Read at : Google Alert – desertification
2001-08 : Desertified land strongly eroded in Zhong He (Gansu Propvince) - Reforestation in mountain slopes - Photo WVC)
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2011/0325/1224292679532.html
Red China turns green
CLIFFORD COONAN reporting from Beijing
CHINA: Three decades of economic growth have played havoc with China’s environment, but its new five-year plan is designed to put that right
IT’S PROBABLY THE greenest five-year plan in China’s history. The blueprint document aims to reduce the blind rush for economic growth at any cost and to introduce greater consideration for environmental concerns and better use of natural resources.
China’s annual parliament, the National People’s Congress, gave enthusiastic backing to the 12th five-year plan, which appears to confirm – on paper at least – the Chinese government’s realisation that three decades of rapid economic growth have played havoc with the country’s environment.
China now appears to be prepared to accept lower economic growth rates in exchange for a more sustainable brand of expansion. This ties in with the government’s long-term, and oft-stated, goal of moving away from being a cheap manufacturing site towards being something more innovative and higher up the value chain in areas such as software and IT.
“In the next five years, and for some time in China’s economic development, we must focus on transforming the mode of economic development,” Premier Wen Jiabao told a news conference at the close of the annual parliament.
“We must fully exploit this opportunity to adjust the economy’s structure and address the long-standing problems in China’s economy – of a lack of balance, poor co-ordination and unsustainability – so economic development is adapted to our population, environment and resources,” he said.
There is international pressure on China now to switch to a more sustainable path of development, combined with the economic pressures from rising natural resource costs.
China’s annual GDP growth targets for the coming five years will stand at an average of 7 per cent, a departure from the previous aim of 8 per cent. The country’s annual growth rate ran at 11.2 per cent over the previous five-year plan, prompting fears the economy would overheat. So environmental protection ties in with efforts to cool the economy.
At the same time, the government needs to keep up a high momentum of economic expansion and is committed to greater urbanisation. “We will actively respond to climate change. We will strengthen resource conservation and management, intensify the protection of farmland and the environment, strengthen ecological development and systems to prevent and mitigate natural disasters and comprehensively build our capacity for sustainable development,” Wen said.
Among the targets are increasing the proportion of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to 11.4 per cent, and reducing the amount of energy consumed per unit of GDP by 16 per cent.
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