Achievements of "One Control and Double Attainments"
In 1999, the discharge of twelve industrial major pollutants in the whole country was lower than the requirements designated in the total pollutant discharge control plan for the year 2000. According to the statistics of 234218 industrial enterprises with pollution, 189578 of them have attained the standards, the rate being 80.9%. Among the 17925 key industrial enterprises with pollution that account for 65% of the major pollutant discharge in the whole country, 12391 of them have attained the standards, the rate being 69.1%.
In the 47 key environmental protection cities, 16 cities have reached the standards, accounting for 34.0% and 29 cities have attained the surface water environmental quality, accounting for 61.7%.
There are 175 prefectures and cities in the Two-Control District that have finished SO2 Pollution Prevention Program and passed the inspection and acceptance of State Environmental Protection Administration. Eighty-five percent of the prefecture and municipality programs have been ratified by the local people's government. The two key sectors - electricity and coal industry have finished the SO2 pollution prevention program. The national pollution prevention program of the Two-Control-District is being submitted to the State Council. With the implementation of various measures, SO2 has been reduced by almost 800,000 tons in the Two-Control-District since 1996.
The result of the quantitative inspection of the comprehensive urban environmental treatment of the 46 key environmental protection cities in 1999 indicates that the leading ten cities are Guilin, Qingdao, Ninbo, Fuzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu, Nanjin, Hefei, Wenzhou, Xi'an (Shenzhen, Dalian, Zhuhai, Xiamen, Yantai, Haikou, Shantou and Suzhou are national model cities of environmental protection. The result of the inspection is better than that of the other cities inspected. However, these eight cities do not participate in the sequence of the leading ten cities).
Laws and Regulations In 1999, the State Environmental Protection Administration issued the Management Measures of Environmental Impact Assessment Qualification Certificates of the Construction Projects, Management Measures of the Operation Qualification of Environmental Protection Facilities, Management Measures of Environmental Standards, Management Measures of Disseminating National Key Practical Environmental Protection Technologies, Management Measures of the Movement of Hazardous Waste and Management Measures of the Environmental Functional zones in Coastal Marine Areas.
Criteria In 1999, the State Environmental Protection Administration issued one national environmental quality standards, seven pollutant discharge (control) standards and 32 sector standards of environmental protection. There were altogether 427 national environmental standards, among which, there were 361 national environmental standards and 66 sector standards.
ISO 14000 Verification By the end of 1999, there were 200 enterprises with ISO 14000 verification certificates. The demonstration of the cities with ISO 14000 was completed successfully. Nine of the 13 demonstration cities passed the check and acceptance of the State Environmental Protection Administration. State Environmental Protection Administration organized the national demonstration zone of ISO 14000 and Suzhou New Zone was the first national demonstration zone for ISO 14000. Environmental Label In 1999, State Environmental Protection Administration issued 16 technical requirements of environmental label products. There were 45 technical requirements for
environmental label products altogether. The Second Phase of China Verification Committee of Environmental Label Products was set up and the departments of the Committee expanded from the original five ones into eleven ones. In 1999, there were 108 products that obtained the verification of China environmental label products.
Approval of Construction Project In 1999, there were 102,382 newly constructed projects that should obtain environmental impact approval, among which there were 94,905 projects conducting approval procedure of environmental impact assessment report (form), the implementation of environmental impact assessment being 90.4%. State Environmental Protection Administration finished the review of 188 environmental impact assessment report and 8 of the reports were not approved. There were 24 environmental impact assessment forms being reviewed. There were 22,985 projects that should implement Three Simultaneity Inspection and Acceptance. The actual implementation number was 22,522, among which 21,639 projects passed the inspection and acceptance. The implementation of Three Simultaneity was 98.0%. State Environmental Protection Administration conducted inspection and acceptance of the environmental protection facilities of 55 large-sized and extraordinarily large-sized construction project.
Review of Environmental Impact Assessment Qualification In 1999, State Environmental Protection Administration conducted overall review of the institutions with national level A certificates of environmental assessment and cancelled the level A certificates of environmental impact assessment of ten institutions. According to the results of the inspection, the environmental protection bureaus at local level also cancelled and terminate the level B certificates of environmental impact assessment of 31 institutions. In the whole country, there were 191 institutions with level A certification and 524 institutions with level B certificates.
The newly increased tap-water production capacity was 5.62 million m3 and the daily coal-gas production capacity was 2.02 million m3. The storage of natural gas capacity was 220,000 million m3. The daily urban sewage treatment capacity was 2.24 million m3. The newly increased annual garbage treatment amount was 4.86 million tons and the newly increased road length was 3032 kilometres.
