Program of Action for Sustainable Development in China in the Early 21st Century (Part III-1)

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, July 26, 2003

Program of Action for Sustainable Development in China in the Early 21st Century (Part III-1)

In the wake of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, the Chinese government published China's Agenda 21 - White Paper on China's Population, Environment and Development in the 21st Century as a platform document for guidingthe country's social and economic development. That document marked the beginning of the sustainable development process in China. To help implement the sustainable development strategy, this Program of Action for Sustainable Development in China in the Early 21st Century (hereinafter referred to as the "Program") is hereby promulgated.

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Part III: Priority Areas

1. Economic development

Adjust, dynamically, the industrial and regional economic structure as well as the urban-rural economic structure; participate actively in economic globalization; gradually achieve a strategic transformation of the national economy, so that economic growth will be based on lower consumption of resources and less pollution.

Industrial restructuring. Make strategic adjustments to agriculture and the rural economy; raise efficiency in the utilization of land and water resources and reduce environmental pollution and ecological deterioration. Restructure the crop-farming and animal-farming sectors, optimize the geographical distribution of farm production, promote industrialization of agriculture, and promote technical upgrading and institutional innovation in township enterprises. Restructure and retool industry and alleviate the pressure on resources and the environment by industrial development; transform and upgrade traditional industries with high technology and advanced, appropriate technology. Select a number of backbone enterprises for transformation and implement a number of high-tech projects. Develop vigorously the services sector to boost supply capacities and quality of services to meet growing demand; develop the real estate sector centering around housing construction; improve tourism infrastructure and supporting facilities; improve and boost community service facilities; transform and improve the traditional goods distribution, transportation and postal services;develop the information industry and promote the use of information technology in government, banking, foreign trade, radio and television, education, science and technology, medicine,public health, social security and public utilities sectors. Strengthen construction of infrastructure: boosting flood-control capacities centering around the harnessing of major rivers and lakes; step up the construction of major water-control projects such as the diversion of water from the south to the north; speed up the construction of key trunk line roads; and build and upgrademain railways.

Regional development and poverty alleviation. Redesign the regional structure and alleviate imbalances in regional development; step up the construction of water conservation, transportation, energy, telecommunications, radio and television facilities and urban infrastructure in western China through the implementation of poverty-relief projects and the Western Development program; accelerate the development of the local economies based on local features; raise the efficiency of resources utilization; and reduce discharge of pollutants. Gradually eliminate abject poverty and reduce relative poverty: continue to implement the development-as-relief program; implementa strategy of "government taking the lead and the public participating", taking an integrated approach to alleviate povertythat encompasses social, economic, ecological and environmental measures to improve the basic conditions for production and livelihood and medical care in poverty-stricken areas; actively and prudently proceed with the emigration program in ecologically fragile regions to enhance ecological conservation and restoration.

Urbanization and small-town development. Improve urban planning:actively develop medium and small-sized cities; improve the functions of regional hub cities and allow large cities to boost development of surrounding regions through their "radiating effect"; develop small towns in selected regions. Fine-tune the layout of administrative divisions and create an institutional framework,policy framework and planning system compatible with sustainable development in urban areas in China; actively and prudently promote the urbanization process in China; improve urban socioeconomic planning and guide the development of different types of towns. Develop unified markets for labor, capital and other factors across urban and rural areas and accelerate the shift of rural population to urban areas. Combine small-town development with the rational concentration of rural enterprises, improvement of rural market systems, and industrialization of agriculture including supporting services. Build up capacities of small towns to absorb rural populations; in particular, improve urban infrastructure so as to increase job opportunities. Improve the living conditions, public services and social services of towns. Improve urban community management; build and manage new orderly, civilized, harmonious communities and create a sound human settlement environment. Strengthen urban management, improvethe urban environment, create different styles of towns and cities, and improve the comprehensive management of towns and cities.

Economic globalization. Optimize the export goods mix and improve management of imports; increase the export of machinery and electronics products and high-tech products; restrict and prohibit the import and export of products and technologies that affect human health and safety and hurt the environment; graduallyraise the environmental and quality standards for import and export products and create a regulatory system that protects human,animal and plant health and the environment; develop internationaltrade and economic cooperation and attract foreign investment intoareas and regions that are encouraged by the state's industrial policy. Encourage capable domestic enterprises to go abroad. Enhance the international competitiveness of Chinese industries and transform the traditionally resource-intensive industries intolabor-, technology- and capital-intensive industries. Actively participate in formulating rules pertaining multilateral trade andthe environment and work together with the international communityin opposing the establishment of new trade barriers in the name ofthe environment and human rights and ensuring the smooth implementation of the sustainable development strategy.

