and Tianjin were inspected one by one, which revealed more than 5,800 various hidden troubles of environmental safety or pollution problems. 2,351 enterprises were ordered to rectify in a limited period, and 232 enterprises with prominent problems were listed for major treatment which would be monitored by the authority. SEPA sent out five inspection teams to ten provinces (or cities) with concentrated chemical enterprises to carry out spot check, and carried out the supervision of the 11 listed enterprises with prominent hidden troubles of environmental safety for correction, including Xingtai Iron & Steel Company Ltd. of Hebei Province for major treatment and supervision. |
Songhua River Water Pollution Accident
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On November 13, 2005, a benzene and nitrobenzene plant in Jilin Chemical Branch of China National Petroleum Corporation exploded, about 100 tons of benzene, nitrobenzene and aniline flowed into the Songhua River, which formed a pollution belt of nearly 100 km downstream the Songhua River and flowed into the Heilongjiang River. It triggered serious water pollution accident, impaired the life and production of residents along the riverbanks, and aroused extensive attention both at home and abroad.
Upon the breakout of the accident, CPC Secretary General Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao made important instructions for many times, demanded that relevant departments and local governments adopt effective measures and do a good job in response to the accident. Moreover, Premier Wen Jiabao appeared in Harbin City to inspect the situation of the Songhua River pollution, and made the arrangement on the work for pollution prevention and control. The Administrative Offices of both CPC Central Committee and State Council released the Briefing on the Songhua River Major Water Pollution Accident, and the State Council set up a coordinating group to handle the accident, which coordinated and commanded the pollution prevention and control work. More than 300 officials and experts from SEPA departments, affiliated units and 11 provincial and municipal environmental agencies, together with relevant local departments, monitored and predicted the movements and changes of pollution in time. The effective and down-to-earth work ensured the drinking water safety of residents along the banks of the Songhua River. At 2:00am on December 25, 2005, the levels of nitrobenzene and benzene in all monitored sections of the Songhua River and Heilongjiang River in China met national water standards, and the pollution belt stayed for a period of 42 days within China.
After the accident, in the principle of sincerity, enhancing mutual trust and reducing misgivings, the Chinese Government briefed the Russian Government on the latest developments of water pollution in the river. It took the initiative to cooperate with Russian experts, jointly monitored the water quality, and released the information timely to the international communities. It also enhanced the communications with UNEP and other international organizations, representing the image of a responsible country. The actions and measures taken by the Chinese Government were recognized by its Russian counterpart and the international community.
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On December 8, 2005, Zhou Shengxian, Minister of SEPA, inspected the monitoring section of the Songhua River pollution accident in the front line of Jiamusi City, at the Heilongjiang River. |
Cadmium Pollution Accident in Beijiang River of Pearl River Basins
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On December 16, 2005, Shaoguan Smelting Plant illegally discharged wastewater with Cadmium levels exceeding the standards, and triggered the major environmental pollution accident in Beijiang River of Pearl River Basins. After the accident, SEPA especially sent some staff to provide timely technical guidance and coordination, and assisted the Guangdong Provincial Government in its emergency responses. Having taken a number of measures such as minimizing the peak, reducing cadmium level and diluting with water, the pollution warning was released on January 26, 2006. |
Extremely Severe and Major Environmental Pollution Accidents Occurred in 2005
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In 2005, SEPA was reported on 76 environmental emergency accidents, among which four were extremely severe accidents, 13 major accidents, 18 big accidents and 41 common ones. 536 people were either poisoned or injured. The number of accidents increased by nine compared with that of last year.
Classified by the causes of the accidents, there were 26 accidents occurred in the wake of production accidents, taking up 34.2%; 26 triggered by traffic accidents, accounting for 34.2%; 19 caused by illegal pollutant discharge of enterprises, taking up 25%; and five accidents due to other factors, accounting for 6.6%. Sorted by pollution types, there were 41 water pollution accidents, 24 air pollution accidents, 13 accidents on soil contamination, and four accidents on solid waste pollution, accounting for 53.9%, 31.6%, 17.1%, 5.3% respectively (some accidents caused pollution to water, air and soil simultaneously) of the total. All the pollution accidents were handled properly. |
Management of Environmental Impact Assessment
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In 2005, 314,083 construction projects went through the review and approval procedures by environmental protection agencies at all levels, including 948 ones reviewed and approved by SEPA, 7,532 ones by competent provincial departments, and 106,619 ones by prefecture and municipal-level environmental protection agencies. 99.5% of the construction projects implemented environmental impact assessment system. Relevant surveys revealed that considerable construction projects in some areas did not apply or go through the EIA procedures in corresponding competent environmental authorities.
