To the environmentally conscious, the recent comments by China's
leaders are encouraging.
At the just-concluded 17th National Congress of the Communist Party
of China (CPC), CPC Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao
called on the Party to build an "ecological civilization" while
reiterating the Scientific Outlook on Development, which features
putting people first and ensuring comprehensive, harmonious and
sustainable development.
At the 15th Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Sydney, Australia, in
September, Hu, in his capacity as president of China, put forward
an initiative to set up an Asia-Pacific Network on Forest
Rehabilitation and Sustainable Management in order to better tackle
global problems presented by climate change.
Prior to this proposal, China's State Forestry Administration
and the Ministry of Commerce jointly released in August the
Guidelines for Sustainable Forestry Management by Chinese
Enterprises Operating Overseas.
According to Chinese officials, this was the first document in
the world aimed at regulating the overseas operations of a
country's businesses with regard to sustainable development.
Collectively, these developments mean Chinese enterprises going
overseas for new investment opportunities must be more socially
responsible and conscious of their impact on the environment. More
than that, they mark a departure from the conventional approach to
globalization, in which advanced industries often enrich themselves
at the expense of other nations' environments.
The Scientific Outlook on Development and the forestry
guidelines push Chinese enterprises to do more than just abide by
the law in their host countries. They must also contribute to local
efforts to manage and preserve the environment and develop
communities even if these are not provided for by local
legislation.
According to the guidelines, a Chinese enterprise that has
timber operations overseas must conduct an environmental impact
assessment of its project before it enters the host country. It
must also make sure its business will not create serious
environmental problems.
To hedge against possible hazardous impacts on local people, the
enterprise should also set aside funds for remedies or ecological
compensation to help local residents increase incomes and engage in
new environmentally friendly operations.
This represents a win-win model for all parties - Chinese
enterprises, host countries and local communities. It requires
managers to look beyond short-term profits. The concept of
ecological civilization and the Scientific Outlook on Development
will no doubt facilitate such a vision.
The effort to instill this vision in Chinese enterprises
reflects China's commitment to being a responsible power.
As Jin Jiaman, executive director of the Beijing-based Global
Environmental Institute (GEI), put it: "To be a responsible power
is not a mission of the government alone. Every enterprise, every
civil organization and every member of society has a share in
it."
A non-governmental organization providing market-based solutions
to environmental problems, GEI was a key presence behind the scenes
of the drafting of the overseas forestry management guidelines and
is working with several governmental and financing institutions to
thrash out some overall guidelines balancing the economic and
ecological impacts of Chinese enterprises operating overseas.
The effort to push Chinese enterprises to take the spirit of
China's green policies with them overseas represents a new approach
to globalization.
People have seen China's increasing imports of raw materials
like timber, ore and oil; and some people are anxious about its
impact on the environments of exporting countries.
Yet this big importer of these raw materials may not necessarily
be the exclusive consumer of them. Because China is something of a
factory for the world, a big proportion of the imported raw
materials are transformed into products that are sent to
industrialized countries in Europe and America.
In other words, many end consumers of the raw materials are not
in China. Yet China takes the heat for using resources at the
expense of other countries' environments.
China cannot simply opt to dump "dirty" industries and become
"cleaner", as many of its predecessors have done. In globalization,
there are always late-comers who step in to fill vacancies once the
early birds leave the woods for a better habitat.
If China simply dumps its polluting industries without changing
its pattern of development, other developing countries will easily
take over.
That is why we applaud the concept of an ecological civilization
and the idea of having green policies go overseas together with
Chinese enterprises. This arrangement could be the beginning of a
new mode of globalization - green globalization.
The model of globalization mobilized by the global capital has
been too "brown" and benefited too few. It has tarnished many
developing countries' air, water and land and deprived many people
of their health.
Based on the concepts of an ecological civilization and the
Scientific Outlook on Development, green globalization is sure to
become a popular way to make this planet a better place to live on
for everyone.
It may require time and difficult decisions to achieve the goals
of green globalization. But we have the conceptual framework,
determination and measures like the forestry guidelines on our
side.
The author is a council member of China Society for Human Rights
Studies.
(China Daily November 2, 2007)
