Xia Zhenhua, Director-general of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SAPA), said at the 8th Green China Forum held in Beijing that China would actively push ahead strategic environmental impact assessment emphasizing planning environmental impact assessment, bring environment factors into macro strategic decision-making in a more systematic way so as to realize the coordinated development of economy, society and environment, promote the transformation of growth mode and realize recycling economy, really lifting China onto a sustainable development path.

Planning environmental impact assessment is the foundation and an important part of strategic environmental impact assessment. Xie said the main task for China for the moment is to do a good job on the environmental impact assessment of construction projects and development planning environmental impact assessment, give play to the role of environmental impact assessment in economic and social development. In the future environmental impact assessment should also be carried out on policies which have key impact on development.

Pan Yue, deputy Director-general of the SAPA, said the SAPA would select some provinces where development and environment conflict the most to run planning environmental impact assessment experiment. Before the assessment is finished projects that may aggravate environmental pollution and ecological damage in these regions must be suspended, restricted or stopped.

The theme of the 8th Green China Forum is "strategic environmental impact assessment and sustainable development". Several hundred officials with relevant government departments and experts attended the meeting.

By People's Daily Online