An Internet-based information network has played an important role in helping the public share scientific knowledge in various sectors, sources from the Ministry of Science and Technology said.
The network is expected to play an important role in fuelling China's long-term strategy of propelling national economic and social progress through information technology in time for the start of the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05), said Vice-Minister Li Xueyong in Beijing yesterday.
The government-subsidized network, which is based in Beijing and managed by the Administration Center for China's Agenda 21 - a long-term blueprint for China's sustainable development - will be updated with information about bio-diversity, agriculture, forestry, natural reserves, land resources, economy, geology and mineral resources, oceanography, environmentally friendly technology, meteorology and natural disasters.
Li encouraged the center to provide timely and up-to-date services to give governments at all levels a scientific basis on which to make policies.
The network was built in 1997 by specialists from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Development Planning Commission, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Land Resources, the State Environmental Protection Administration and State bureaus of seismology, oceanography, forestry and meteorology.
It was designed after a suggestion in 1995 that the State build facilities to share knowledge resources in industry, agriculture and other economic sectors. Users can log on at any time to www.sdinfo.net.cn to search for information.
Sustainable development was a theme put forward at the United Nations' congress of environment and development, which took place in 1992 in the Brazilian capital Rio de Janeiro. It sets out ways to maintain global economic development in harmony with population, the environment and natural resources.
China implemented the sustainable development strategy in 1994. To date, most provinces, municipalities or autonomous regions have incorporated it into their regional economic and social development plans, according to the center’s director, Wang Weizhong.
More effort will be made to help regional governments approach scientific policies with the support of cyber-information services, said Wang.
(China Daily 01/22/2001)
