China will set up 40 to 50 key ecological protection zones during the next five years in several regions in an effort to stem the tide of environmental destruction that has been taking place in recent years, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

During the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), SEPA plans to establish 12 State-level ecological protection zones at the source regions of the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe, Liaohe and Pearl rivers. The Dongting and Poyang lakes, Heihe, Songhuajiang River, Nenjiang and Tarim rivers and the erosion-control areas at the northern foot of the Yinshan Mountain will also be included in the establishment of protection zones.

Different from nature reserves, where human activities are prohibited, the new ecological protection zones will allow limited human activities. According to Yang Chaofei, head of the ecological protection department under SEPA, people will be permitted to use the zones, but only in a way that is consistent with the idea of ecological protection.

All forms of production and activities that are destructive to the environment will be forbidden in the new zones, and all projects which cause serious environmental pollution will also be banned, Yang added.

In addition, population growth will be strictly controlled in the protection regions and residents will be resettled if a zone's population grows beyond certain predetermined capacities, he explained.

The country needs the establishment of these zones because damage to the environment in China is increasing, the SEPA official said.

Human activities are seriously harming the environment, and current protection efforts can't keep pace with destructive activities, according to Yang.
Major problems related to China's environment include the contradiction between extensive economic development and the limited ecological capacity to bear that development, and the inconsistency between people's growing demands on the environment and the deterioration of ecology, he said.

According to SEPA statistics, the area covered by the protection zones will account for 13 percent of the total land area of China.

Among other environmental efforts China plans to undertake in the next five years is the rehabilitation of 15 percent of the areas which have been ecologically destroyed by mineral exploration. China also plans to raise the livestock industry sewage treatment rate to 100 percent.

Human destruction of the eco-system will be punished and the deterioration of the environment will be monitored in China throughout the next five years, Yang promised.

(Xinhua 11/28/2000)