In 1999, the Central Government increased 60 billion yuan national debts and enhanced the investment of infra-structure construction. As to the arrangements of the investment projects of the national debt bonds, the urban infra-structure construction of environmental protection, pollution treatment of "Three Rivers and Three Lakes", comprehensive environmental treatment in Beijing and localization of environmental protection equipment were regarded as the important fields for the investment. In 1999, a total amount of 13.8 billion yuan of the national debt bonds was arranged for the above-mentioned environmental protection projects, accounting for 23.1% of the 60 billion yuan national debt bonds.
China Trans-Century Green Engineering Program (hereinafter referred to as Green Engineering Program) has been implemented for three years, with stage achievements made. By the end of 1999, 1,053 projects of the Green Engineering Program were finished or were kicked off, accounting for 72.0% of the total projects. The total investment was 90.3 billion yuan, accounting for 60.2% of the total investment of the projects. The completion and the commencement of the projects shows that the rate of commencement and completion in the coastal provinces and municipalities is rather high and the rate of commencement and completion in 16 provinces (municipalities) is over 80%.
In 1999, State Environmental Protection Administration named Haikou, Shantou and Suzhou as national environmental protection model cities, and Minxing District in Shanghai and Dagang District in Tianjin as national environmental protection model urban areas. By the end of 1999, there were 14 model cities of environmental protection in the whole country and 2 model urban areas. The national environmental protection model cities achieved "Double Attainments" one year ahead (by the end of 1999, the industrial pollution sources discharge and urban environmental quality in functional zones had attained the standards.)
The international exchanges and cooperation in the field of environmental protection in China has been further enhanced. During the visit of Premiere Zhu Rongji in the United States and Canada, Chinese environmental delegation signed seven letter of intent on environmental protection with the United States and singed "Sino-Canadian Action Plan of Environmental Protection" with Canada.
China has actively participated in the negotiation of international environmental conventions and protocols, as well as the 20th Governing Council of UNEP, Special Session of Parties to the Convention on Bio-Diversity, the 7th Meeting of UN CSD and the COP 5 of Basel Convention. The 11th Meeting of Parties to the Montreal Protocol and the 5th Meeting of COP to the Vienna Convention was convened in Beijing from 29 November 1999 to 3 December 1999. President Jiang Zemin and Vice Premiere Wen Jiabao participated in the meeting. At the meeting, Beijing Declaration was adopted.
In 1999, China signed bilateral cooperation agreement on environmental protection with Columbia. By the end of 1999, China had singed 30 bilateral environmental protection agreements or MoU with 27 countries, and signed cooperation agreements of nuclear safety with ten countries. The first tripartite ministerial meeting of China, Japan and Korea was convened at which the Joint Communiqué of the Tripartite Environmental Ministerial Meeting was signed.
By the end of 1999, there were 668 cities in the whole country, with a population of 375.9 million and the urban area was 812,817.6 km2, among which the constructed area was 21,524.5 km2. The population density in urban areas was 462 people/km2, with 3 people increased than that in the previous year. The urbanization level was 30.9%, with 0.5% over the previous year.
In the whole year, the amount of the garbage and night soil cleaned up was 142.85 million tons. The medium and large cities were cleaned up every day. The disposal capacity of the garbage and night soil was 88.30 million tons, the treatment rate being 61.8%, with 3.4% over the previous year.