In 2005, 100,239 construction projects across the country were completed and put into production, including 72,527 ones that should have implemented the "three simultaneity" system. 71,848 of them actually implemented the system, and 68,689 were qualified, taking up 94.7%. Of those projects, 133 were at the national level, and the implementation and qualification rate was up to 100%; 1,638 were provincial-level construction projects, of which 96.6% implemented the system and qualified; 30,860 ones were at prefectural-and municipal-level, the above rate being 93.9%; and there were 67,608 county-level projects, of which 95% implemented the system and qualified. The total investment on the actual implementation of projects concerning "Three synchronizations" was 2.04139 trillion yuan, up by 861.2 billion yuan than that of 2004. The actual investment on environmental protection in the above mentioned projects totaled 64.14 billion yuan, an increase of 18.1 billion yuan than the previous year.
SEPA undertook the massive inspection on the implementation of EIA system and the "three simultaneity" system among construction projects. Efforts were made to check 55,000 ongoing and proposed construction projects across the country, which revealed 1,190 ones that failed to meet the environmental requirements. 30 large-scale construction projects initiated illegally were ordered to cease construction, the review and approval procedures of 45 construction projects were postponed due to inconformity with access conditions, irrational siting, and unimplemented pollution prevention and control measures. The review and approval procedures of six electric-power construction projects were ceased because of not compliance with environmental regulations and failing to be incorporated into national power planning.
Efforts were made to launch the pilot projects on EIA of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region planning and Dalian City planning, of major industries like railways and petrochemical industry, as well as of other major special planning. Continuous progress were made to promote the environmental impact assessment of development programs in the middle and upper reaches of Lancang River, Dadu River, the upper reaches of Yalong River, and Yuanshui River Basins. Efforts were also made to conduct EIA for rail traffic planning in Shanghai and other cities, the layout of port construction nationwide and the national planning for highways. Investigations and reviews were conducted on the EIA of major economic and technical polices concerning petrochemical industry and the integration of forest and paper making industry. |
Building Ecologically Sound Provinces (Cities and Counties) and National
Environmentally Beautiful Towns (County)
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By the end of 2005, 9 provinces had carried out the campaign to build Ecologically Sound Provinces including Hainan. In addition, a set of cities (counties and districts) of Ningbo, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Changsha, Nanjing, Jinan, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Shaoxing, Panjin, Yancheng, Quzhou, Zhongshan, Zhoushan, Huaihua, Huangshan, Ma'anshan, Zhuhai, Wuxi, Haining, Anji, Changshu, Zhangjiagang, Kunshan, Jiangyin, Huoshan, Dujiangyan, Minhang District of Shanghai, Chaoyang District, Haidian District And Miyun County of Beijing had launched the building of Ecologically Sound Cities (Counties and Districts). Starting from 1995, the SEPA had examined and approved the construction of 528 pilot sites and units of ecological demonstration zone in 9 batches, and the number of designated state level ecological demonstration zones had reached 233 in 4 groups.
In 2005, 99 towns and counties mainly distributed in 19 provinces (Autonomous Regions and Municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps including 94 towns such as Beifang Town of Huairou District of Beijing and 5 counties like Xinxiang County of Houma City of Shanxi Province were given the title of National Environmental Beautiful Town (County) by the SEPA. Up to now, 178 National Environmental Beautiful Towns (Counties) have been nominated in 4 batches. |
The Establishment of National Model Cities on Environmental Protection (NMCEP)
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On June 3 of 2005, SEPA held the Mayor Summit of NMCEP with more than 100 participants in the Great Hall of the People. At the Summit, Vice Premiere Zeng Peiyan delivered a very important speech and awarded the plates to the latest batch of designated NMCEPs. All the participating mayors of the Summit jointly inked a Proposal of Mayors of NMCEP calling on all the city mayors across the country to protect urban environment. By the end of 2005, a total of 53 cities were designated as NMCEP and 3 cities as National Model District on Environmental Protection. Presently, over 100 cities from 24 Provinces, Autonomous Regions and Municipalities are engaging in the establishment campaign of NMCEP.
