Chinese walker

Naomi Li: The IPE website looks like a daring project. You map out levels of water pollution in various parts of China, and even name companies whose pollution discharges exceed statutory levels. What made you embark on this project?

Ma Jun: Water pollution is the most serious environmental issue facing China. It has a huge impact on people`s health and economic development. That is why we have begun to build this database. To protect water resources, we need to encourage public participation and strengthen law enforcement. In some places, polluting factories and companies are being protected by local governments and officials. The public need to take part in water monitoring and management if the situation is to improve. The first step to get the involvement of the public is to inform them.

Last November`s chemical pollution disaster on the Songhua River in northern China propelled the country`s water problems into the news around the world. By no means the first of its kind, it caught the attention because of its scale – depriving millions of people in and around Harbin of drinkable water for several days – and its extent, threatening to spread toxic contamination downstream into Russia. Even more alarmingly for the Chinese authorities, it also provoked the kind of public anxiety that the country`s stability-conscious leaders know they cannot afford to ignore.

In the wake of this disaster, the head of the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) was replaced. His successor, Zhou Shengxian, was swift to offer reassurance, promising safety inspections and stricter monitoring of the 21,000 chemical factories located along the country`s rivers and coastline. “The Chinese government”, he told a press conference in January, “has made a very timely and determined decision to stop the conventional approach of development, which could be characterised as %26lsquo;pollution and destruction first, treatment later.`”

Just one hour`s ferry ride from downtown Shanghai where the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) drains into the Yellow Sea, sit three islands – Chongming, Changxi and Hangsha. Farmland flanked by conifer forests and wetlands teeming with birds dominate the landscape. Islanders there make a living selling meat, fruit and vegetables to Shanghai. Living standards, predictably, cannot compare with their wealthy neighbour, but the landscape is unspoilt.

Metropolis under strain

Shanghai suffers from the opposite. Rampant industrial development has created an abundance of wealth – local GDP is the highest in all China – but the environmental cost has been catastrophic, leaving Shanghai`s planners preoccupied with more pressing needs than fruit and vegetables.

Close to seven million tons of solid waste is produced annually and less than 5% is incinerated to produce energy. More than four million tons of raw (untreated) sewage is pumped into the surrounding rivers and the sea. The air is thick with sulphur dioxide and nearby power stations pump fine particulate matter into the atmosphere.

Heavy traffic, land and energy shortages further hamstring development. And as the population continues to rise the prohibitive costs of land means that there is nowhere else to go but “up”.

New vision of urban planning

Zhou Jigang: We all know the global environmental crisis is worsening. What is the cause of this change?

Pan Yue: The fundamental cause is the capitalist system. The environmental crisis has become a new means of transferring the economic crisis.

ZJ: You met with representatives of the German Green Party in April and discussed, among other things, ecological socialism and sustainable development. What is the purpose of studying eco-socialism?

PY: Actually, the Green Party does not represent eco-socialism.

Addressing the challenge of stabilising greenhouse gas (GHG) stocks in the earth`s atmosphere, the Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change argues that such stablisation cannot be achieved without global emissions-reduction action – and the earlier the action is taken, the easier it will be. However, undertaking stabilisation is a delicate and complicated process. The report notes that it is “difficult to secure emission cuts faster than about 1% per year, except in instances of [economic] recession. Even when countries have adopted significant emission-saving measures, national emissions often rose over the same period.”

“China embarked on a series of measures to reduce deforestation and increase reforestation from the 1980s, with the aim of restoring forests and the environmental benefits they entail,” Stern says. “Between 1990 and 2000, forested land increased by 18 million hectares, from 16% to 18% of total land area. Despite cuts in land use emissions of 29% per year between 1990 and 2000, total GHG emissions rose by 2.2% over the same period.”

Noting that “no single technology or process will deliver the emission reductions needed to keep climate change within the targeted limits,” the review acknowledges the attention being paid to the potential of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The CCS process involves removing and storing carbon emissions from the exhaust gases of power stations and other large emitters. CCS technologies are expected to play a crucial role in the future, and could reconcile the continued use of fossil fuels with the need for drastic reductions in emissions.

CCS could, if shown to be effective, help cut emissions from the numerous new coal-fired power stations that China plans for the coming decades — and in which power companies have been investing rapidly. Stern also noted that some countries can reduce emissions more cheaply than others – for example, where big capital investments are being made. “Countries such as India and China are expected to increase their capital infrastructure substantially over coming decades,” the report said, “with China along accounting for around 15% of total global energy investment. If they use low-emission technologies, emission savings can be %26lsquo;locked in` for the lifetime of the asset. It is much cheaper to build a new piece of capital equipment using low-emission technology than to retro-fit dirty capital stock.”

On structural change and competitiveness, Stern also found that “countries most reliant on energy-intensive goods and services may be hardest hit” by costs. “Primary energy consumption as a percent of GDP is generally three or four times higher in the developing world %26hellip; though in rapidly growing sectors and countries such as China and India, primary energy consumption per unit [of] output has fallen sharply as new efficient infrastructure is installed.”

Referring to the economics of emissions stabilisation, Stern noted the link between climate-change policies and energy policy. While the expansion of renewable-power sources can reduce the exposure of economies to fossil-fuel price fluctuations, as well as reducing import dependence, the report said, coal was a different matter.

Says Stern: “Coal is much more carbon intensive than other fossil fuels: coal combustion emits almost twice as much carbon dioxide per unit of energy as does the combustion of natural gas (the amount from crude oil combustion falls between coal and natural gas). Many major energy-using countries have abundant domestic coal supplies, and hence see coal as having an important role in enhancing energy security. China, in particular, is already the world`s largest coal producer; its consumption of coal is likely to double over the 20 years between 2000 and 2020.”

