Environmental protection status
First, the development of environmental protection in China
Since the 1970s, China’s environmental protection has made new progress, and experienced a process from scratch, from small to large, from constant exploration to gradual development, which can be roughly divided into three stages.
The first stage (1973-1993): point source control and system construction.
At this stage, by continuously strengthening the system construction and carrying out pollution control in key areas, China’s environmental protection has gradually embarked on the legal track.
In August 1973, the first national environmental protection conference was held in Beijing. In December, 1978, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved the Essentials of Environmental Protection Report adopted at the fourth meeting of the State Council Environmental Protection Leading Group. In September, 1979, "People’s Republic of China (PRC) Environmental Protection Law (Trial)" was promulgated, which legally required all departments and governments at all levels to consider environmental protection as a whole when formulating national economic and social development plans for the first time, providing legal guarantee for the coordinated development of environment and economy and society. People’s Republic of China (PRC) Water Pollution Prevention Law (May, 1984), People’s Republic of China (PRC) Air Pollution Prevention Law (September, 1987), People’s Republic of China (PRC) Grassland Law (June, 1985), People’s Republic of China (PRC) Water Law (January, 1988) and other individual laws and regulations on environmental protection have been formulated and promulgated one after another. In December, 1989, People’s Republic of China (PRC) Environmental Protection Law was formally promulgated and implemented. Since then, environmental protection law has become an important guarantee for China’s environmental protection and an important part of China’s socialist legal system. In 1990, the State Council issued the Decision on Further Strengthening Environmental Protection, emphasizing strict enforcement of environmental protection laws and regulations, taking effective measures to prevent and control industrial pollution according to law, and fully implementing eight environmental management systems, including the environmental protection target responsibility system, the quantitative assessment system for comprehensive improvement of urban environment, the pollutant discharge permit system, centralized pollution control, deadline treatment, environmental impact assessment system, the "three simultaneities" system and the sewage charge system.And put the implementation of environmental protection target responsibility system in a prominent position.
At this stage, China has made remarkable progress in the field of international cooperation in environmental protection. In 1984, the State Council Environmental Protection Committee was established, and the participation of environmental protection in international cooperation was further strengthened. China has signed environmental cooperation agreements with more than 30 countries, signed 15 agreements on nuclear safety and radiation environment cooperation, and participated in regional environmental cooperation meetings and actions such as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Asia-Europe Meeting and Northeast Asia environmental cooperation. In 1992, China International Cooperation Committee on Environment and Development was established, which further expanded the depth and breadth of environmental protection’s participation in international cooperation. CCISUA has become an international cooperation platform that uses international intellectual resources to serve our government’s scientific decision-making, and has promoted the "two-way sharing" of China’s environmental protection experience with other governments and international organizations. In June 1992, Premier Li Peng of the State Council was invited to attend the summit of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and delivered an important speech. In August of the same year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council approved "Ten Countermeasures for Environment and Development in China" and issued "China Agenda for the 21st Century-China White Paper on Population, Resources and Development in the 21st Century". In March, 1993, the National People’s Congress Environment and Resources Protection Committee was established and put forward the "China Environment and Resources Protection Legal System Framework", and China’s environmental resources legislation entered a new stage.
With the rapid economic development, China’s environmental protection system, institutions and measures have been continuously developed and improved. The theoretical system of environmental protection with environmental protection as the core, the environmental protection system with the sewage charging system, the "three simultaneities" system and the environmental impact assessment system as the main body, and the legal system based on the Environmental Protection Law have been established one after another, laying the foundation for the next stage of large-scale environmental governance.
The second stage (1994-2004): river basin improvement and strengthening law enforcement.
In the early 1990s, China entered the first round of heavy chemical industry era, the process of urbanization accelerated, urban life-style pollution intensified, and the structural, compound and compressed characteristics of environmental pollution began to take shape. With the extensive and rapid development of economy, industrial pollution and ecological destruction are generally intensifying, and the problem of agricultural non-point source pollution is prominent. In some areas, environmental pollution and ecological destruction have restricted the sustainable development of economy and society and even posed a threat to public health.
This stage is an important period to strengthen law enforcement, comprehensively control pollution and protect ecology. On the basis of the formal preparation of the annual national environmental protection work plan in 1992, the five-year national environmental protection plan was formally prepared from the ninth five-year plan period, and the environmental protection plan was incorporated into the overall national economic and social development plan. Environmental protection has expanded from pure industrial pollution control to domestic pollution control, ecological protection, rural environmental protection, nuclear safety supervision, emergency response to sudden environmental incidents and other important fields, and gradually participated in the comprehensive decision-making of national economic and social development. In April, 1998, the State Environmental Protection Agency, which is directly affiliated to the State Council, was upgraded to the State Environmental Protection Administration. In June of the same year, the National Nuclear Safety Administration was merged into the State Environmental Protection Administration, and the internal organization was the Nuclear Safety and Radiation Environment Management Department (National Nuclear Safety Administration). Nuclear and radiation safety supervision became an important function of the environmental protection department. In order to better coordinate relevant departments to jointly promote environmental protection, the State Environmental Protection Administration took the lead in establishing relevant inter-ministerial joint conference systems. In March 2001, the first meeting of the national inter-ministerial joint conference on eco-environment construction was held. In July, the State Environmental Protection Administration established a national inter-ministerial joint conference system for environmental protection. In August, 2003, with the approval of the State Council, the State Environmental Protection Administration formally established the inter-ministerial joint conference system for the protection of biological species resources.
At this stage, the state put forward the general idea of focusing on key river basin areas in pollution prevention and control, taking key areas as a whole and promoting the national environmental protection work. In June, 1994, the State Environmental Protection Bureau, the Ministry of Water Resources and the four provinces of Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong along the Huaihe River jointly promulgated the first rules and regulations for the prevention of water pollution in major rivers in China-Decision on Preventing Sudden Pollution Accidents in the Huaihe River Basin (Trial). In August, 1995, the State Council promulgated the first watershed regulation in China’s history-the Provisional Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution in Huaihe River Basin, which defined the prevention and control objectives of water pollution in Huaihe River Basin. Driven by relevant laws and regulations, in 1996 alone, more than 4,000 "fifteen small" enterprises were closed in the Huaihe River basin. China’s Cross-century Green Project Plan, which was implemented in 1996, implements comprehensive treatment of watershed water pollution and regional air pollution by stages according to the basic principles of highlighting key points, technical and economic feasibility and giving full play to comprehensive benefits. By 2010, a total of 1,591 projects have been implemented with an investment of 188 billion yuan. The key areas for national pollution prevention and control during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period have been determined successively, namely, "Three Rivers" (Huaihe River, Liaohe River and Haihe River), "Three Lakes" (Taihu Lake, Dianchi Lake and Chaohu Lake), "Two Control Zones" (Sulfur Dioxide Control Zone and Acid Rain Control Zone), "One City" (Beijing) and "One Sea" (Bohai Sea), so as to concentrate on the key areas. At the same time, a new idea of environmental protection work of "one control and two standards" is put forward, that is, to control the total amount of pollutant discharge,The discharge of pollutants from industrial pollution sources should meet the national or local standards; The environmental quality of ambient air and surface water in municipalities directly under the central government, provincial capital cities, special economic zones, coastal open cities and key tourist cities respectively meet the relevant standards stipulated by the state according to functional divisions.