Distribution Map of NMCEP in China |
Building of State-level Pilot Provinces (Cities) on Circular Economy,
Eco-industrial Demonstration Parks, State-level Demonstration Zones
on ISO14000 and National Environmentally Friendly Enterprises
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In 2005, the SEPA had approved the construction planning of a series of State-level Eco-industrial Demonstration Parks (Bases) including Shangjie District of Zhengzhou City, Weifang Marine Chemical High-tech Industrial Development Zone, Yantai Economic and Technological Development Zone and Development Zone in Guiyang City (over phosphorus and coal chemicals) and hosted the demonstrational meetings on the development planning on circular economy of a number of cities such as Yima City of Henan Province, Wuwei City of Gansu Province, Hancheng City of Shaanxi Province and Rizhao City of Shandong Province. By the end of 2005, altogether 8 pilot provinces and cities on circular economy and 17 State-level Eco-industrial Demonstration Zones had been set up.
By the end of 2005, 26 areas had won the title of State-level Demonstration Zones on ISO14000 including the New District of Suzhou City, among which nine were High-tech Industrial Development Zones, 10 were Economic and Technological Development Parks, four scenic spots, one administrative zone, one bonded area and one export processing zone.
Also by the end of 2005, 140 enterprises in 21 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions had applied for the construction of National Environmentally-friendly Enterprise, and 32 of which had been approved for the accreditation of the title by the SEPA. |
Management of the Import and Export of Chemicals
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In 2005, a total of 728 kinds of new chemical substances were approved for exemption of notification, 29 registration certificates were issued on the environmental management of new chemical substances, and 116 supervision notices on the environmental impact of new chemical substance were released after examination. In addition, The Inventory of Chemical Substances Manufactured or Imported in the People's Republic of China was updated and published with the addition of 1,465 types of new chemical substances, adding up to a total of over 44,500 types of new chemical substances in the Inventory.
In June of 2005, SEPA and the General Administration of Customs jointly released the Catalogue of Toxic Chemicals under Prohibition or Strict Restriction in China (Batch II), including 7 types of toxic chemicals with potential serious environmental damage into the environmental management of the import and export of toxic chemicals. The Catalogue was then put into effect from July 10th. In December of 2005, the two ministries jointly released the Catalogue of Toxic Chemicals under Strict Restriction in China, pushing the total number of toxic chemicals under relevant environmental protection registration up to 188. This Catalogue was released from January 1st in 2006. In December of 2005, the SEPA, Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs jointly released the Catalogue of Goods Prohibited for Import (Batch VI) and the Catalogue of Goods Prohibited for Export (Batch III), including 20 types of toxic chemicals eliminated and banned by international conventions into the inventory of banned goods for import and export. This Catalogue was put into effect from January 1st of 2006. |
Development of Environmental Protection Industry
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After nearly 3 decades of development, the environmental protection related industry of China has already established an industrial system boasting relatively complete set of industrial categories and scale economy. In specific, such areas as the multi-purpose utilization of resources and products adopting clean technology underwent blistering development, and the environmental protection service industry also attained substantial progress. The variety of environmental protection products is quite diverse with quite advanced production supporting capacity, which can basically satisfy the demand for general environmental pollution treatment at the present stage. However, the technology level and reliability of the core products still lags far behind that of developed countries.
In 2005, SEPA, NDRC and National Bureau of Statistics jointly launched a nationwide survey on the basic situation of environmental protection related industries with the year 2004 as the baseline. The survey results showed that in 2004 there were altogether 11,623 enterprises (with annual production output above 2 million RMB yuan) engaged in environmental protection related industries covered by the survey with 1.595 million people working in this sector, total annual output of 457.21 billion RMB yuan with 39.39 billion yuan of profit, tax payable amounting to 34.36 billion yuan, export contract value reaching $ 6.23 billion, per capita income 287,000 yuan and per capita profit of 25,000 RMB yuan. |
Development and Protection of Geothermal Resources
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Identified by formal surveying and examination and approval by competent administrative department of national resource reserves, there are altogether 103 geothermal fields across China with annual volume of 332.83 million m3 available geothermal resources. There are altogether 214 geothermal fields passing the preliminary evaluation with annual volume of geothermal resources available for exploration amounting to around 500 million m3. Calculated by the present development and utilization level, the annual underground heat water resources across China available for development and utilization totals around 6.717 billion m3 containing 969.28 ¡Á 1015 joule of heat (equal to the heat produced by 32.834 million tons of coal equivalent).