As well as using coal directly, China and other producing countries are investing in “coal-to-liquids technology, which would allow them to reduce their dependence on imported oil” and use domestic coal to meet some transport-fuel demands. However, the full lifecycle emissions of such road transport use have been estimated as almost double those from using crude oil. Extensive CCS deployment, the report emphasises, “can reconcile the use of coal with the emissions reductions necessary for stabilising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”

Stern also notes that climate-change policies can reduce local air pollution, with important health and quality-of-life benefits for developing countries. “[O]nly malnutrition, unsafe sex and lack of clean water and adequate sanitation are greater health threats than indoor air pollution” in such countries. In China, says Stern, a recent study showed that “for CO2 reductions up to 10-20%, air pollution and other benefits more than offset the costs of action.”

Reducing agricultural GHG emissions also could have health and local environmental benefits. “For example, in China, nitrous oxide emissions associated with overuse of fertiliser contributes to acid rain, severe eutrophication of the China Sea and damage to health through contamination of drinking water.”

In recommending the acceleration of low-carbon, high-efficiency technological innovation to tackle climate change, the report cited hydrogen for transport as an example. “Hydrogen could potentially offer complete diversification away from oil and provide very low-carbon transport,” it said, adding that “hydrogen would be best suited to road vehicles”. Indeed, Stern noted, China plans to use hydrogen buses at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

On the topic of innovation, the report also noted a down-side: Some markets, such as the highly energy-intensive cement industry in China and other developing countries, are made up of small, local businesses “which are less likely to undertake research [in energy efficiency] since their resources and potential rewards are smaller”. Still, the report makes clear, “Policies to support deployment [of new technologies] exist throughout the world %26hellip; China and India have both encouraged large-scale renewable deployment in recent years and now have respectively the largest and fifth-largest renewable energy capacity worldwide.”

Moving beyond carbon markets and technology, Stern notes that the planned eco-city of Dongtan, on Chongming island near Shanghai, “provides an important example of the potential for sustainable urban development across the rapidly urbanising transition and developing economies of the world”. The 86-square-kilometre community will feature highly energy-efficient buildings employing renewable energy sources as well as passive energy systems; recycling and composting of waste also are a factor.

Says the report: “Chinese policy-makers and planners have been impressive in scaling up best practice to help achieve their objective to reduce the ratio of energy demand to output by 20% over 5 years. In the case of Dongtan, a high-speed rail link to Shanghai is planned, while the city itself is being designed in a compact, inter-linked way, supported by mixed patterns of land use, and a network of pedestrian and cycle routes, in order to reduce the demand for private motorised transport (and associated infrastructure costs).”

Stern also cited China`s rapid expansion of appliance standards in the 1990s to include refrigerators, lamps, air conditioners and other items. “By 2010,” the report said, “energy savings are estimated to reach 33.5 TWh [terawatt hours, or one trillion watts], or about 9% of China`s residential electricity. This is equivalent to a CO2 emission reduction of 11.3 Mt [metric tons] CO2. A more recent study highlighted the potential for significant energy savings in the longer term from more stringent performance standards on three major residential end-uses: household refrigeration, air-conditioning and water heating.” China is also considering adoption of the International Energy Agency`s “1 Watt Initiative,” to reduce energy waste from appliances on standby power.

Much of what governments do in adapting to climate change “is what they should be doing anyway – that is, implementing good development practice,” the report says. Such adaptation is key to reducing developing countries` vulnerability and increasing their capacity to adapt. Rapid growth, as in China and India, Stern asserts, “will equip these countries with the economic resources to invest in appropriate policies and tools to better manage the effects of climate change.”

To that, Stern added a significant point: “In some circumstances, there may be additional costs, which the international community will have a role in helping to finance, bearing in mind the differences in income and historical responsibility for the bulk of past emissions.”

Improving disaster preparedness and management not only save lives, the report said, but also “promotes early and cost-effective adaptation to climate-change risks”. For example, China`s $3.15 billion spending on flood control from 1960 to 2000 is estimated to have averted some $12 billion in losses.

China is among the nations and regions that have adopted strong mandatory initiatives to reduce GHG emissions. Additionally, the country is involved in dialogue with other large energy consumers on international collective action through a number of forums, including the Gleneagles Dialogue and the Asia-Pacific Partnership. At home, Stern notes, China has adopted goals on climate change and clean energy. The country`s 11th Five Year Plan contains such objectives as a 20% reduction in energy intensity of GDP from 2005 to 2010; a 10% reduction in emission of air pollutants; and sourcing 15% of its energy from renewables within the next decade. At the same time, China plans to double its economic growth. A wide range of incentives support these policies, including using sales taxes to encourage purchase of cars with smaller engines. China also applies a lower rate of value-added tax to renewable energy technologies, and has adopted EU standards for vehicle exhaust emissions.

Stern also cited China`s growing role in promoting international technology cooperation, which “enables the sharing of risks, rewards and progress %26hellip; and enables co-ordination of priorities”. A number of Chinese companies, for example, export solar water heaters to other developing countries. Other international cooperation is reflected in agreements such as the Near-Zero Emissions Coal initiative, announced as part of the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change in 2005. That joint initiative — to develop a near-zero emissions coal plant in China — is expected to lead to the construction of a carbon capture and storage project.

Other collective international actions, the report says, can centre on land use, particularly regarding forests. “Rigorous enforcement of forest protection in one country without action to reduce demand for timber can displace logging to neighbouring countries,” Stern says. “Following floods associated with deforestation in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, China banned the logging of natural forest in 1998 and has greatly increased its own forest cover. However, timber imports from the Russian Far East, southeast Asia and Africa have risen strongly since the ban has been enforced.”

China led the world in the largest annual net gain in forest area in 2000-2005, according to UN Food and Agriculture Organisation statistics. The country added forests, in area terms, at a rate equal to nearly half of global deforestation over the past five years.

Maryann Bird is a London-based journalist with a special interest in environmental and human-rights issues. A writer and editor, she was previously a staff member at Time magazine (Europe), The Independent, the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times.

