Environmental protection has been a basic national policy since
the 1980s. The State Environmental Protection Committee was
established in 1984 and the first Environmental Protection Law
formally issued in 1989. After the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in 1992, China was one of the first
countries to formulate and carry out a strategy of sustainable
development. In 1993, the Environmental Resources Committee of the
NPC was set up. So far, the state has promulgated eight laws for
environmental protection, 14 laws for management of natural
resources and 35 regulations on environmental protection.
Environmental protection authorities have publicized over 100
national environmental protection regulations and more than 1,000
local ones.?
Responding to stresses on natural resources caused by fast economic
growth, development and urbanization, the state at the turn of the
21st century responded with a "green strategy" that includes
developing a revolving economy, increasing resource-use efficiency;
developing clean production, reducing pollution cost in production
processes; developing green consumption, reducing ecological impact
of consumption; developing new energy resources, reforming
production methods, moving toward ecological industrial
civilization, and creating a balanced ecological
environment.?
Environmental protection is changing from the down-stream,
after-the-event management of the past to today's whole-process
supervision and control. The Cleaner Production Promotion Law and
the Environment Impact Assessment Law, which went into effect on
January 1 and September 1, 2003 respectively, provide guarantees to
implement this strategy. The former requires full control over all
the production links -- from production design, choice of energy
resources and raw materials, technology, equipment maintenance, to
waste recycling -- so as to reduce pollution and promote resource
recycling. The latter requires all authorities at city level and
above to make environmental impact assessments when making plans
for land use, construction and development of districts, river
basins and sea areas. In October 2002 the State Environmental
Protection Administration authorized the presence of specialized
personnel at the 13 key national projects to assess and control
their environmental impact. These projects included the laying of
railroad lines in Qinghai Province and Tibet and the laying of
pipeline transporting natural gas from western China to the eastern
coastal areas.
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