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Gov't to increase public role in ecology
By Wu Gang (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-05-29 08:50 The Chinese Government will
improve policy and legal systems to ensure the public take part and play an
important role in environmental protection.
Addressing the Scientific Development Conference in Beijing, Pan Yue, deputy
director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said the
country's environment was getting worse.
"The pollution and ecosystem damage are more and more serious. Treatment
never catches up with the destruction, and public discontent grows greater," Pan
said.
Growing population, shrinking resources, inadequate environmental capacity
and out-of-date production and consumption models are to blame
"But from a deeper perspective,lack of public participation is another
serious problem," he said.
Different from Western countries, China started its environmental protection
movement not from the ordinary citizens, but at the top.
The government has implemented a large number of laws and regulations on
environmental protection since the 1970s when State leaders realized the lessons
of developed countries.
A regulation in 1978 stipulated that places where pollution was serious, and
where attitudes were resistant to change,would lead to the sacking or even legal
punishment of local government officials.
"But how many officials have been punished for pollution? And how many wrong
local policies were corrected? Not many," said Pan.
A series of practical, enforceable regulations and laws should be issued to
encourage and protect participation of people from all walks of life in
environmental protection. And democratic supervision of the implementation of
the laws should be strengthened, he said.
To this end, the government should first make environmental information
available to the public.
The government has been publicizing information of daily air condition,
monthly river water quality and annual environment conditions, but it was still
a problem for an individual to inquire relevant data from the government or an
enterprise.
"We should begin to draft some regulations to ensure the transparency of
environmental information," said Pan.
He also pointed out the absence of regulations detailing the public's
participation in environment-related decision making, though a law put into
effect last year has made it clear major projects that might affect the public
environment should not be started until public hearings are held.
Friday's conference, the first of a series of events to celebrate the June 5
World Environment Day in Beijing, featured a number of domestic and world
environmental gurus, including Denis Hayes, co-founder of Earth Day and Lester
Brown, author of "Who Will Feed China?"
There were also Maurice Strong, under secretary general and special adviser
to the Secretary General of the UN and Qu Geping, former director of the Chinese
environmental authority.
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