Homepage photo by Ari Bronstein

For all those desirous to see greater flow of foreign direct investments into Africa, the year 2006 opened on a very optimistic note. China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced an investment of US$2.3 billion in Nigeria, the continent`s most populous nation. The deal, China`s biggest investment foray into Africa, gives the corporation a 45% stake in an off-shore oil field. China now has partial control over a Nigerian oil field that has the capacity to produce as much as 180,000 barrels per day.

China`s investment in that African country is just one out of many of such moves into the continent in last few years, one driven – among other things – by the increasing conflicts and uncertainties in Iraq and other parts of the middle east. Angola, another of Africa`s major oil producers, has now overtaken Saudi Arabia as China`s biggest single provider of oil.

Zambia, South Africa, Gabon, Cameroun and the Democratic Republic of Congo are some other African countries that have witnessed surging Chinese economic interest. From South Africa, China seeks iron ore and platinum. From DR Congoand Zambia, it seeks copper and cobalt; and from Cameroun and Congo Brazzaville, it seeks timber. All of these are raw materials that China needs to drive its ever growing industrial sector. And the results are already beginning to show. From a US$3 billion mark in 1995, trade between China and Africa last year stood at US$32 billion. Projections are that the figures will hit US$50 billion by the end of this year and will triple by 2015, the UN`s target year to halve poverty worldwide.

The “new scramble for Africa”, as some have christened China`s romance with the continent, has been more dramatic in some countries than others. Despite its lingering political crisis, which has attracted international attention and calls for sanctions, Sudan`s exports to China have soared from 10% in 1995 to 70% of its total exports as of 2005. Beijing also said earlier this year that it will plough US$35 million into the construction of west Africa`s biggest theatre in Senegal, its first major foray into the continent`s entertainment industry.

But China`s growing interest in Africa, which has attracted criticisms from other global players such as the US, has been most profound in the continent`s oil-producing states. China has promised to commit US$4 billion to building refineries and power plants in Nigeria. Similar largesse is in the offing for Angola, where China has also promised to raise another US$4 billion to help the reconstruction of roads and other infrastructure.

Does the “new scramble” share any resemblance with that of the 17th and 18th century, which saw the massive shipment of African youths to Europe and America? I don`t think so. Western imperialism had no “business” colouration at all. It was simply a rape predicated on ignorance for which some Africans still seek reparation. But today`s oil deals are business: legitimate business consciously entered into by the parties involved, and from which all parties can benefit. For Nigeria, the principal challenge is how to ensure that a greater majority of its 130 million population benefits from the huge inflow of petrodollars.

Experience from the past has not been particularly heart-warming. Half a century of oil exploration in the Niger Delta has left the people of the region poorer than they were before the discovery of oil in their neighborhood. Even more worrisome is the ecological damage that the reckless acts of oil spillage and gas flaring have caused in the region.

Goodluck Diigbo, an activist from Ogoni, an oil-producing community in the Niger Delta, believes that oil has done his community more harm than good. “All you see in Ogoni is agony,” he told me in New York last month. He has been living in New York since 1995, when the military regime of Sani Abacha made attempts on his life. Diigbo was a close ally of Ken Saro Wiwa, leader of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), who was killed by Abacha`s government 11 years ago.

A high level of resentment exists in the Niger Delta against all individuals and institutions that people perceive as instrumental to the ecological disaster they currently face. Another Niger Deltan, whom I spoke with during a visit to the region in March, was as rhetorical as Diigbo. “The presence of Shell in Niger Delta has made the place nothing but hell for its people,” he said. I felt a little bit of the hell when I toured some gas flaring sites in the region.

photo by Karlsruhe

Nigeria currently flares 75% of its daily gas production. Experts say that in Nigeria, an average of around 1000 standard cubic feet of gas is produced for every barrel of oil. With a production rate of about 2.2 million barrels per day, that equals 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas wasted daily. By all assessments, this is a monumental waste and a significant contribution to global greenhouse-gas emissions. According to a World Bank 2002 report, “the most striking example of environmental neglect [in Africa] has been in the oil sector, where natural gas flaring has contributed more emissions of greenhouse gases than all other sources in sub-Saharan Africa combined.”

Gas flares release a cocktail of toxic substances into the atmosphere, including the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Scientists say methane has higher global-warming potential than carbon dioxide. Assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that after 20 years, 1 kg of methane is 62 times more potent than 1kg of carbon dioxide.

What do these facts mean for the latest bride of Nigeria`s oil sector? For one, it calls to attention the need to be an environmentally-friendly operator right from the very beginning. Shell began operations in the Niger Delta at a time when the country was still under colonial rule. Many people in the region believe that the company has yet to shed that colonial attitude, decades after Nigeria became an independent state.

CNOOC cannot afford to carry out its operation with the same arrogance that Shell has exhibited in the region over the years. To do so will be very counter-productive. The desire of every investor is gain, not pain. And real gain is that which benefits all the stakeholders in the deal. No matter who signs the contract papers authorising its operations in Nigeria, CNOOC must see its immediate host community as stakeholders in its operations.

Last year`s series of hurricanes in the United States and Latin America, which some scientists blame on global warming, show that the consequences of oil companies` reckless environmental activities are no longer just a problem for the communities directly impacted by acts of environment recklessness. There are many consequences that are faced by all. Evidence linking global warming and hurricane intensity might still appear fuzzy, but it is a potential danger worth taking very seriously.

Neglecting these responsibilities would ultimately be self-defeating. Prosperity built on the despoilment of the natural environment is no prosperity at all. It is only a reprieve from future disaster. The issue is not environment versus development or ecology versus economy; the two can and should be integrated. This is a challenge that CNOOC must show a strong commitment to meeting.

Godwin Nnanna is Assistant Editor at Business Day Nigeria and winner of the Kalaam Award for Consumer Journalism 2005.