In the 1990s, China’s pollution control changed from focusing on end treatment to focusing on pollution source treatment, and cleaner production and circular economy developed rapidly. In 1997, the State Environmental Protection Bureau issued "Several Opinions on Promoting Cleaner Production", requiring local environmental protection departments to incorporate cleaner production into existing environmental management policies. In June, 2002, the 28th meeting of the 9th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) passed the Cleaner Production Promotion Law. In addition, through the comprehensive use of environmental protection planning, the implementation of ISO 14000 environmental management system certification, strengthening environmental impact assessment, and gradually establishing an extended producer responsibility system, the whole process control of environmental management has been continuously improved and strengthened.
In November 1998, the State Council issued the National Ecological Environment Construction Plan and started a series of major ecological protection projects. In 1999, the pilot project of returning farmland to forest and grassland was carried out, and priority was given to returning farmland to forest in areas with ecological sensitivity and important ecological security status. In 2000, the national investment of 100 billion yuan in natural forest protection project was launched in an all-round way, focusing on the protection of natural forest resources in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River and the northeast. In December 2000, the General Office of the State Council issued the National Outline of Ecological Environment Protection. In March, 2002, the State Council approved the Tenth Five-Year Plan of National Ecological Environment Protection. In May, 2003, the State Environmental Protection Administration issued "Indicators for the Construction of Eco-counties, Eco-cities and Eco-provinces (for Trial Implementation)" to further deepen the construction of eco-demonstration areas.
At the beginning of the 21st century, water pollution in some river basins in China spread from local river sections to the whole basin, and major pollution incidents broke out intensively. Strengthening the prevention of sudden environmental incidents has become an important part of environmental protection at this stage. In March 2002, the State Environmental Protection Administration began to set up an environmental emergency and accident investigation center. In the face of increasing environmental emergencies, the state has formulated and improved a series of emergency plans related to water environment, atmospheric environment, hazardous chemicals (waste chemicals) and nuclear and radiation emergency plans in sensitive waters of key river basins. In 2005, the Chinese government formulated the "National Emergency Plan for Environmental Emergencies", which put forward clear requirements for information reception, reporting, processing, statistical analysis, early warning information monitoring and information release of environmental emergencies.
At the same time, China’s investment in environmental protection has increased rapidly, and the proportion of environmental protection investment in GDP has been increasing. During the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, China’s investment in environmental protection was 2.7 times that of the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, reaching 351.64 billion yuan. In 1999, the proportion of environmental protection investment in GDP exceeded 1.0% for the first time. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, environmental protection investment accounted for 1.19% of GDP in the same period. The growth of environmental protection investment has accelerated the construction of urban environmental infrastructure and improved the treatment rate of urban sewage and garbage. With the increasing attention of governments at all levels to pollution prevention and control work and the increasing investment in environmental protection, pollution prevention and control work has gradually shifted from the industrial field to cities, and the comprehensive improvement of urban environment has made positive progress.
The third stage (2005-present): full prevention and control, and optimized growth.
Since 2005, China has entered a period of high incidence of environmental pollution accidents, and environmental incidents have shown a trend of high frequency, wide geographical area, great influence and wide coverage. The problem of environmental pollution damaging human health has become increasingly prominent, and the group incidents caused by environmental problems have shown an accelerated upward trend. From 2005 to 2009, a series of major pollution incidents occurred successively, such as serious water pollution in Songhua River in Jilin, cadmium pollution in Beijiang River in Guangdong, cyanobacteria outbreak in Taihu Lake in Wuxi, Jiangsu, and arsenic pollution in Yangzonghai, Yunnan, which had a serious impact on regional economic and social development and public life, and environmental problems increasingly became major social problems.
In December 2005, the State Council issued the Decision on Strengthening Environmental Protection in Scientific Outlook on Development, which established the environmental protection purpose of putting people first and protecting the environment for the people, and became a programmatic document guiding the coordinated development of China’s economy, society and environment. The 11th Five-Year Plan outlines the strategic tasks and specific measures for building a resource-saving and environment-friendly society in view of the increasing pressure on resources and environment in China. In April, 2006, the 6th National Environmental Protection Conference was held in the State Council, and the strategic idea of "three changes" was put forward, which was "from attaching importance to economic growth and neglecting environmental protection to paying equal attention to environmental protection and economic growth, from environmental protection lagging behind economic development to simultaneous promotion of environmental protection and economic development, and from mainly using administrative measures to comprehensively using laws, economy, technology and necessary administrative measures to solve environmental problems". Since then, China’s environmental protection has entered a new stage of optimizing economic development by protecting the environment. In October 2007, the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made the first ecological civilization construction a strategic task and the new goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way clear. In 2009, the study of China’s environmental macro-strategy put forward an important theoretical and practical proposition of actively exploring a new road of environmental protection in China. In 2011, the State Council held the seventh national conference on environmental protection, and issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Key Work of Environmental Protection and the Twelfth Five-Year Plan of National Environmental Protection, which laid a solid foundation for promoting the scientific development of environmental protection.
Two, "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, China’s environmental protection has made remarkable achievements.
(1) The task of pollution reduction was overfulfilled.
Energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection have become a highlight in the implementation of Scientific Outlook on Development. The State Council set up a leading group to deal with climate change and energy conservation and emission reduction, and issued the Comprehensive Work Plan for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction. Local governments at all levels and relevant departments decompose and implement emission reduction tasks at different levels, strengthen responsibility assessment, and intensify structural emission reduction, project emission reduction, and management of emission reduction. In 2010, the total chemical oxygen demand and sulfur dioxide emissions in China decreased by 12.45% and 14.29% respectively compared with 2005, exceeding the emission reduction task. During the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the central government’s investment in environmental protection reached 156.6 billion yuan, nearly three times that of the 10th Five-Year Plan period, which drove the whole society’s investment in environmental protection to 2.16 trillion yuan, effectively pushing the construction of environmental infrastructure into the fast lane. A total of 2,832 urban sewage treatment plants have been built, with a daily sewage treatment capacity of 125 million tons and a new sewage pipe network of about 60,000 kilometers. The national urban sewage treatment rate has increased from 52% to 77%. A total of 578 million kilowatts of coal-fired desulfurization units have been built, and the proportion of desulfurization units has increased from 12% to 82.6%. A total of 76.825 million kilowatts of small thermal power units were shut down nationwide, and 120 million tons of ironmaking, 72 million tons of steelmaking and 370 million tons of cement were eliminated. In 2010, the proportion of I-III water quality sections in the national surface water monitoring section was 51.9%, an increase of 14.4 percentage points over 2005; The proportion of sections with inferior grade V water quality was 20.8%, which was 6.6 percentage points lower than that in 2005.The average annual concentrations of sulfur dioxide and inhalable particulate matter in urban ambient air in China decreased by 26.3% and 12% respectively.