BEIJING DECLARATION ON RENEWED COMMITMENT TO
THE PROTECTIONOF THE OZONE LAYERWe, the Ministers of the Environment and heads of delegations of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer,
Having participated, at the invitation of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, in the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Eleventh Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, from 29 November to 3 December 1999, in Beijing, China,
Having held in-depth discussions on important issues relating to the protection of the ozone layer and the implementation of the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol,
Recalling the achievements made to date in this field, while earnestly seeking to address the challenges that we will face in the future,
Reaffirming, at the threshold of a new millennium, our commitment to the protection of the ozone layer through a serious implementation of the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol in order to achieve the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances to protect the environmental security of present and future generations,
Declare:
1. That we are pleased to note that major progress has been achieved in the implementation of the Montreal Protocol in the past decade since the Helsinki Declaration was adopted, as testified by the fact that the Parties not operating under paragraph 1 of Article 5 have largely ceased the production and consumption of CFCs from 1 January 1996, while the Parties operating under paragraph 1 of Article 5 have committed themselves to freezing their production and consumption of CFCs at the average level of the period 1995-1997, from 1 July 1999;
2. That we are further pleased to note that the reduction and phase-out of other ozone-depleting substances are also proceeding in line with or in some cases faster than the control measures we have agreed upon in the past Meetings of the Parties and welcome the further progress agreed upon at this Meeting of the Parties;
3. That we take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for the efforts made towards this progress by Governments, international organizations, industry, experts and other relevant groups;
4. That we are fully aware, however, that we cannot afford to rest on our laurels, since scientists have informed us that the ozone hold has reached record proportions and that ozone layer recovery is a long way from being achieved;
5. That we are keenly aware that the Parties will face new challenges, as we have now entered a new period of substantive reduction of ozone-depleting substances from 1 July 1999 and, therefore, must ensure the continuation and development of our significant financial and technical cooperation under paragraph 1 of Article 10 of the Montreal Protocol, to enable all countries to take full advantage of benefits offered by the latest technological advances, including the continuation of initiatives to ensure funding for the low-volume-consuming countries;
6. That we therefore appeal to all of the Parties to demonstrate a stronger political will and take more effective action to fulfil their obligations under the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol, and to urge all States that have not yet done so to ratify, approve or accede to the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments;
7. That we also appeal to the relevant Parties to take all appropriate measures to address illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances and to safeguard the achievements attained to date;
8. That we call upon the Parties not operating under paragraph 1 of Article 5 to continue to maintain adequate funding and to promote the expeditious transfer of environmentally sound technologies, under the Montreal Protocol, to the Parties operating under paragraph1 of Article 5, to help them fulfil their obligations; and also call upon Parties operating under paragraph 1 of Article 5 to take all appropriate measures necessary to secure the efficient use of the resources provided by Parties not operating under paragraph 1 of Article 5;
9. That we further appeal to the international community to demonstrate more concern for the issues of ozone layer protection and for the protection of the global atmosphere in general, taking into account the need to promote social and economic development in all countries.
The First Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting
among China, Japan, and Korea
13 January 1999, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Joint Communique
- At the invitation of CHOI Jae-wook, Minister of Environment of the Republic of Korea, Minister XIE Zhenhua of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) of the People’s Republic of China and Minister MANABE Kenji of the Environment Agency of Japan visited Seoul, Korea and they held the China-Japan-Korea Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting (TEMM) in Seoul Korea on 13 January 1999. The ministers also paid a courtesy call to H.E. President KIM Dae-jung at Chong Wa Dae.
- The ministers expressed their concerns about ongoing environmental degradation in the Northeast Asian region resulting from the dynamic development of the region, despite individual nation’s efforts to prevent environmental pollution.
- The ministers shared the view that the following areas of cooperation should be given priority: raising awareness that the three countries are in the same environmental community; activating information exchange; strengthening cooperation in environmental research; fostering cooperation in the field of environmental industry and on environmental technology; pursuing appropriate measures to prevent air pollution and to protect the marine environment; and strengthening cooperation on addressing global environmental issues, such as bio-diversity and climate change. They also expressed their intention to cooperate to tackle these issues.
- The ministers reached common recognition that it is desirable to make use of the existing frameworks to the maximum extent to implement the results of the meeting. However, they also resolved that, if the existing frameworks are inadequate, either forming working groups or designating contact points would be appropriate for setting up action plans to implement the results of the meeting.
- The ministers decided to promote raising awareness of the three countries’ “environmental community” and fostering information exchange among the environmental agencies as the first initiatives of the TEMM, and they expressed their intention to actively promote: the exchange of personnel and the enhancement of communication measures among the three environmental agencies, exchanges and cooperation between local governments. The ministers also expressed their intention to designate contact points for promoting these initiatives.
- The ministers shared their views on the significant importance of addressing the issue of climate change and ensuring the early entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol through the widest possible cooperation by all countries. For this purpose, the ministers reached common recognition to strengthen their domestic actions to the maximum possible extent, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities, respective capabilities, and their social and economic conditions.
- The ministers decided that they would hold the Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting basically every year in turn, and that they may meet in the hosting country or on the occasion of international forums attended by the three ministers.
It was decided that the host for the second TEMM in 2000 would be determined at a later date through mutual consultation, and that the host country would notify the other countries of the time and venue later on. The ministers confirmed that the agenda for the 2nd TEMM would be adopted after mutual consultation.
- The ministers expressed their satisfaction with the friendly atmosphere and fruitful outcome of the first meeting, which has greatly contributed to strengthening environmental cooperation among the three countries. Minister XIE Zhenhua and Minister MANABE Kenji expressed their gratitude for the warm hospitality extended by the hosting country.
XIE ZHENHUA
MINISTER, STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ADMINISTRATION
PEOPLE' S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
MANABE KENJI
MINISTER OF STATE, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN
CHOI JAE-WOOK
MINISTER, MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