%26copy; Lovell

Elevating the realisation of a harmonious society to the status of an over-arching strategic goal, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party approved the Decisions by the CCP Central Committee on the Major Issues of Building Harmonious Socialist Society on Oct. 11, 2006. The document identified “strengthening environmental management and protection and promoting harmony between man and nature” as an important part of building a harmonious society, and called on China to “accelerate the construction of a resource-efficient, environmentally friendly society though an emphasis on solving environmental issues that damage public health and affect sustainable development”. To achieve this strategic vision, the document also requires systematic guarantees of social equality and justice, calling for the “expansion at all levels of citizens` orderly participation in governance”. This is of profound significance for future public participation in environmental protection.

As the Decisions by the CCP Central Committee points out, China`s society is facing a number of problems that affect social harmony. Of these, increasing pressure on the environment and natural resources is one of the most prominent. Industrialisation and urbanisation have led to increasing emissions of pollutants, with the release of poisonous and harmful substances outstripping the environment`s ability to cope. China`s limited resources are being rapidly consumed. Environmental pollution is endangering public health, with one-third of the urban population breathing heavily polluted air; 300 million rural residents drinking unsafe water; and one-fifth of China`s major cities failing to meet the country`s minimum standards for drinking water.

Some believe this is a normal feature of a certain stage of development, even claiming that the environment must be sacrificed for our own interests. But the environment and our own welfare are inseparable. Pollution, exhaustion of resources and destructive development are harming our interests and already causing problems that affect social stability. Since 2002, the number of complaints made to the environmental authorities has been increasing by 30% annually, reaching over 600,000 in 2004, while the number of mass incidents of social unrest caused by environmental pollution has increased by an average of 29% a year. It is clear that a lack of harmony between man and environment affects social stability and the construction of a harmonious society. %26shy;%26shy;

An ever-increasing number of people are coming to realise that the environmental problems facing China result from an imbalance between economic growth and environmental protection, while our policy-making favours economic expansion over the environment. This has led central government to put forward a scientific view of development designed to change the current GDP-centred model of growth and realise balanced sustainable development. But in practice, local governments have failed to find that balance, with the economy still trumping the environment. For example, legally binding targets for cutting power consumption and pollution have been set, but statistics for the first half of 2006 show that both continue to increase.

Clearly, relying purely on policy and targets to achieve balance is inadequate, as is merely holding the ideal of sustainable development. Because policy-makers favour development, we need to understand that development projects provide direct, short-term financial benefit for certain authorities and individuals, while environmental protection prevents long-term harm and protects the interests of weaker groups. Environmental law enforcement is weak, and ignoring it incurs lower costs than observing it. If we want to change this situation, we need to put new systems in place that will allow a broader range of interest groups to participate in the policy-making process.

The Decisions by the CCP Central Committee describes the importance of systems of public participation in building a harmonious society. The document says: “Social equality and justice are basic requirements for a harmonious society, and the system must ensure them,” and goes on to call for “expansion at all levels of citizens` orderly participation in politics, ensuring the people`s legal management of national affairs, the economy, culture and social affairs. Promotion of rational and democratic policy-making, strengthening open government, ensuring citizens` rights to be informed, to participate, to express themselves and to supervise.”

The orderly participation proposed in the document brings together government, business and the public, and can create a consensus for the participation of all sections of society in environmental protection. Environmental protection requires public participation – informed participation by all groups, protecting their own environmental interests – which ultimately will protect the environment overall. This participation must take place in an orderly fashion and on a legal basis; our society lacks a historical tradition of public participation, and there is a lack of experience in organising and promoting it. As the Decisions by the CCP Central Committee points out, we are currently experiencing “unprecedented social reform, bringing great vitality to China`s growth, but also a range of conflicts and problems”. China`s society lacks resilience, and social disorder is of no help in either solving environmental problems or achieving sustainable development.

This emergence of the “orderly participation” model is by no means sudden; it builds on real advances in public participation made in recent years. Particularly worth mentioning are the valuable lessons public participation in the environmental field has provided. With the Environmental Impact Assessment Law`s establishment of the principle that “the state encourages organisations, experts and the public to participate in appropriate ways in environmental impact assessments” and the detailed requirements for openness of information put forth in the State Environmental Protection Administration`s Provisional Guidelines on Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessments, the policy and legal foundation for public participation in the field of environmental protection is already in place. Moreover, the preliminary implementation of public hearings during assessments and the beneficial participation trials by environmental groups in environmental legislation and impact assessments demonstrate that the public are willing to participate in the management of environmental affairs in a legal, rational and orderly manner.

However, the implementation of public participation in the environmental field over recent years shows us that due to various limitations, conditions are not yet ripe for full public participation. But, we can start with the open publication of environmental information. This is a precondition for public participation. If the public do not have this information and are unable to acquire data on environmental issues, how are they to judge when their participation is needed? How can they participate effectively? Policies and laws on the publication of environmental information are improving. Under the guidance of the State Council`s Outline for Promoting the Implementation of Rule of Law, and in accordance with Environmental Protection Agency regulations, there have been notable advances in the openness of environmental information — and China`s society is ready for even more.

The Decisions by the CCP Central Committee made specific stipulations on openness of information, particularly environmental information. To build a service-orientated government and strengthen social management and public services, the document emphasises the need to “promote open government, accelerate the building of e-government, promote IT [information technology] in public services, promptly publish public information, create conditions beneficial for public life and participation in economic and social activities.” It also calls for widening the channels by which the public can express their opinions, providing a range of platforms for communication, and bringing the pursuit of the public interest within systematic and legal channels. On improving environmental-protection law and management, it specifically requires “improving environmental testing and regular publication of information on the state of the environment”.