(B) environmental protection on the transformation of the mode of economic development has gradually emerged.
The State Council issued the Decision on Strengthening Environmental Protection in Scientific Outlook on Development, the Eleventh Five-Year Plan for National Environmental Protection, and the Plan for National Major Functional Zones, making it clear that economic construction must meet the requirements of environmental protection. We will adjust and improve the catalogue of prohibited processing trade, cancel export tax rebates for more than 200 kinds of products with high pollution and high environmental risks, and refuse to increase loans for projects that do not meet the requirements of energy conservation and environmental protection. Complete the strategic environmental assessment of the development of key industries in five major regions, including Bohai Rim and Chengdu-Chongqing. Strictly control the "two high-tech and one capital", low-level redundant construction and overcapacity projects, and make decisions such as not accepting, suspending approval or not approving the environmental protection documents of 822 projects that do not meet the requirements, involving an investment of 3.18 trillion yuan. In-depth promotion of pollution prevention in key industrial sectors, strengthening environmental verification and post-inspection of listed companies, actively promoting cleaner production, vigorously developing circular economy, and promoting the transformation of economic development mode.
(3) Let the strategy of rivers and lakes rest and recuperate be comprehensively promoted.
Implement the interim measures for the assessment of the implementation of the special plan for the prevention and control of water pollution in key river basins, and establish a cross-provincial water quality assessment system. The completion rate of special planning projects for water pollution prevention and control in key river basins in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan was 87%, 22.8 percentage points higher than that in the Tenth Five-Year Plan, and the accumulated investment was 138.9 billion yuan. Strengthen the protection of drinking water sources, improve the water quality compliance rate of key cities to 84.8%, and solve the problem of unsafe drinking water for 215 million rural people. Promote marine environmental protection and implement the Bohai Sea Environmental Protection Master Plan. Organize the investigation and evaluation of ecological security of 12 key lakes and reservoirs, work out the ecological security guarantee scheme, and initially establish the technical system of ecological security management of lakes and reservoirs.
(4) The joint prevention and control mechanism for air pollution has been gradually established.
The General Office of the State Council issued guidance on promoting joint prevention and control of air pollution and improving regional air quality, which effectively guaranteed the environmental quality during the Beijing Olympic Games, the Shanghai World Expo and the Guangzhou Asian Games. Key clean energy projects such as "West-to-East Gas Transmission" and "West-to-East Power Transmission" were implemented. Compared with 2005, about 110 million tons of standard coal was replaced by new clean energy. Carry out clean energy transformation of coal-fired boilers in an all-round way, encourage the development of cogeneration and central heating, and the national central heating area exceeds 3 billion square meters. Strictly control the environmental protection standards of new vehicles and introduce subsidy policies to speed up the elimination of old vehicles. In 2010, the emission of new cars in China decreased by more than 90% compared with 2000.
(5) The centralized remediation of outstanding environmental problems such as heavy metals that harm people’s health has achieved initial results.
The General Office of the State Council issued guidance on strengthening the prevention and control of heavy metal pollution, and defined the objectives, tasks, work priorities and relevant policies and measures of heavy metal prevention and control. The central government added a special project to prevent and control heavy metal pollution. In 2010, it allocated 1.5 billion yuan to support the comprehensive prevention and control of key prevention and control areas and the demonstration and popularization of new technologies. The central budget was allocated to invest 52.5 billion yuan to support the construction of urban sewage and garbage treatment facilities, which led to local investment of more than 300 billion yuan, and the harmless treatment rate of urban garbage reached 72.4%, an increase of 20 percentage points over the end of the Tenth Five-Year Plan. Strengthen the environmental management of hazardous chemicals and eliminate nine pesticide persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as DDT and chlordane. Strengthen the supervision and management of urban noise environment and strive to solve the problem of noise disturbing people. More than 2 billion yuan was invested in the comprehensive improvement of chromium slag pollution, and 3.3 million tons of chromium slag accumulated in history were disposed of. Implementing the "trade-in" policy for household appliances, since 2009, more than 29 million used household appliances have been recycled.
(VI) Ecological protection and rural environmental protection were further strengthened.
The State Council established the China National Committee for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity. The General Office of the State Council issued Opinions on Strengthening Rural Environmental Protection, Notice on Strengthening the Protection and Management of Biological Species Resources and Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Management of Nature Reserves. The State Council approved the publication of the Outline of the National Plan for the Protection and Utilization of Biological Species Resources (2006-2020) and the Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation in China (2011-2030). A total of 2,588 nature reserves have been established, covering an area of 1,494,400 square kilometers, accounting for 14.9% of the land area. The central government allocated 4 billion yuan to implement rural environmental protection "promoting governance with awards, replacing compensation with awards", supporting more than 6,600 villages and towns to carry out comprehensive improvement of rural environment and ecological demonstration construction, driving local investment of more than 8 billion yuan, and directly benefiting more than 24 million rural people. More than 1,000 counties (cities, districts) across the country have established ecological counties (cities, districts), 11 counties (cities) have built ecological cities and counties, and 18 ecological civilization construction pilots have carried out ecological civilization construction exploration, and the number of national organic food bases has reached 68.
(7) Nuclear safety and prevention and control of radioactive pollution have been steadily advanced.
The State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Safety Management of Radioactive Materials Transportation and the Regulations on the Safety Supervision and Management of Civil Nuclear Safety Equipment, and formulated a series of supporting administrative regulations and management guidelines. During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, the safety performance of nuclear power units operating in mainland China was good, and the discharge of gaseous and liquid effluents was far below the national standard limit. The quality assurance system of nuclear power units under construction is operating effectively, and the technical level of engineering construction keeps pace with the international level; The research reactor is in a state of safe operation or safe shutdown. Nuclear fuel production, processing, storage and reprocessing facilities are kept in safe operation. Deepen the supervision of nuclear technology utilization, implement the whole process control of radioactive sources, carry out special rectification of radiation devices to prevent jamming sources, recover waste radioactive sources in time, and retire a number of old radiation devices, which improves the inherent safety level of radioisotope and radiation device utilization projects, effectively reduces the incidence of radiation accidents, and promotes the healthy and sustainable development of nuclear technology utilization industry. The design, manufacture, installation and nondestructive inspection of nuclear safety equipment are fully incorporated into nuclear safety supervision.
In recent years, the state has continuously strengthened the prevention and control of radioactive pollution. Early decommissioning of nuclear facilities and the treatment of radioactive waste left over from history have been steadily advanced; Build a number of medium and low level waste treatment facilities; Complete a number of closed uranium geological exploration, decommissioning of mining and smelting facilities and environmental improvement projects; The national centralized repository of waste radioactive sources and the temporary repositories of radioactive wastes in all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have been basically completed; Establish a national radiation environment monitoring network and carry out supervisory monitoring of the surrounding environment of key nuclear facilities. The monitoring results show that the national radiation environment quality is good and the radiation level remains within the natural background fluctuation range. The average radiation dose of employees is far below the national limit.