According to latest statistics, the direct utilization amount of geothermal resources in China has already reached 13.76 m3/s with annual utilization of geothermal energy at 10.779 million MWH, ranking No. 1 in the world. The development and utilization volume of geothermal power maintains an annual growth rate of 10%, accounting for, however, still a rather small share in the resource structure of less than 0.5%. The areas boasting relatively high level of development and utilization of geothermal resources across China in 2005 included Guangdong, Tianjin, Shaanxi, Beijing, Yunnan, Shandong, Fujian, etc.
Also in 2005, the Ministry of Land and Resources and China Mining Association jointly launched the activity of designating China Geothermal City and China Thermal Spring Hometown across the country in a bid to promote the development of demonstration sites of sustainable utilization of geothermal resources, standardize prospecting and exploration activities and protect resources and the environment. As a result, Hainan-based Qionghai, Beijing-based Xiaotangshan and Hunan-based Binzhou won the title of China Thermal Spring Hometown. |
Geological Parks
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In 2005, a total number of 53 new National Geological Parks were approved, 4 such parks were included in the 2nd batch of World Geological Parks by the UNESCO, and 6 were recommended for the application for the 3rd batch. Currently, there are 138 National Geological Parks and 12 World Geological Parks throughout China. |
Construction of Urban Public Infrastructure
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By the end of 2005, China has 661 cities divided into districts boasting a population of 358.94 million covering an area of 412,700 km2. Among them, 32,500 km2 were built area. The population density in urban area was 870 people per km2. A total amount of 560.2 billion yuan of fixed assets investment was made throughout the year on urban pubic facilities, up by 17.64% than that of 2004.
Urban Water Supply and Conservation In 2005, the total urban water supply reached 50.1 billion m3,up by 2.27% against 2004 and the total water consumption by production activities was 20.96 billion m3 with the proportion in the total supply decreasing from 43.11% in 2004 to 41.79%. The volume of water consumed for public service amounted to 7.09 billion m3, increasing from 13.95% of 2004 to 14.14% in total water supply. Domestic consumption of water totaled 17.25 billion m3, accounting for 34.41% of the total water supply as compared with 33.67% of 2004. The urban water consumption population was 326.82 million, taking up 91.1% of the total, an increase of 2.3 percentage points than the previous year. The daily water consumption per capita was 204.1 liters, down by 6.7 liter compared with that of 2004. In 2005, 3.8 billion m3 of water was saved, staying at relatively the same level as that of 2004.
Centralized Heating and Supply of Gas in Urban Areas In 2005, the total supply of gas was 25.58 billion m3, increased by 4.21 billion m3; the supply of natural gas reached 21.05 billion m3, rising by 4.12 billion m3; the supply of liquefied gas was 12.22 million tons, up by 953,000 tons as compared with that of the previous year. There were 294.88 million people using gas in cities, accounting for 82.2% of total urban population, up by 0.7 percentage point against 2004. By the end of 2005, steam heating capacity reached 107,000 tons/h, and hot water-heating supply capacity amounted to 198,000 MW. The area of centralized heating totaled 2.52 billion m3, up by 16.67% against the previous year.
Urban Public Transportation By 2005, China had 309,6000 vehicles for public transportation, up by 7.9% against 2004. The number of railcars was 6,133, increased by 1,406 than in 2004. The number of buses per 10,000 people was 8.63, increasing by 0.22 than in the previous year. The total length of rail transportation operation routes was 444 km, 44 km more than in 2004. The accumulated passengers in the whole year numbered 48.37 billion person-times, up by 13.23% than in 2004, and the passenger number of rail transportation grew by 24.26% than that of 2004. There were 1,169 passenger ships carrying 260 million person-times, 5.55% increase than 2004. The total number of urban taxies was 937,000, up by 33,000 than that of 2004.
Urban Public Utilities By the end of 2005, the total length of urban road was 247,000 km covering an area of 3.92 billion m2. Urban road area per capita was 10.93 m2, an increase of 0.59 m2 compared with that of 2004. The volume of sewage treated around the year was 18.71 billion m3 with the treatment rate achieving 51.99%, up by 6.32 percentage points compared with that of 2004.
Urban Greening By the end of 2005, the vegetation cover of urban built-up areas totaled 1.06 million hectares, up by 10.16% against the previous year. The green coverage of built-up urban areas rose to 32.64% from 31.66% in 2004. Urban public green area was 284,000 hectares, an increase of 31,000 hectares over the previous year, and the public urban vegetation area per capita was 7.91 m2, up by 0.52 m2 compared with that of 2004. |
Environmental Protection and Treatment of Mining Sites
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In 2005, the Central Government appropriated 753.31 million yuan fund for environmental treatment projects of mining sites. Together with local supporting funds totaling 2.80491 billion yuan, a total number of 194 projects were conducted in 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). The funds from central budget boosted the initiative of local governments as well as mining enterprises in the treatment of mining environment and promoted sustainable development of the mining industry.