Public participation is realised by giving the public the right to be informed, the right to participate and the right to legal relief – that is, allowing interest groups to be informed about the environmental and social impact of policy decisions, to pass on their concerns to the policy-makers, and to seek legal relief when their right to participate is denied. Some worry that widespread participation could slow the policy-making process, increase costs and affect economic growth. But, in fact, the flow of information, equal dialogue and compromise-seeking all help to internalise the external costs of growth and create a fair-market environment. Public participation will change the cost-benefit analysis of projects, hindering exploitative development and benefiting projects which conserve power and resources — thereby promoting the development of the service industry and therefore a change in the model of economic growth.

Given China`s current social and economic circumstances, we must balance the vastly different needs of economic growth and environmental protection. But who will make the choices? How will those choices be made? In accordance with the Decisions by the CCP Central Committee`s requirement for greater public participation, we should make use of the public`s environmental knowledge and create a new environmental management system that gives all interest groups an equal opportunity to express their opinions and pursue their interests. We should trust that an informed public will not choose a growth model that will seriously damage their own health and safety and ruin the environment and resources that their children and grandchildren will rely on. Their orderly participation is the only way to ensure a balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

Ma Jun`s book China`s Water Crisis (1999) was described in Time magazine`s “100 People Who Shape Our World” as China`s “first great environmental call to arms”. He is the director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs and an environmental consultant for Sinosphere Corporation.

Last week the Peruvian government hosted a delegation of Chinese businesspeople with the hope of attracting investment in this Andean country. But one topic that both the hosts and guests would have preferred to avoid is that of the town of San Juan de Marcona, in Ica Region, 525 kilometres south of the capital, Lima, where China`s Beijing Shougang Group has operated an iron ore mine since 1993.

Shougang is China`s fourth-largest steel maker, and has been widely criticised within China for its contribution to Beijing`s air pollution. In 2001, the Chinese government ordered Shougang to move its dirtiest plants out of the capital`s western suburbs – part of an effort to tackle Beijing`s notorious smog in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games. Shougang has since announced it will move all of its polluting plants out to neighbouring provinces by 2010.

Shougang`s purchase of Hierro Peru, the Peruvian state-owned mine and steel mill, for US$311 million remains the largest Chinese investment of its kind in South America, but critics say it is not a model to follow. In its nearly 14 years of operations in Peru, Shougang has been criticised by the regional and congressional government, NGOs and its own workers` union for repeated violations of environmental standards, disregard of labour rights and breach of contract.

Shougang has received four fines for environmental infractions. The most serious of these, according to local activists, is Shougang`s pumping of waste water into the nearby San Nicolas Bay, where its deepwater port is located. In March 2006, the Ica regional government declared a state of “environmental emergency” in San Juan de Marcona, a largely-symbolic measure enacted to protest Shougang`s activities.

Carlos Chavez, a regional council member, said the decision to declare the environmental emergency did not come as a surprise. He said there was not only ample evidence of environmental pollution, but also Shougang showed a complete disregard for the problem.

“The Ica Regional Council has repeatedly addressed the social and environmental impact of Shougang, calling to their attention problems that needed to be resolved. Nothing ever happened,” said Chavez.

Shougang appealed the council`s declaration of a “state of emergency”, but in April the regional council upheld the company`s appeal. Shougang have since announced they would pursue the matter in Peru`s court system. The company was unavailable to comment, despite repeated attempts to contact them.

Jorge Silva, an engineer who works for the Research Centre for Development and Participation, who prepared a report on extractive industries operating in Ica, said: “Shougang is undoubtedly important to the economic wellbeing of the Ica region, but it has to be held accountable to its original commitments and additional agreements it has reached over the years. Beginning next year, the regional government will hopefully be able to enforce norms the central government has not been interested in enforcing.”

Silva said Shougang`s approach to the environment is mirrored in its relations with workers and the local community, to which the company has very few ties.

“Shougang is a Chinese enclave that has no relationship with its social or physical environment,” said Silva.

As a result of the company`s approach, Shougang`s 720-member labour union has called several strikes in the past few years, as have contracted workers. There have been four strikes so far this year, each of which forced the company to close operations but did not hurt the bottom line too much because of Shougang`s huge inventories. Although they extracted some concessions, Shougang`s workers are still among the lowest paid in Peru`s mining sector.

The labour union`s eight-day strike in June, which cost the company US$4 million in losses, was called to demand a daily wage increase of US$1.70. The company countered with an offer of US$0.58 daily. The two sides settled on US$1 and a US$300 one-time bonus. Shougang workers now earn US$14 for a 12 hour shift, although the company points out when all benefits are included, Shougang workers receive the equivalent of US$28 a day.

Union leader Julio Ortiz said the situation remains tense because the company`s profit margins continue to increase, while workers continue to receive little in terms of better wages and benefits.

Production in the first six months of this year was 2,520 fine tonnes, which is near full capacity. While production has remained more or less steady, international prices have risen. A fine tonne fetched an average of US$27.70 in the first six months of 2005, and US$35.70 in the same period this year. Export earnings in 2005 were US$215.5 million, up 249.4% over the 2004 figure. A similar trend is expected this year.

According to government sources, Shougang`s reserves are around 830 million tonnes, and the company is exploring additional sites. It has identified copper and gold deposits, and other international companies are prospecting for similar metals around San Juan de Marcona.

Apart from their partially-satisfied salary demands, the union also received a promise from the company to carry out environmental remediation projects, particularly cleaning up oxidation ponds; although this has yet to be carried out.

While politicians at the local level and in Peru`s unicameral congress have expressed concern about environmental and labour problems, they have focused much more of their attention on legal issues, specifically Shougang`s failure to meet its original contract.

Shougang won the bid for Hierro Peru in September 1992, and began operating in January of the following year. In addition to the US$118 million it paid to acquire the company, it also promised to invest US$150 million in the next three years, or by the end of 1995. That did not happen and Shougang was fined US$14 million, less than 10% of what it initially promised to invest. Overall, Shougang has invested around US$130 million since moving into Marcona, most of it on improving its facilities to raise production.