(8) The system of laws, regulations and policy standards has been continuously improved.
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) has revised the Law on Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, enacted the Law on Promotion of Circular Economy, made relevant provisions on environmental protection in the Property Law, the Criminal Law Amendment and other relevant laws, and carried out supervision and inspection on the implementation of environmental protection-related laws such as prevention and control of water, air and solid waste pollution and cleaner production. The State Council promulgated eight administrative regulations on environmental protection, such as Regulations on Planning Environmental Impact Assessment and Regulations on Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products Recycling, introduced a series of policies, such as desulfurization electricity price, green credit and green securities, and carried out pilot projects such as paid use and trading of emission rights, ecological compensation and environmental pollution liability insurance. Government procurement of environmental labeling products was carried out. The national environmental protection standard system was initially established, with more than 1,300 existing standards.
(nine) to strengthen environmental law enforcement supervision and capacity building.
Every year, a special environmental protection campaign is launched to "rectify illegal sewage enterprises and protect people’s health". Since 2006, more than 80,000 enterprises with environmental violations have been investigated and dealt with, and 7,294 enterprises have been banned and closed. The information on environmental violations of enterprises has been incorporated into the bank credit information system. During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, a total of 10.034 billion yuan of environmental protection budget was issued, 4.71 times that of the "Tenth Five-Year Plan". Full-caliber central environmental protection investment reached 156.4 billion yuan, nearly three times that of the tenth five-year plan. The central government arranged more than 7 billion yuan of special funds for emission reduction of major pollutants, supported the standardized construction of 52% county-level environmental monitoring stations nationwide, and initially established an environmental monitoring and pollution source automatic monitoring network. The first national survey of pollution sources and the study of China’s environmental macro-strategy were completed, and major scientific and technological projects for water pollution control and treatment achieved initial results.
(10) International cooperation in the environment has been gradually deepened.
During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, China’s international environmental cooperation achieved remarkable results. Negotiations on multilateral environmental conventions are progressing smoothly, the level of bilateral environmental cooperation has been comprehensively upgraded, and cooperation with international organizations has been continuously strengthened. Environmental cooperation has become an important part of bilateral cooperation such as the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, and the China-Japan High-level Economic Dialogue, covering pollution prevention, ecological protection and nuclear safety. It has successively signed bilateral environmental cooperation agreements or memorandums of understanding with 35 countries including the United States, Japan, Canada and Russia, and carried out a number of environmental cooperation projects with more than 10 countries and international organizations including the European Union, Japan, Germany and Canada under bilateral free aid projects. Attach great importance to environmental cooperation and exchanges with developing countries, especially African countries, and promote "South-South" environmental cooperation. Actively participated in the institutionalization of regional cooperation, and successively led and participated in the mechanism of China-Japan-ROK Environment Ministers Meeting, Greater Mekong Subregion Environmental Cooperation Mechanism, ASEAN-China (10+1), ASEAN-China-Japan-ROK (10+3) Mechanism, Asia-Europe Environment Ministers Meeting Mechanism, China-EU Ministerial Dialogue on Environmental Policy and other cooperation.
III. Objectives and tasks of China’s environmental protection during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period
(A) the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" environmental protection objectives
By 2015, the total discharge of major pollutants will be significantly reduced, with the total discharge of chemical oxygen demand and sulfur dioxide reduced by 8% and the total discharge of ammonia nitrogen and nitrogen oxides reduced by 10% respectively compared with 2010. The environmental safety of drinking water sources in urban and rural areas has been effectively guaranteed, and the water quality has been greatly improved. The proportion of surface water quality in state-controlled sections is less than 15%, the proportion of water quality in state-controlled sections of seven major water systems is better than that in class III is over 60%, and the proportion of air quality in cities above prefecture level is over 80%. Heavy metal pollution has been effectively controlled, and the prevention and control of pollution such as persistent organic pollutants, dangerous chemicals and hazardous wastes has achieved remarkable results; The construction and operation level of urban and rural environmental infrastructure has been improved; The deterioration trend of ecological environment has been reversed; The ability of nuclear and radiation safety supervision has been significantly improved, and the level of nuclear and radiation safety has been further improved; The environmental supervision system has been improved.
(II) General requirements for environmental protection during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period
Guided by Deng Xiaoping Theory and Theory of Three Represents, we will thoroughly implement the Scientific Outlook on Development, adhere to protection in development and development in protection, take environmental protection as an important starting point for stabilizing growth and restructuring, give top priority to solving outstanding environmental problems that harm people’s health, carry out reform and innovation in all fields of environmental protection, strengthen institutional innovation and capacity building, deepen pollution reduction, prevent environmental risks and improve environmental quality. We will comprehensively push forward the historic transformation of environmental protection, actively explore new ways of environmental protection with low cost, good benefits, low emissions and sustainability, strive to achieve win-win economic benefits, social benefits and resource and environmental benefits, and promote long-term stable and rapid economic development and social harmony and progress.
(3) Carefully coordinating the four major events
First, actively explore new ways of environmental protection as the main body of practice, and enrich and improve the theoretical system of environmental protection. We will continue to deepen our understanding of promoting the historic transformation of environmental protection, allowing important ecosystems such as rivers and lakes to recuperate and build ecological civilization, deepening our understanding of the relationship between environmental protection and economic and social development, deepening our understanding of the laws of natural ecological environment succession, comprehensive pollution prevention and ecological environment management, and consolidating the theoretical foundation of environmental protection.
The second is to comprehensively construct the framework of environmental laws and regulations with the revision of the environmental protection law as the leading factor. Cooperate with the National People’s Congress to revise the Environmental Protection Law, focus on solving some local governments’ environmental protection responsibilities, insufficient judicial support, some systems that are not in line with the current reality and are not connected with individual laws and regulations, further strengthen the basic position and role of the environmental protection law, and comprehensively promote the construction of environmental protection laws and regulations, policy systems and environmental standards.
Third, take the introduction of the organizational regulations of the Ministry of Environmental Protection as an opportunity to rationalize and improve the environmental protection function and organizational system. Explore the implementation of a large-scale system with organically unified functions, and encourage qualified areas to carry out comprehensive reform of the environmental protection system. Strengthen nuclear and radiation safety supervision functions and team building. Further improve the system and mechanism of environmental monitoring and supervision, and strengthen the national environmental monitoring function. Implement the development plan of ecological environmental protection talents and strengthen the construction of environmental protection team.
Fourth, to complete energy conservation and emission reduction as the main task, and strive to promote the obvious improvement of environmental quality. During the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, the pollution reduction targets have been expanded from two to four, and the fields have been extended from industries and towns to transportation and rural areas. It is more difficult and stressful to accomplish the task of reducing pollution, and it is also a hot spot of social concern. It is necessary to continue to strengthen the three major emission reduction measures, to make room for structural emission reduction, to make potential for project emission reduction, to make benefits from management emission reduction, to resolutely complete the task of total reduction, and to promote the obvious improvement of environmental quality.