2. Social development

Build a sound system for population management and quality childbirth and child rearing, stabilize the fertility rate at a low level; control the population aggregate and improve the population quality. Build a health and medical care system, employment structure and social safety net compatible with the country's level of economic development; greatly improve public services; create a disaster monitoring and forecast system and an emergency relief system and build up disaster-prevention and relief capacities.

Population management. Adhere to the basic state policy of family planning and maintain consistency of the current fertility policy; accelerate legislative work in population management; improve family planning work at the grassroots level, i.e. villages and hamlets in rural areas and communities in urban areas;hold the legal representatives of companies and institutions responsible for the family planning work of their units; improve the technical service network building for family planning and themanagement of family planning workers; improve the publicity of and education on new fertility concepts; introduce incentives to encourage responsible fertility behaviors and build a social security system that encourages family planning. Take measures to encourage households to practice family planning and step up protection of the rights and interests of those who practice family planning. Strengthen management of the migrant population. Universalize the nine-year compulsory education; ensure preschool education; universalize senior middle school education in cities and economically developed areas; improve higher education; develop continuing education; improve the quality of the population.

Social security. Build a standardized social security net independent of enterprises and institutions and with multiple sources of funding. Readjust and improve the pension system for urban workers; steadily convert the existing "minimum living expense guarantee" system for laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises into a standardized unemployment insurance system and perfect such a system. Expand the coverage of basic medical care insurance, including workplace accident insurance and childbirth insurance. Strengthen and improve the social relief system based on the program of subsistence allowances for needy city dwellers; step up development of social welfare undertakings such as community old-age care facilities. In places where conditions permit, explore ways to provide rural residents with pension, medical care and subsistence allowances. Introduce a societal mechanism for social security management and services; improve thecollection and management of social security funds; step up socialsecurity legislation; build up information systems for social security management; practice an proactive employment policy, expand employment opportunities and develop labor-intensive industries. Encourage people from all sectors of society to have new concepts of employment, introduce flexible forms of employmentand encourage self-employment. Improve employment services, and enhance vocational training to raise the skill levels of laborers.

Health care. Build a sound legal system and supervision and enforcement procedures for health care. Continue to deepen reform of the medical establishment and improve regulation of the medicalsector. Rationalize the allocation of resources in the medical care sector to set up a new type of accessible and efficient urbanhealth care system based on community services with a clear division of responsibilities between various levels of service providers. Step up health care in rural areas and build a rural health care network that meets the requirements of rural socioeconomic development and is capable of providing disease prevention, health care and other basic medical services; provide all rural residents with basic health care services. Build up capacities to handle emergencies (including the outbreak of epidemics) and improve prevention and control of serious diseases.Effectively improve health care for women and children and increase the immunization level for children. Improve health care and rehabilitation services for senior citizens, including boosting services of hospitals, community medical centers and family care. Improve prevention and treatment of occupational diseases and protect the health of workers. Publicize health care knowledge and promote healthy practices and lifestyles.

Disaster management. Further improve laws and regulations on disaster management and enhance public awareness of disaster prevention and alleviation; develop plans for disaster prevention and alleviation and for tackling emergencies; build and improve the monitoring, forecast and warning systems for major natural calamities and accidents, fully upgrade and consolidate information processing capacities and raise the timeliness and accuracy of forecasts; improve inter-agency coordination and collaboration and build a crisis-management system and coordinating mechanism for disaster relief; strengthen project construction for disaster management and the reserve of relief materials and equipment; build a rapid-response disaster-relief task force and emergency relief capacities; alleviate human casualties and economic losses arising from disasters. Encourage private donations and put in place institutional arrangements thatare favorable to private disaster-relief efforts.

3. Resource Allocation, Utilization and Protection

Rationally use, conserve and protect resources and improve the efficiency of resources utilization. Create a system that ensures the security of supply of major resources and a strategic reserve system to make certain that the needs of the national economy for resources are met.

Water resources. Improve laws and regulations on the development, management and protection of water resources and enforce stricter policies on water resources management. Introducea system of water management that combines the management-by-valley model with the management-by-administrative region model. Clarify water ownership rights, introduce a system that allocates water resources along water system and administrative region lines,and ensure the reasonable consumption of water resources for dailylife, industrial and ecological purposes. Introduce a water resources hearing system for the formulation of national socioeconomic development plans, urban planning, and major construction projects and promote the balanced development of water resources and the population, environment, society and the economy. Build a rational pricing system and introduce incentives;institute an integrated water-resource management mechanism that combines planned water use with rationing; introduce water use auditing and promote the rational utilization of water resources. Reallocate the water resources by diverting water from the South to the North. Encourage the development of water-efficient agriculture and industry; build water-efficient cities and communities to raise the utilization of water resources; introducea system of water zoning for various purposes and effectively protect water resources. Promote utilization of non-conventional water resources such as waste water recycling. Carry out the south-to-north water diversion project and improve the general distribution of water resources. Develop sea water resources alongthe coast, and promote and apply sea water desalinization technologies to compensate for fresh water deficiencies.