A special congressional commission investigated the sale and Shougang`s failure to meet its commitments throughout most of 2003, but nothing came of the investigation and voluminous report, which concluded that the company had failed to abide by its contract.

Jorge Silva holds that Shougang`s investment needs to be analysed more closely, because there is evidence that even this investment may be better on paper than it is in reality.

“Part of the investment was to purchase machinery, but all they did was bring in second-hand machinery from the parent company in China that pollutes just as much as the old machines. They have done whatever necessary to make a profit while not complying with environmental or labour standards,” said Silva.

Lucien O. Chauvin is a freelance journalist based in Lima

In China, environmental protection is an increasingly pressing issue. Not only are pollution and ecological degradation becoming ever more serious, but also people are more and more unsatisfied about the situation. The speed with which we are polluting the environment far outstrips our efforts to clean it up. Why is this? China has a large population but few resources, and our production and consumption methods are too out of date. But at the root of the problem lies a more significant cause — the lack of public participation in China.

The initial motivation for the world environmental protection movement came from the public, without their participation it would not exist.

In 1962, the US marine biologist Rachel Carson published her landmark book, Silent Spring, which focused on the environmental and human costs of pesticide use. This was a starting point in the development of environmental protection. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took part in environmental demonstrations across the US. “Earth Day” is still celebrated on that date, and was a major event in the development of modern environmental participation.

Take Japan as an example; although the country faces a greater pressure on resources than China, it is a world leader in protecting the environment. Visitors to Japan in recent years are invariably impressed by the country`s clean environment. But Japan also experienced the serious social consequences of pollution midway through the last century, when it underwent large-scale industrialisation. In the 1960s, Japanese victims of pollution first brought lawsuits against the companies responsible for environmental degradation. Japan`s media began to investigate and report on environmental accidents. In many places, grass-roots environmental groups were founded to combat polluting industries. By 1970, 45% of Japanese citizens opposed economic development that did not take environmental protection into account, overwhelming the 33% who polled in favour of unrestricted economic growth. Electoral support for Japan`s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) declined from 58% to 48% as a result.

Broad public participation forced both the LDP and the Diet to take notice of the environmental and social effects of pollution. In 1967, Japan issued the Basic Law for Environmental Pollution Control, and enacted the Law for the Compensation of Pollution-Related Health Injuries in 1973. A series of other environmental rules and regulations were put into place in the following years. In particular, the Basic Law for the Recycling-based Society employs the concept of “environmental culture” to promote public awareness of environmental protection and its moral value. The law promotes the use of new energy sources and compulsory limits on the consumption of natural resources. It not only regulates waste output but also encourages recycling and the safe disposal of non-recyclable waste. In the past 10 years, Japan has become a recycling-based society which strikes a balance between environmental protection and economic growth. Their example can show us that resolving the problems of pollution needs both governmental and citizen engagement, and that public participation and a democratic legal system are important factors in environmental protection.

In China, the major problem is that environmental protection laws are not strictly observed and implemented due to a lack of democratic legal mechanisms for public participation. As early as 1978, the government stated clearly that where serious pollution is occurring, if no measures are put in place to improve this for a long time, it will be established who is personally responsible, and the enterprise in question will be shut down. Financial penalties are also to be applied and legal action taken in serious cases. But in the past 20 years, how many polluters — businesspeople or officials — have ever been penalised? How many government policies that have caused pollution and ecological damage have ever been corrected? And to what extent are we following the sustainable development strategy that was put forward in 1992?

Guided by a traditional model of development, many in government and business are devoted to short-term profit, and officials are solely motivated by the prospect of an increase in GDP. None of them pay adequate attention to environmental protection. Frequently we hear people say that Chinese living standards are too low and that the most urgent thing is to develop the economy. They hold that environmental protection should be an issue of secondary importance. But in fact, China is the last country that can hold this view. The country has too many people and few natural resources; China does not have the capacity to take on this burden. The sustainable development model is the only model of development for China. We must set in place a series of practical policies and regulations, call on citizens to participate in the environmental protection movement and strengthen our democratic and legal systems. Otherwise, sustainable development will become a mere slogan.

But how can we promote public participation in environmental protection?

First of all, we must understand clearly that public participation is the right and interest of the people endowed by law. The government has the obligation to respond to and to protect this right. Public participation is not a charitable measure offered to the public by the government. Nor is it the old model of a mass movement driven by the government. During wartime, the Party needed to mobilise the masses to fight for their rights. But nowadays, the Party has an administrative role, to govern the country by means of the law. Any country governed by law has to recognise and protect the rights of the people. Involving public participation in environmental protection should be an aspect by which to evaluate political performance; and should be based on the principles of the Party serving the public and the administration serving the people. It is a useful trial for the construction of socialist democracy and a demonstration of the advantages of the socialist system.

Secondly, environmental information must be made freely available. Disclosure is a tool for environmental management. We should recognise the public`s right to be informed about and to criticise environmental issues. By increasing the transparency of environmental information, the force of public opinion can put pressure on those who destroy the environment. In 1998, 35 countries from Europe and central Asia signed the Aarhus Convention in Demark, which ensure the public`s right to be informed about environmental issues. Now 40 countries have joined the Convention. China`s government has made many efforts to promote the disclosure of environmental information, including the publication of an annual environment report, a monthly report on the water quality of major rivers and a daily report on air quality. The mass media are also working hard on reporting environmental incidents. But the problem remains that it is very difficult for individuals to obtain environmental information from businesses or government. Where should the public turn for such information? Who can provide it? There is a lack of communication between the government and the public. Regulations on the disclosure of environmental information are the way to ensure the public`s right to be informed.