IV. Progress of China’s Environmental Protection Work in 2011
In 2011, the State Council held the seventh national conference on environmental protection, and issued Opinions on Strengthening the Key Work of Environmental Protection and the Twelfth Five-Year Plan of National Environmental Protection, which laid the foundation for the great development of environmental protection in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan.
(A) the role of environmental protection in promoting the transformation of economic development mode has been further strengthened.
In accordance with the unified arrangements of the central government, 14 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) were supervised and inspected to speed up the transformation of economic development mode, and policies and measures for environmental protection and pollution reduction were urged to be implemented, which effectively promoted the transformation of local mode and structure. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Planning Environmental Impact Assessment, strengthening the environmental impact assessment, focusing on strengthening the planning environmental impact assessment in river basins, water conservancy and hydropower fields, and further improving the supervision ability of the whole process of construction project environmental impact assessment. In 2011, the Ministry of Environmental Protection approved a total of 291 project EIA documents, involving an investment of 1.46 trillion yuan. 44 projects with a total investment of nearly 250 billion yuan, involving "two highs and one capital", low-level redundant construction and overcapacity, were returned to the report, rejected or suspended for approval. 63 national environmental protection standards were issued to promote the upgrading of pollution prevention and control level in the industry and the adjustment of industrial structure. Strictly carry out environmental verification of key industries such as tanning, rare earth, steel, citric acid, monosodium glutamate, alcohol, starch, etc., announce the list of enterprises that meet environmental protection requirements, and promote the transformation of the development mode of rare earth industry. Through the organization of environmental verification of rare earth enterprises, the rare earth industry has been encouraged to invest more than 2 billion yuan in environmental protection. Strictly carry out environmental protection verification and post-inspection. In 2011, 88 companies that applied to the Ministry of Environmental Protection for listing environmental protection verification added a total of 9.97 billion yuan in environmental protection investment during the verification period, and completed 916 environmental protection projects.
(2) The emission reduction of major pollutants has been solidly promoted.
The compilation of the Plan for Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Key Areas (2011-2015) requires the establishment of a joint prevention and control mechanism for regional air pollution with the aim of improving air quality and the coordinated control of multiple pollutants, so as to do a solid job in air pollution prevention and control in key areas during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period. Drawing lessons from the successful experience of air quality assurance in Beijing Olympic Games, Shanghai World Expo and Guangzhou Asian Games, we implemented joint prevention and control measures for regional air pollution, and successfully completed the air quality assurance task of the "Green Universiade". Promote the prevention and control of motor vehicle pollution, organize the implementation of the national four standards for light gasoline vehicles and heavy diesel vehicles and the emission standards for off-road mobile machinery, actively promote the low sulfur of motor vehicle fuel, organize the self-inspection activities of the national motor vehicle environmental inspection agencies, and go to nine provinces in six groups to conduct on-site inspections. Six major power groups, 16 pilot power plants and a total of 32 coal-fired units were selected to carry out the pilot work of preventing and controlling atmospheric mercury pollution in coal-fired power plants. Organize and complete the dynamic update survey of pollution source census in 2010, and form a pollution source emission database, which laid the foundation for determining the emission reduction base in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan. Formulate the total amount control plan of major pollutants in each region during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, determine the total amount control indicators in each region, and decompose the emission reduction tasks into specific projects. Shanxi, Hunan and other provinces list characteristic pollutants as binding indicators for emission reduction. At the Seventh Environmental Protection Conference, entrusted by the State Council, the Ministry of Environmental Protection signed a letter of responsibility for total emission reduction targets with provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and relevant central enterprises.Continue to promote the three major measures of project emission reduction, structural emission reduction and management emission reduction. Start the pilot project of pollution reduction performance management. In 2011, the national emissions of chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen and sulfur dioxide continued to decline, but the emissions of nitrogen oxides rose instead of falling.
(3) Risk management of outstanding environmental problems such as heavy metal pollution that seriously damages people’s health has been effectively strengthened.
The State Council approved the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Heavy Metal Pollution and the Implementation Plan for Heavy Metal Pollution Control in Xiangjiang River Basin, and identified five key prevention and control industries and 138 key prevention and control areas. The central government issued 2.5 billion yuan to support 26 provinces to carry out heavy metal pollution control, and made the rectification of environmental violations of lead-acid battery enterprises the primary task of the special environmental protection action in 2011. Deepen the management of PVC production by calcium carbide method, mercury catalyst production and waste mercury catalyst recycling. Implement a statistical reporting system for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and initially establish a long-term monitoring mechanism for POPs. We will carry out in-depth special actions to rectify illegal sewage enterprises and protect people’s health and environmental protection. We deployed special inspections on environmental management of chemicals and hazardous wastes nationwide, established a standardized management and supervision and assessment mechanism for hazardous wastes, and conducted spot checks and assessments on pollution prevention and control of hazardous waste generating, utilizing and disposing units in all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). More than 9 million tons of hazardous waste have been used and disposed of by units holding hazardous waste business licenses nationwide. 53 million sets of used household appliances were recycled and disposed of nationwide. Deploy the national special inspection of chemical environmental management and organize five special law enforcement inspections. In-depth special actions were carried out to rectify illegal sewage enterprises and protect people’s health and environmental protection. More than 2.7 million people were dispatched nationwide, more than 1.07 million enterprises were inspected, more than 10,000 environmental illegal enterprises were investigated, and more than 2,000 environmental illegal cases were listed and supervised. A total of 12,137 heavy metal emission enterprises in key industries were investigated, and the most severe measures were taken to rectify lead battery enterprises.More than 80% have been shut down or stopped production, and the intensity of rectification has never been greater. Effectively curbed the high incidence of blood lead incidents in lead-acid battery enterprises, and promoted the optimization and upgrading of the industry and sustainable development.
(D) The prevention and control of pollution in key river basins has been deepened.
The National Plan for Prevention and Control of Groundwater Pollution was issued, and the environmental conditions of more than 800 centralized drinking water sources were evaluated, and interviews were conducted with 13 cities with outstanding problems. Organize the preparation of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for the Reconstruction and Construction of Urban Water Supply Facilities and the Vision of 2020, and conduct a general survey of all 106 water quality indicators of the discharged water from urban public water supply plants nationwide. The implementation of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan for water pollution prevention and control in 22 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in key river basins was assessed, and the assessment results were regarded as an important factor in the allocation of funds for water pollution prevention and control. The "Water Pollution Prevention and Control Plan for the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River (2011-2015)" was issued. The quality of surface water in China continues to improve. We will carry out pilot projects to protect the ecological environment of lakes with good water quality. Vigorously promote cleaner production, issued the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Industrial Cleaner Production", issued a total of cleaner production technology implementation plans for 27 key industries such as PVC, and arranged 220 million yuan to support the construction of 33 cleaner production demonstration projects. Compile the National Circular Economy Development Plan, release 60 typical cases of circular economy, carry out pilot projects of comprehensive utilization of industrial solid wastes in 12 regions including Chengde in Hebei and Shuozhou in Shanxi, and determine the first batch of pilot projects of comprehensive utilization and harmless treatment of kitchen wastes in 33 cities (regions). Supervise and guide the central enterprises to set an example and promote the innovation and popularization of energy conservation, emission reduction, comprehensive utilization and cleaner production technology.
