Environment
Solutions and pathways for China’s sustainable development.
According to The Climate Group, the question is not whether China can achieve a low carbon economy, but rather, how they will do it.
Thirty of China’s thirty-two largest cities and four hundred of its six hundred largest municipalities face serious water shortages and deterioration of water quality. In order to produce one unit of GDP, China uses seven to fifteen times more water than OECD countries. Water prices in China do not reflect the reality of supply and demand. China’s average water price is 70% to 80% below water prices in countries with no water shortage.
The Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) documented a decade long World Bank project located in the north central China Loess Plateau, which dramatically and successfully transformed an area larger than Belgium from a totally devastated wasteland into a fully functional eco-system. This experience is now being transferred from China to successful national and local efforts in Africa in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. The UNEP and other organizations are cooperating to share this knowledge globally.
Wu Changhua talks about China’s green energy policies, including solar and bio fuels, as well as standards and technologies implemented to make traditional sources more efficient.
She also discusses how China’s photovoltaic (PV) cell industry depends heavily on the international markets, and suffered when the financial crisis shrank the demand for solar PV cells on a global scale. This pushed the government to implement measures to build the local market and secure the survival of the local solar PV industry.
Ms. Wu talks about China’s strategy to balance economic growth with sustainable development. As the world’s most populous country and foremost exporter, China faces a difficult challenge to prevent its economic miracle from turning into an environmental tragedy. She emphasizes China’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions, and its success in keeping a rather ambitious schedule in switching to alternative energy. In this way, the giant of the east sets an example for other countries around the world.
In China many people share the incorrect belief that more development must mean less nature. Tammy Turner suggests that Taiwan’s experience is a good reference, since an increasing number of people are leading both prosperous and eco-friendly lives through Permaculture. This type of environmental economics is not a zero-sum game.
Since China’s economic reform programs began, its rapid economic growth has lifted over five hundred million people out of poverty. This accomplishment has been achieved at the price of great risk to national and regional environmental stability threatening the well-being of those living in damaged areas. While China has some of the most stringent and progressive environmental legislation in the world, their effectiveness is hampered by lax enforcement. Professor Hardiman highlights the challenges and opportunities for China as it faces the economic-environmental conundrum
There is a popular myth that China does not have enough water to satisfy the needs of its own population and industry. Professor Hardiman exposes the truth behind water shortage, that inefficient infrastructure and failed water-education and management result in a culture of wastefulness. Solving this dilemma is represents a lucrative opportunity for companies, and a brighter future for China.
Dr. Anwar discusses trends and opportunities for clean technology companies in China, as well as Long Runn Investment Group’s role in developing this sector by developing public/private partnerships that create new efficiencies and synergies along the entire supply chain.
The Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) documented a decade long World Bank project located in the north central China Loess Plateau, which dramatically and successfully transformed an area larger than Belgium from a totally devastated wasteland into a fully functional eco-system. This experience is now being transferred from China to successful national and local efforts in Africa in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. The UNEP and other organizations are cooperating to share this knowledge globally.