Thirdly, we must democratise decision-making on environmental issues. China`s Environmental Protection Law of 1989 states: “All units and individuals shall have the obligation to protect the environment and shall have the right to report on or file charges against units or individuals that cause pollution or damage to the environment.” The Law on Evaluation of Environmental Effects, implemented on September 1 2003, is of great significance. It stipulates that before approving any project that may affect the environment, the authorities must hold consultative meetings and public hearings to collect opinions from relevant organisations, experts and the public. The “environment interests” of Chinese citizens have, for the first time, been enshrined in law. The people have the right to know, to understand and to supervise public policy related to their environment. It also means that anyone preventing people from taking part in the decision-making process is breaking the law. But despite this, details of the conditions and procedures for public participation have not yet been clearly stipulated. That is to say, faced with a specific problem, the public still does not know how to participate. For example, some of the plans for China`s dam projects have raised many people`s concerns. But the expression of this concern is has been limited to a few articles published on the internet and meetings among experts. The public cannot find a way to participate. In the end, they have to turn their worries and complaints into legal appeals. We must, therefore, produce clear procedures for public participation in decision-making about large environmental projects.

The fourth key is public-interest environment litigation. This would mean that all citizens, communities, and government offices could bring a lawsuit to the national judiciary in their own name, on behalf of the wider public. Our current environmental law states that only the victims of environmental incidents have the right to bring such a lawsuit, and the case is regarded as a civil action. Since environmental rights do not only relate to individuals but also are the concern of wider society, they should be regarded as in the public interest, as they are in European and US environmental law. Because environmental lawsuits often involve very technical issues, those countries have put measures in place that help reduce the cost of environmental lawsuits for the public, and can help with technical knowledge. In order to strengthen China`s environmental law, we must enlarge the scope of those who can bring environmental lawsuits to include government environmental bodies, environmental protection organisations and the public.

Finally, we must strengthen our cooperation with environmental NGOs. The majority of China`s environmental NGOs, except for a very small number who take an extreme western environmentalist line without considering the country`s special characteristics, are positive and healthy, especially the youth groups who are volunteering for the environment. They love their country and are eager to make a contribution to society. They are promoting conservation out of concern for the environment. The government should give direction and support to these organisations. For example, the government can provide groups with professional training; build platforms for communication with the public; organise activities that involve environmental groups and public figures; and make arrangements to collect opinions on particular policies.

China`s increasing public environmental awareness, especially among the younger generation, is a reflection of the progress of our socialist democracy and political civilisation. It is the success of the concept of sustainable scientific development, and the hope for the future of the Chinese nation. This requires us to recognise and support the public`s right to be informed, to supervise and to take part in decision-making on environmental issues. Chinese people who have a sense of responsibility should actively participate in the cause of environmental protection and facilitate its development. The environmental cause is the most selfless cause promoted by the most selfless people. It needs more and more selfless people to make a contribution.

Pan Yue is deputy director of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). Part of a new generation of outspoken Chinese senior officials, Pan has given rise to a tide of environmental debate, attracting enormous attention and controversy. This is an edited extract of Pan’s essay Environmental Protection and Public Participation (2004).

Also by Pan Yue on chinadialogue: “The rich consume and the poor suffer the pollution”

Homepage photo by Mark Hobbs

“What planet do you live on?” Clearly a rhetorical question. The literal answer, of course, for all of us – the clued-up and the clueless alike – is Planet Earth. It`s the only planet we`ve got, and if we exhaust its resources there will be no rescue vessel leaving for some pristine, deep-space Eden. Earth is our self-contained spaceship, sustaining us in a hostile universe.

As the visionary designer R. Buckminster Fuller wrote in his 1963 book Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, regarding fossil fuels: “[W]e can make all of humanity successful through science`s world-engulfing industrial evolution provided that we are not so foolish as to continue to exhaust in a split second of astronomical history the orderly energy savings of billions of years` energy conservation aboard our Spaceship Earth. These energy savings have been put into our Spaceship`s life-regeneration-guaranteeing bank account for use only in self-starter functions.”

Three years later (and 40 years ago now), the philosopher-economist Kenneth E. Boulding noted — in his essay The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth — the seemingly limitless resources of a reckless, exploitative “cowboy economy”. He added: “The closed economy of the future might similarly be called the %26lsquo;spaceman` economy, in which the earth has become a single spaceship, without unlimited reservoirs of anything, either for extraction or for pollution, and in which, therefore, man must find his place in a cyclical ecological system.”

The ideas of Fuller, Boulding and others are critically relevant today, as climate change accelerates. One initiative designed to promote life in a 21st century cyclical ecological system is One Planet Living. The vision of OPL — a joint initiative of the environmental group WWF and BioRegional, a British organisation dedicated to developing practical solutions for socially, economically and environmentally sustainable living – is a world in which everyone can live happily and healthily within their fair share of the earth`s resources. Addressing consumption, supply and values, its 10 holistic principles are: zero carbon, zero waste, sustainable transport, local and sustainable materials, local and sustainable food, sustainable water, natural habitats and wildlife, culture and heritage, equity and fair trade, and health and happiness.

Sumeet Manchanda, the international programme manager for OPL communities, notes that, “as a species, humanity`s ecological footprint has gone over the sustainable limit.” WWF`s biennial Living Planet Index, an indicator of the state of the world`s biodiversity, has been declining. From 1970 to 2003, the index fell by about 30%. WWF`s Living Planet Report 2006 confirms that the planet`s ecosystems are being degraded at an unprecedented rate in human history.

As is often remarked these days, if everyone in the world lived as western Europeans do, three planets would be required to support the earth`s population (and five if the United States is the measure). OPL argues that humans need to reduce their impact, their ecological footprint, to a “sustainable and globally equitable level”. To move in that direction, then – to help make the vision a reality — the organisation aims to build a global network of OPL communities, representing every continent. By 2010, OPL plans to establish the first of such communities in Portugal, the UK, North America, Australia, South Africa and – of course – China. Feasibility and site studies are under way in several places with large ecological footprints.