(5) Rural environmental improvement and ecological protection have been effectively strengthened.
Nine new demonstration provinces (regions) have been established to improve rural environment, and 4 billion yuan of special funds for rural environmental protection have been arranged, of which 3.6 billion yuan will be used to support the improvement of rural environment. By 2011, a total of 8 billion yuan of special funds for rural environmental protection had been arranged to support 16,300 villages to carry out comprehensive improvement of rural environment and ecological demonstration construction, benefiting 37,290,600 people. Actively carry out the prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution, and vigorously promote the technology of saving fertilizer and medicine. The number of counties (fields) for soil testing and formula fertilization projects has reached 2,498, and the technology promotion area has reached 1.1 billion mu, reducing unreasonable fertilization by 5.8 million tons. China National Committee for the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010 was officially renamed as China National Committee for Biodiversity Protection, with Vice Premier Li Keqiang as its chairman. The remote sensing survey and evaluation project of the ten-year change of the national ecological environment (2000-2010) was launched. Do a good job in the management of nature reserves, build 16 national nature reserves and build 335 national nature reserves. Further standardize the management of ecological construction demonstration areas, add 27 ecological cities (counties) and 34 ecological civilization construction pilots. At present, there are 15 provinces and more than 1000 regions in China to establish ecological provinces, cities and counties. Soil erosion in key river basins has been effectively controlled. By 2011, about 300,000 soil and water conservation schemes had been approved nationwide, and the cumulative area of soil erosion control was about 1.1 million square kilometers. In 2010-2011, a total of 6.84 billion yuan was invested by the central government, driving local and enterprises to invest more than 40 billion yuan.Focus on supporting the management of mine geological environment in resource-exhausted cities. The second phase of natural forest resources protection was officially launched. In 2011, the total afforestation area in China was 92.07 million mu, up 3.9% year-on-year, and the newly added wetland protection area was 4.95 million mu.
(6) The nuclear and radiation environment is safe and controllable.
In 2011, the nuclear facilities in service operated safely, and the quality of nuclear facilities under construction was effectively controlled. There were no safety incidents or accidents of Grade II or above in the operation of nuclear power plants, research reactors, nuclear fuel cycle facilities, radioactive waste storage, treatment and disposal facilities and radioactive materials transportation activities, and the incidents and nonconformities of nuclear facilities in operation and under construction were dealt with in a timely and effective manner. In 2011, the number of nuclear facilities and nuclear technology utilization projects in China increased continuously, and the quality of radiation environment remained good on the whole. The level of environmental ionizing radiation remained stable, and the overall ionizing radiation around nuclear facilities and nuclear technology utilization projects did not change significantly. The overall level of environmental electromagnetic radiation was good, and the overall level of environmental electromagnetic radiation around electromagnetic radiation facilities did not change significantly.
After the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, the state immediately launched an emergency plan, closely tracked and judged the progress of the accident, actively carried out nationwide radiation environmental monitoring, and took effective measures to deal with it. Organize the comprehensive safety inspection of nuclear facilities nationwide, and comprehensively revise the emergency plan and revision instructions for nuclear accidents in the operating units of civil nuclear facilities. Carry out safety inspections on the application of nuclear technology, uranium mining and metallurgy, and transportation of radioactive materials to effectively prevent serious accidents. The quality of radiation environment in China has remained good.
(seven) policy and legal system, science and technology monitoring and publicity and education work continue to advance.
Promulgate and implement the Regulations on the Management of Taihu Lake Basin and the Regulations on the Safety Management of Radioactive Waste, and cooperate with the revision of the Environmental Protection Law. The comprehensive list of environmental protection has been updated, and more than 500 kinds of "high pollution and high environmental risk" products, more than 40 kinds of environmentally friendly processes and more than 10 kinds of special equipment for environmental protection have been included in the list. In Beijing, Guangdong and other coal-fired power plants, the denitration electricity price policy of 0.8 cents per kilowatt-hour was tried out. For the first time, a nationwide comprehensive survey on environmental pollution and population health was carried out. The establishment of environmental risk and damage identification and evaluation research center and environmental pollution damage identification technology center. We will promote the identification and assessment of environmental pollution damage in pilot areas, successfully complete the three-year action plan for environmental monitoring quality management, and carry out the pilot assessment of county ecological environment quality and biodiversity monitoring in national key ecological function area for the first time. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Scientific and Technological Development of National Environmental Protection, the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Environmental Monitoring and the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Environmental Monitoring in 2011 and 2012 were issued, the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Nuclear Safety and Radioactive Pollution Prevention and the Vision for 2020 were compiled, and the first national environmental emergency monitoring drill, the Eleventh Five-Year Environmental Protection Achievement Exhibition and the 12th China International Environmental Protection Exhibition were held.
(VIII) Environmental protection system, mechanism and capacity building have been strengthened.
The ranks of nuclear safety regulatory agencies have been further strengthened. The Ministry of Environmental Protection, in conjunction with relevant departments, issued the Medium-and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Ecological Environmental Protection Talents (2010-2020), and trained 52,000 cadres and various talents. Publish the case textbook "Ecological Civilization Construction and Sustainable Development" on the theme of scientific development for leading cadres of party and government all over the country. Actively coordinate for the support of the Ministry of Finance, and the central government will add special funds for lake ecological environment protection to protect high-quality ecological lakes with an area of more than 50 square kilometers. In 2010-2011, a total of 950 million yuan will be arranged to support the protection of eight lakes, including liangzi lake and Erhai. The capacity building of monitoring and law enforcement and environmental monitoring has been further strengthened. Nearly 1.1 billion yuan of infrastructure investment has been allocated for monitoring and law enforcement business housing projects, and 414 million yuan has been allocated for environmental monitoring capacity building, which has supported the standardization construction of more than 930 county (district) environmental monitoring institutions in the central and western regions.
V. Key Environmental Protection Work in 2012
(a) to complete the annual major pollutant emission reduction tasks.
The annual pollution reduction tasks set in 2012 are: compared with 2011, the emissions of sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand are reduced by 2%, the emissions of ammonia nitrogen are reduced by 1.5%, and the emissions of nitrogen oxides are zero. In-depth implementation of the three major emission reduction measures, structural emission reduction in a more prominent position, improve the exit mechanism of backward production capacity, and strictly pre-audit the total amount of construction projects to reduce pollution emissions from the source. Continue to strengthen project emission reduction and management emission reduction, speed up pollutant control, key pollution control projects, flue gas desulfurization and denitrification, sewage treatment facilities construction, strengthen motor vehicle emission reduction, and carry out agricultural and rural pollution reduction. Strict supervision, ensure the normal operation of pollution control facilities, tap the potential of pollution control, and improve pollution control efficiency. Enrich and improve the emission reduction policy, further improve the desulfurization electricity price, make good use of the denitrification electricity price, coordinate relevant departments to introduce supervision measures for the operation of denitrification facilities as soon as possible, and study and propose financial incentive policies for emission reduction of agricultural sources and motor vehicles. Study that measure of bringing sludge disposal cost into sewage treatment cost. Guiding opinions on the pilot work of paid use and trading of emission rights were issued.