In 2005, 28 units were qualified for the title of "National Mining Park" after examination and review. |
Development of Ecological Homes
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The initiative of developing ecological homes to enrich the people was carried out, the usage of biogas in rural areas was energetically developed, and the project of clean rural areas was promoted. During the 10th "Five-Year" Plan period, the Central Government had earmarked 3.5 billion yuan to support the construction of biogas pits in rural areas. By 2005, the number of household using biogas reached 18 million with the completion of biogas projects for 2497 large-and-medium-sized livestock and poultry breeding sites and 137,000 purification biogas pits for domestic sewage. Pilot projects on clean rural areas were carried out in 6 provinces (cities) of Hunan, Sichuan, Chongqing, etc. With the construction of treatment and utilization facilities of night soil, refuse, stalks and domestic sewage and the development of rural logistic services, the three wastes (night soil, refuse, stalks and domestic refuse and sewage) were transformed to "three materials" (fuel, fertilizer and feed), and the "three cleanness" (at home, in the field and of water resource) were realized. Consequently, the dirty, messy and unfavorable environmental conditions of rural areas were greatly ameliorated, and agricultural non-point pollution was also prevented and treated at its source. |
Progress of the Project of Converting Farmland to Forests
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The projects of converting farmland to forest is so far the most heavily funded ecological construction project having the strongest policy support, widest-ranging coverage and highest level of participation by the people. It has covered 120 million farmers from over 30 million rural households of more than 1,800 counties in 25 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
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Ever since the beginning of the project in 1999, the Central Government had invested the accumulated amount of 90.2 billion yuan into the huge project with 20.9422 million ha of farmland being converted to forests. Among them 8.6957 million ha were afforested on previous cropland, 10.8459 million ha were afforested on barren mountains and wasteland suitable for tree planting, 1.397 million ha of mountains were closed to facilitate afforestation. In 2005, the project had finished the investment of 26.812 billion yuan, among which 22.595 billion for living expenses and grain subsidies, 2.68 billion for seedlings while 1.537 for miscellaneous expenses. As a result, 861,200 ha of farmland were converted to forests, 1.342 million ha land were afforested on barren mountains and wasteland suitable for tree planting, and 1.1499 million ha of mountains were closed to facilitate afforestation. |
Protection of Agricultural Wild Flora Resources
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Presently, the authority has obtained primary understanding on the geological distribution, ecological environment, vegetation status, shape and characteristics, conservation value and endangered status of 191 agricultural wild flora species included in the Catalogue of National Key Wild Flora Protection Species (Batch I), established the information and graphic database as well as GPS/GIS information database of these agricultural wild flora species. It has carried out focused investigation on and rescuing collection and storage of wild flora resources such as wild rice, wild beans, wild relatives of wheat, wild herbal plants and wild fruit trees with the storage of more than 3,000 samples of wild flora resources in other places, established 67 habitat reserves for agricultural wild plants and carried out effective protection of endangered species as well as their biotope. 34 new distribution spots of wild rice and 2 new species of wild relatives of wheat were found. |
Water Supply Facility and Lavatory Renovation in Rural Areas
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By the end of 2005, the benefiting rate of water supply facility in rural areas across China reached 94.06%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the end of the Ninth "Five-Year" Plan period. 579 million of rural population had access to tap water, taking up 61.32% of the total rural population, up by 6.12 percentage points than the end of the Ninth "Five-Year" Plan period. The rural population benefiting from hand-pumped well and rainwater collection accounted for 20.79% and 1.53% of the total rural population respectively, and the population enjoying other preliminary renovated water supply facilities was 98.6 million, taking up 10.42% of the total.
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By the end of 2005, 55.31% of rural population of China had sanitary lavatories, up by 11.09 percentage points than that of 2000. Among these lavatories, the type of three-sectioned septic tank, the type of filler-shaped dual urns, the type of biogas pit, the type of separated collection of dung and urine and the type of water closet having complete sewer represented 15.71%, 4.96%, 5.73%, 0.41% and 4.14% of the total rural households respectively. Besides, 60.5303 million of rural households used other types of sanitary lavatory, registering 24.36% of the total rural households. |
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