Xiaohong Chen — who grew up in northeastern China`s Liaoning province — is the One Planet Living country manager in China. A structural engineer in Nanjing`s building industry for eight years, she moved to the UK seven years ago and worked for a property and investment company. Chen joined BioRegional – a partner in developing the UK`s innovative BedZED eco-community — in 2005. As Bioregional and WWF move toward building an OPL flagship community in China, Chen`s role is to talk with potential developer partners, and she has done so in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Details on OPL projects in China have not been finalised, and some non-disclosure agreements are in place. But among the four projects on the drawing board is a development for about 20,000 people at Panyu, a district of Guangzhou – possibly with an open-air opera facility. And in Shanghai, a 700-home design is being worked on, with construction to begin in the next couple of years. Another Shanghai project, as well as one in Beijing, is under discussion.

(Globally, the furthest-along OPL site is the pioneering Portuguese project, the Mata de Sesimbra eco-tourism development, meant to be the world`s first integrated sustainable building, tourism, nature conservation and reforestation programme. The 8,000-unit project, which is approaching the start of construction and could eventually house 30,000 people, is on a 5,200-hectare site south of Lisbon. A key goal is forestry redevelopment, with a return of 4,600 hectares of degraded land to native woods.)

“I think everybody knows China has very high-speed economic growth and China consumes the highest percentage of natural resources in the world,” says Chen. “When it comes to the average person, it doesn`t look like a lot, but as a whole China is using more and more resources. Now it`s come to a crisis. China needs more resources to keep up economic growth.”

“At the moment,” she adds, “China has a problem with water for northern cities and has already found out that there`s not enough energy for the big cities, electricity and other resources. It`s more urgent for the Chinese government to find a sustainable way to develop a new city. Before you develop, often you`ve found out there`s nothing left. So it`s very important to develop in a sustainable way.”

Says Chen: “The biggest environmental problems facing China are energy and water. Chinese people have a higher living standard now and are starting to consume more energy. We have a shortage of electricity and the water is not clean enough. We have a lot of water, but it`s not drinkable.”

Pollution, Chen notes, presents a serious health problem in many areas of China. “The government has policies to encourage industries to produce in an efficient way, especially in the building construction industry,” she says, “and there are new regulations saying new buildings have to be 50% more energy efficient than in the past. The problem is that, in reality, I haven`t seen anything very good in practice. There are government and university research-study projects, but they are not in the industry-mainstream practice. So we want to bring this idea into the mainstream.”

“All the developers – private, state-owned — can do it, and it doesn`t cost them more,” Chen adds. “They still get the benefit, and the people who live there get benefit, too. We want to show people that it is possible to live in a zero-carbon community and at the same time enjoy a high quality of life.”

In promoting sustainable development, OPL also advances the concept of ecological footprinting – a measure and management tool for estimating the gap between humanity`s resource demands and the planet`s biological capacity. As a planet, the earth is in ecological overshoot. From 1961 to 2000, China`s footprint has grown considerably; in net terms over those four decades, the country has moved from using about 0.8 times its domestic biocapacity to twice that amount, according to the Global Footprint Network.

“Average Chinese people are using one planet,” Chen points out. “It sounds like we`re sustainable. But if you look into the cities, the people living there are using more than average European people. For example, Shanghai is consuming more than three planets by itself, and this figure is still increasing. Shanghai is higher than European levels. Most of the population living in the countryside hardly consume any energy. So when it comes to the average, we are using one planet. But more and more people are going to live in cities.”

And as China becomes more urban, the problem increases. Cities are booming, Chen says, but growth is difficult to plan and difficult to accommodate. People in cities commute, creating greater problems in transport and other areas. Developers – with profits in mind — are copying that model, Chen says, but “the best thing is to take good experience from others, but not to copy them.”

“Our aim,” she explains, “is to use our experience to help local people to develop a zero-carbon community, and using local knowledge and local resources as much as we can.” That way, impractical and inefficient practices can be avoided. For example, Chen says: “A lot of private developments don`t put the environment issue into their projects, and also their land use in the past has not been very well organised. They have taken agricultural land to expand, to become city land. They should think more about how to use the land efficiently and keep the ecological value of the land, not destroy the existing value. And use wasteland to build their new buildings.”

Also, adds Chen, “we need to think about how to reduce carbon dioxide.” Building housing, shops and workplaces in areas where people can travel on foot or by bicycle, rather than by car, is one way. “Another issue is how to change people`s attitudes about well-being – not to have a car to show off that you`re rich. What is a good life? What is a comfortable life, a happy life? Chinese people, once they have money, first go and buy a house and a car. In the past, we`ve used bicycles a lot. This is a good aspect of our culture and people should not lose it.”

Chen is pleased that China will be hosting the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, which she views as an incentive toward improving Beijing`s air quality. “We want to show good things to the outside world,” she says. “I think the Olympics will help China, in a way, to develop a green beauty, and green technology.”

In her days as a structural engineer, Chen says, Chinese developers met building standards but were not thinking very much about insulation, or how to use natural resources, or how to develop their own energy sources. “We didn`t have this kind of element in our design.” But Chen herself thought about the environmental aspects, she says, and how things could be done differently. She dreamed back then, she said, of future buildings with “an intelligent green beauty”.

Now, as OPL`s manager for China, Chen has her chance. Having last worked in the country in 1990, she is keen to be involved with developers who share her vision, and OPL`s. “I feel this is a fantastic opportunity – it`s my dream,” she says. “I`m really looking forward to seeing a real sustainable community being built in China — and we`ll show it off to the whole world.”

Maryann Bird is a London-based journalist with a special interest in environmental and human-rights issues. A writer and editor, she was previously a staff member at Time magazine (Europe), The Independent, the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times.

Also about one planet living on chinadialogue: Watching a living planet