(2) Strictly implement the environmental impact assessment system.
Vigorously promote strategic environmental impact assessment, focus on planning environmental impact assessment of industrial parks with high environmental risks such as chemical and petrochemical industries, cascade development of river basins, and construction of important waterways, increase the pilot of planning environmental impact assessment of key environmental protection cities, and improve the linkage mechanism between planning environmental impact assessment and project environmental impact assessment. Take the total emission control index of major pollutants as the precondition for the EIA approval of new reconstruction and expansion projects, strengthen the EIA management of petrochemical, steel and other industries, and establish and improve the environmental risk assessment system of construction projects. Improve the qualification management policy of environmental impact assessment institutions of construction projects. Explore the establishment of the "three simultaneities" execution list and liability certificate system for construction projects, and resolutely implement approval-limiting measures for regions and enterprise groups that have not seriously fulfilled their EIA commitments and caused greater environmental risks and environmental impacts. Comprehensively promote the environmental supervision of construction projects, continue to strengthen the supervision of the whole process of environmental impact assessment, and formulate post-evaluation methods for environmental impact.
(3) Give priority to solving outstanding environmental problems that harm people’s health.
Pay close attention to improving the environmental quality evaluation system. With the consent of the State Council, the newly revised national ambient air quality standard has been announced to the public. The focus of future work is to further strengthen the pollution control of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and effectively improve the atmospheric environmental quality. First, improve the joint prevention and control mechanism of the atmosphere, focusing on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, and implement coordinated control of multiple pollutants. Intensify industrial adjustment and accelerate the elimination of backward production capacity. Actively promote clean energy, formulate and implement special emission limits for air pollutants in key industries such as thermal power, steel and petrochemical, and vigorously reduce the total emission of pollutants; Second, effectively strengthen the prevention and control of motor vehicle pollution, fully implement the fourth-stage motor vehicle emission standards, implement environmental protection signs for motor vehicles, speed up the elimination of "yellow-label vehicles" and improve the quality of vehicle fuel. Strengthen the capacity building of environmental supervision of motor vehicles, strengthen the supervision of environmental inspection agencies for in-use vehicles, and comprehensively improve the emission level of motor vehicles; The third is to establish a regional atmospheric environmental quality forecasting system to realize the risk information judgment and early warning functions. When heavy polluted weather occurs continuously, the emergency mechanism should be started in time to guide the masses to arrange their travel and life reasonably. In addition, we will do our best to prevent and control heavy metal pollution, strictly manage chemical environment, and continue to do a good job in hazardous waste management.
(four) continue to strengthen the prevention and control of marine pollution in key river basins.
Insist on letting rivers and lakes recuperate and improve the quality of water environment. We will do a good job in ensuring the safety of drinking water environment and strictly divide and manage drinking water source protection areas. Accelerate the implementation of the "Measures for Environmental Quality Assessment of Surface Water" and study and introduce policies and measures to strengthen the protection of rural drinking water sources. Promote the prevention and control of water pollution in key river basins and improve the assessment mechanism. Take joint pollution control as a breakthrough to improve the environmental quality of the Bohai Sea and the estuaries such as the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Pearl River. Strengthen lake protection, implement preferential protection and one lake and one policy, and establish a target responsibility system and performance evaluation system. Strengthen the control and management of odor, noise and cooking fume pollution in cities. Strengthen enterprise environmental protection verification and post-supervision.
(V) Accelerating rural environmental protection and ecological protection.
Further deepen the policy of "promoting governance with awards" and "replacing compensation with awards". Implement the target responsibility system for comprehensive improvement of rural environment, and conduct performance evaluation and assessment on the implementation of the target responsibility system for comprehensive improvement of rural environment in pilot provinces and cities. Promote the construction of agricultural environmental protection supervision system. Explore the establishment of cross-regional and cross-industry mechanisms to promote the pilot construction of ecological civilization. Implement the Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation in China (2011-2030), and formulate and implement the Measures for Environmental Supervision and Management of Alien Invasive Species. Strengthen supervision over the development and construction of nature reserves, and seriously investigate and deal with illegal acts.
(six) to strengthen environmental law enforcement and emergency management.
Continue to maintain the high-pressure situation of environmental law enforcement supervision. We will carry out in-depth special actions to rectify illegal sewage enterprises to protect people’s health and environmental protection, and resolutely rectify the dumping of heavy metals, chemicals and hazardous wastes. We will carry out pilot projects to evaluate the performance of environmental law enforcement, and improve the regional environmental supervision mechanism and departmental linkage law enforcement mechanism. The implementation of river basin, region, industry approval and supervision supervision system. Improve the working mechanism of risk prevention and emergency management. Improve the ability of environmental emergency monitoring and disposal, and properly handle all kinds of sudden environmental incidents. Strictly implement the information reporting system, implement the main responsibility of enterprise environmental safety, comprehensively investigate the environmental risks of enterprises, and carry out the assessment of enterprise environmental risks.
(seven) to continuously improve the level of policies and regulations, scientific and technological standards, environmental monitoring, nuclear and radiation safety and publicity and education.
Cooperate with the revision of the Environmental Protection Law, promote the revision of the Air Pollution Prevention Law, and study and draft laws and regulations on soil environmental protection and nuclear safety. Do a good job in the comprehensive list of environmental protection, improve the information exchange mechanism of green credit, and initially form the ability to identify and evaluate environmental pollution damage. Strengthen scientific and technological support and standard setting, and strengthen environmental monitoring. Strengthen the standardization construction and standard acceptance of monitoring stations, and strengthen nuclear and radiation safety supervision. Prepare for the fourth national conference on nuclear and radiation safety supervision. Take the operation of nuclear facilities as the supervision object, strengthen the safety review and evaluation of newly built and expanded nuclear facilities, and supervise the implementation of various rectification measures. Accelerate the construction of nuclear and radiation safety supervision technology research and development base. Actively and steadily promote the reform of publishing and newspapers. Popularize nuclear and radiation safety knowledge, deepen environmental publicity and education, and improve the publicity level of major events such as World Environment Day and Earth Day. We will continue to carry out pilot projects of environmental education for all.