Rational use of land. Implement the basic state policy of treasuring and rationally utilizing land and effectively protecting farmland, practicing the strictest land-management system in the world. Strengthen land resources survey, evaluation and monitoring practices, and formulate a scientific overall plan for land use and strictly enforce it. Reinforce farmland protection and construction, prevent farmland degradation, and ensure food security of the country. Strengthen forest protection and forest resources buildup to ensure the ecological security of the country. Rationally readjust land use structure and layout to improve the efficiency of land use. Strengthen the management of land use for construction, control the scale of land use for such purposes, encourage rural residents to settle in towns and industrial enterprises to relocate to industrial parks, and guarantee land supply needed for economic development. Actively undertake land leveling and reclamation and adequately develop land reserve resources. Improve land asset management, deepening land-use restructuring by aggressively introducing a market-oriented approach to land-use rights, improving the land pricing system and land tax system, and promoting efficient land use. Improve the land property system and safeguard the contractual rights of farmers. Reform the land expropriation system. Deepen research and application of land science and technology; expand land remote sensing surveys; and improve land-use management information systems. Strengthen land legislation, improve laws andregulations and law enforcement.

Energy efficiency. Develop natural gas, hydraulic power, renewable energy, new energy and other forms of clean energy; develop clean-fuel buses and electric-powered buses; utilize overseas oil and gas resources; and reduce the share of coal in energy consumption. Greatly develop clean coal and thermal-power central heating technology; strengthen energy conservation; improve efficiency of energy utilization, and reduce environmentalpollution. Wherever appropriate, develop methane, fuel-efficient stoves, solar energy and wind energy; improve energy consumption in rural areas. Implement the west-east gas pipeline project and the transmission of power from the west to the east to improve theenergy structure.

Forest resources. Tighten protection, management and oversight of forest resources and improve law enforcement; stop unlawful felling and enhance public awareness of forest protection. Clarifythe obligations, rights and interests in forest protection; deepenreform of the forestry sector by adjusting and improve outdated forest policies and reducing taxes. Apply high technology to transform traditional industries and phase out outdated productionmodes; accelerate the development of fast-growing, high-yield timber production bases and industries. Step up ecological conservation and implement on a full scale key projects of protecting natural forests.

Grassland resources. Improve institutional building for grassland protection and strengthen grassland management and enforcement. Clarify the obligations, rights and interests in grassland protection; apply high technology to transform the way grassland resources are utilized from quantity-based to quality- and efficiency-based growth. Implement a series of projects to protect natural grasslands such as artificial grass-planting, grass-planting by airborne seed-sowing, imposing a moratorium on grazing, grassland improvement, and pest control. Double efforts to improve desertified, alkalized and degraded grasslands.

Mineral resources. Improve legislation on mineral resources protection; scientifically draft and strictly implement plans for mineral resources development; strengthen macro-regulation of mineral resources development; and promote rational distribution of mineral resources exploration and development. Further improve work in mineral resources surveying, evaluation and exploration, and enhance security of mineral resources. Implement a protective development policy for strategic mineral resources. Improve the system of utilizing mineral resources at a cost. Promote structural improvement and optimization for mineral resources utilization toward greater efficiency through advances in science and technology and scientific management. Make full use of domestic and international capital, resources and markets and build large mineral resources bases and overseas mineral resourcesbases. Strengthen ecological conservation in mineral-rich areas and gradually build environmentally sound mines.

Marine resources. Develop plans for rationally utilizing and protecting marine resources. Strictly implement plans for allocation of marine functions; strengthen marine management; tighten examination and approval of marine resources utilization; and fully introduce the practice of using marine resources at a cost. Build up capacities for maritime monitoring and enforcement management. Conduct a nationwide study on the state of the country's maritime ecology. Develop high technology to develop deep-sea and oceanic resources.

Climate resources. Further enhance public awareness of climate resources. Improve legislation on climate resources utilization and protection. Develop plans for the reasonable utilization and protection of climate resources; revise and update climate resources plans in a timely fashion. Adopt advanced computer information processing technologies and remote-sensing technology and improve climate resources monitoring and evaluation. Build pilot bases for reasonably utilizing climate resources, in particular focusing on the monitoring, planning and piloting of agricultural climate resources, wind energy and solar energy.

Strategic mineral resources reserves. Establish a strategic mineral resources reserve system and improve relevant economic policies and management practices. Build an early-warning system for the security of supply of strategic mineral resources and introduce a water reserve system of multiple water sources in large cities. Build up strategic reserves for oil and other major mineral resources through a combination of public and private efforts.

Part I Part II Part III-1 Part III-2 Part IV

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