The vice-minister of the State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) told a national forum in Beijing yesterday that more emphasis needs to be put on strategic-level environmental impact assessment, rather than simply on a case-by-case basis.

"During previous deliberations on significant economic policies, national strategic assessment has been neglected, with little consideration of environmental impact. This has resulted in large-scale pollution and ecological destruction," said Pan Yue.

He was speaking at the 8th Green China Forum themed "Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment and Sustainable Development" this year.

"Before, attention was only paid to assessment of specific construction projects," Pan said. "However, construction is the last link in the decision making chain, so assessment at this point has only a small influence and cannot protect the wider environment or guide policymaking."

Impact assessment planning should involve working out a framework in line with five major resources: energy, freshwater, arable land, mineral and biological resources.

September 1 marks the second anniversary of the promulgation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Law, which Pan said provides strong legal support for the establishment of strategic assessment.

Forum participants said China's increasing rates of consumption of energy and raw materials largely exceed its GDP growth.

They said crude oil consumption was 7.4 percent of the world total, raw coal 31 percent, iron ore 30 percent and aluminium oxide 25 percent. However, GDP only accounted for 4 percent of the world's total.

(China Daily August 29, 2005)