Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) can provide the most
powerful support system for China to realize sustainable
development and establish a conservation culture, said Pan Yue,
deputy director of the State Environmental
Protection?Administration (SEPA).
Q: Why do you think strategic environmental
assessment (SEA) is important for China?
A: SEA can provide the most powerful support
system for China to realize sustainable development and establish a
conservation culture. President Hu Jintao said in his political
report at the just concluded 17th National Congress of the
Communist Party of China (CPC) that the country would promote a
conservation culture on its way to building a moderately prosperous
society. It's believed to be the first such call in a keynote
political document.
The culture of conservation needs harmony among the economy, the
people, the environment and resources, based on different functions
of environmental resources. To reach such harmony, it needs SEA
that stresses integration of environmental consideration with
land-resources development and industrial development plans.
SEA is the most effective and fundamental measure to curb
environmental deterioration caused by unscientific plans of
industrial distribution and structure.
What the country is going to do today is what it failed to
yesterday. Take the outbreak of blue algae in East China's Taihu
Lake this year, for example. The basic reason for the algae
outbreak is the high density of industrial development (around the
lake) - about 10 plants per square km, a high population density
(more than 1,000 people per square km). That's much more than the
capacity the local environment can handle. Lack of environmental
planning has led to such a state.
Without SEA, projects that consume high amounts of energy and
cause heavy pollution will be started without a thought for the
environment. Without SEA, there will be more conflicts between
urban construction and industrial development and the environment.
Without SEA, the gap of environmental quality between the east and
west will widen. And without SEA, environmental management of river
basins and ecological regions will keep suffering because of
administrative split.
Q: You have said the biggest difficulty in
curbing pollution emission is the rampant development of heavy
industries. Which industries need to have SEA urgently?
A: Thermal power generation, iron and steel,
coal-chemical, petrochemical, electrolyte aluminum, cement, coke,
calcium carbide and iron alloy are in urgent need of SEA.
Take thermal power industry for example. Four years ago, the
installed capacity of thermal power generation was more than 300
gigawatts (GW). Today it's more than 600 GW. And in the next five
years, it is estimated to reach 1,200 GW.
The fast growth has not gone through a prudent plan. Even the
distribution and structure haven't. The Yangtze River and Pearl
River deltas, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have a high
concentration of thermal power plants, causing serious air
pollution.
Moreover, the structure of the power industry is not proper. By
the end of last year, units using renewable energy only accounted
for 0.12 percent of China's total power generation capacity. Small
power units below 100 megawatts (MW) made up nearly 24 percent of
the total, creating a big obstacle in the country's energy-saving
and pollution-reducing goal.
The problem is caused by lack of environmental planning.
Q: Energy, especially coal, supports the
development of heavy industries. Of late, several big energy bases
have come up in Northwest China. The region is ecologically very
important. So how do we harmonize energy and ecology through
SEA?
A: The situation is very serious. In recent
years, the Ningxia Hui and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions and
Shaanxi Province, which are rich in coal in the upper and middle
reaches of the Yellow River, have initiated ambitious plans for
energy and chemical projects.
For example, the city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia has set up four
duplicated coal-chemical bases. Ordos plans to produce 200 million
tons of coal and 7 million tons of coal-chemical products, as well
as have 15 GW of installed power generation capacity by 2010.
How do we unify the distribution plan of the coal-chemical
industry across provinces? How do we solve the problems of demand
for and insufficiency of water? And how do we stop the ecological
deterioration caused by chemical plants? To tackle all these we
need SEA.
Q: Several conflicts have been reported between
urban life and industrial operation in recent years. Can we solve
them through SEA?
A: Most cities in China didn't take environment
into consideration while chalking out their urban development plan.
Some of the plans were mapped out without much thought, such as
developing real estate in industrial bases, or setting up plants
among communities. Because of the high cost involved in demolishing
or removing them, it's hard to get rid of them now. Residents
living nearby such plants have been exposed to high environmental
risks, sometimes leading to large-scale accidents.
Environmental impact assessment has to be introduced into urban
development plans to solve the problem. Intensive public
participation, too, is needed. That's the reason for SEPA's
insistence on integrating public participation into the draft of
SEA regulation.
Q: If the State Environmental Protection
Administration (SEPA) does not approve of such urban plans, will
the environmental protection authorities have the power to suspend
them?
A: No. SEPA does not have that right.
Independent environmental assessment institutions conduct SEA. Only
after that does SEPA summon its related departments to study the
SEA report provided by them and give its final suggestions on
environmental protection for a development plan.
But adopting the SEA report and suggestions from environmental
officials have to be decided by local governmental departments in
charge of the plan, such as local development and reform
commissions and transport departments.
Q: If SEA has no decisive influence in
rejecting a plan that poses potential threat to the environment, as
you said, why do you still try to promote SEA?
A: Despite not having the crucial influence,
promotion of SEA still has its positive impacts. It enables
discussion on issues related to urban planning, which were not open
to the public before. This is the biggest achievement: giving the
public access.
The Environmental Impact Assessment Law only gives a guideline
for SEA. It doesn't have the authority to put it into practise. The
SEA draft regulation will work out the detailed measures.
Q: Legislation of SEA regulation was started
two years ago. But it's yet to be completed. Why is the process so
slow? Did it meet some obstacles?
A: The SEA regulation was expected to be
completed in September this year. But it has been postponed because
of differing voices from different sides.
Frankly speaking, the legislation has met some obstacles, mostly
because of concerns of short-term interests. Since SEA stresses
long-term interests and sustainable development, it contradicts the
pursuit of quick gains of some locals and departments.
Q: Has deferring of the SEA legislation made
people compare it with the delay in the issuing of the 2006
environmentally adjusted GDP report?
A: The two are not comparable. But efforts to
establish a scientific outlook of development and conservation
culture will be painstaking in China because they will break the
existing structure of gains and devise new rules. It's like playing
a game. But if the setback can be traded for any achievement, I am
confident to hit the target in the end.
I have urged all the departments involved to cooperate and push
forward the legislation because that would expand environmental
protection administration's authority. And that's the demand of
scientific outlook of development.
(China Daily November 13, 2007)