Box 1: All previous environmental protection conferences in China
Since 1973, China has held seven national environmental protection conferences. All previous national conferences on environmental protection have achieved landmark results, which embodies the development course of China’s environmental protection undertaking that keeps pace with the times and keeps pioneering and innovating. In 1973, the State Council held the first national conference on environmental protection, and put forward the 32-word policy of "overall planning, rational layout, comprehensive utilization, turning harm into benefit, relying on the masses and everyone to protect the environment and benefit the people". The second national conference on environmental protection held in 1983 established environmental protection as a basic national policy, formulated the guiding principle of "economic construction, urban and rural construction and environmental construction should be planned, implemented and developed simultaneously, so as to achieve the unity of economic benefits, social benefits and environmental benefits", and defined the three major environmental protection issues of "prevention first, combining prevention with control", "polluter should control" and "strengthening environmental management" The Third National Conference on Environmental Protection held in 1989 put forward the idea of "declaring war on environmental pollution", and actively promoted eight environmental management systems, including the responsibility system for environmental protection objectives, the quantitative assessment system for comprehensive improvement of urban environment, the permit system for pollutant discharge, centralized pollution control, deadline treatment, environmental impact assessment system, the "three simultaneities" system and the sewage charge system. The fourth national conference on environmental protection held in 1996 pointed out that environmental protection is the key to implementing the strategy of sustainable development, and the essence of environmental protection is to protect productive forces. The implementation of the total discharge control plan of major pollutants and the cross-century green project planning are two important measures to improve environmental quality.The fifth national conference on environmental protection held in 2002 called for putting environmental protection on the same important position as developing productive forces, developing environmental protection in accordance with economic laws and taking the road of marketization and industrialization. The Sixth National Environmental Protection Conference held in 2006 clearly pointed out that the key to do a good job in environmental protection under the new situation is to accelerate the realization of "three changes": from emphasizing economic growth to neglecting environmental protection to paying equal attention to environmental protection and economic growth, from environmental protection lagging behind economic development to simultaneous promotion of environmental protection and economic development, and from mainly using administrative measures to comprehensively applying laws, economies, technologies and necessary administrative measures to solve environmental problems. The Seventh National Conference on Environmental Protection held in 2011 emphasized the need to persist in protecting while developing, actively explore new ways of environmental protection with low cost, good benefits, low emissions and sustainability, effectively solve outstanding environmental problems that affect scientific development and harm people’s health, and strive to create a new situation in environmental protection work.
Column 2: Actively explore the new road of environmental protection in China.
Exploring the new road of environmental protection in China originates from the practice of environmental protection in China for more than 30 years. It is a systematic summary of environmental protection practice in China and a clear banner that leads the environmental protection cause to advance continuously. In the study and practice of Scientific Outlook on Development in 2008, the national environmental protection system reached a consensus to explore a new road of environmental protection in China, which was theoretically refined and summarized by the China Environmental Macro-strategy Research approved by the State Council and jointly carried out by China Academy of Engineering and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. At the annual meeting of the China Committee for International Cooperation in Environment and Development in 2011, Chinese and foreign members and experts attending the meeting gave wide approval to the connotation and goal of actively exploring a new road of environmental protection in China. In recent years, under the guidance of actively exploring new ways of environmental protection, new measures such as joint prevention and control of air pollution, cross-border assessment of key river basins, "one lake, one policy" for lake protection, "promoting governance with awards" for rural environmental protection, total pollutant discharge index as a precondition for project approval, regional industry environmental assessment limit, environmental protection verification of key industries, desulfurization electricity price of coal-fired power plants, emission trading and green credit have been continuously introduced, with remarkable results.
The connotation of the new road of environmental protection is "low cost, good benefit, low emission and sustainability". "Low cost" means to adhere to the coordination between environmental protection and economic development, and support larger-scale economic activities with as little resource and environmental cost as possible; "Good benefit" means to persist in coordinating environmental protection with economic construction and social construction, and seek the best environmental, economic and social benefits; "Low emission" means adhering to the combination of pollution prevention and environmental treatment, keeping pollutant emission at the lowest level, and minimizing the damage to the environment caused by economic and social activities; "Sustainability" means to adhere to the integration of environmental protection and long-term development, and promote sustainable economic and social development by building a resource-saving and environment-friendly society.
The fundamental requirement for exploring a new road to environmental protection is to vigorously promote the coordination and integration of environmental protection and economic development. Focusing on the theme of scientific development and the main line of accelerating the transformation of economic development mode, environmental protection should be placed in a more important position, giving full play to the leading, expanding, increasing and reversing role of environmental protection in promoting stable and rapid economic development, optimizing regional layout with environmental capacity, optimizing industrial structure with environmental management, optimizing growth mode with environmental cost, and promoting innovative transformation and green development.
The core of exploring a new road to environmental protection is to pay attention to safeguarding and improving people’s livelihood. Strengthen the concept of environmental protection for the benefit of the people, concentrate on solving environmental problems related to people’s livelihood, such as heavy metals, chemicals, hazardous wastes and persistent organic pollutants, severely punish environmental violations, earnestly safeguard the public’s environmental rights and interests, and let the people drink clean water, breathe fresh air, eat safe food, and produce and live in a beautiful and livable environment.
The goal of exploring a new road to environmental protection is to focus on building six systems. First, the macro-strategic system of environmental protection adapted to China’s national conditions; The second is a comprehensive and efficient pollution prevention and control system; Third, a sound environmental quality evaluation system; Fourth, a sound system of environmental protection laws, regulations, policies and scientific and technological standards; Fifth, a complete environmental management and law enforcement supervision system; Sixth, the social action system with the participation of the whole people.
Column 3: Vigorously promote the construction of ecological civilization
Building ecological civilization is an important strategic thought and task put forward by our Party, which thoroughly implements Scientific Outlook on Development and is based on the severe reality that the cost of resources and environment is too high in the rapid economic growth. It is an important part of the overall layout of Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s great cause, which points out the direction for solving the outstanding contradiction between man and nature in China at present and in the future, and provides a fundamental guarantee for strengthening ecological environment protection and promoting sustainable economic and social development. According to the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, "to build an ecological civilization, the industrial structure, growth mode and consumption pattern of saving energy and resources and protecting the ecological environment will basically be formed. Circular economy has formed a large scale, and the proportion of renewable energy has increased significantly. The discharge of major pollutants has been effectively controlled, and the quality of the ecological environment has been significantly improved. The concept of ecological civilization is firmly established in the whole society. " The Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Plenary Sessions of the Seventeenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly put forward that socialist economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction and ecological civilization construction should be comprehensively promoted, and the construction of ecological civilization should be included in the overall layout of Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s cause. General Secretary Hu Jintao pointed out, "The essence of building ecological civilization is to build a resource-saving and environment-friendly society based on the carrying capacity of resources and environment, guided by the laws of nature and aimed at sustainable development." Promoting the construction of ecological civilization is an effective way to solve the increasing constraints of resources and environment, an objective need to accelerate the transformation of economic development mode, an inherent requirement to safeguard and improve people’s livelihood, and a strategic choice to seize the commanding heights of future competition in the post-international financial crisis period.
Environmental protection is the main position and fundamental measure of ecological civilization construction, and it is also the focus and direction of promoting sustainable development. Building ecological civilization is different from pollution control and ecological restoration in the traditional sense, but a process of correcting the disadvantages of industrial civilization and exploring the road of resource-saving and environment-friendly development. It is necessary to make up for the course of industrial civilization and take the road of ecological civilization. Strengthening ecological environmental protection is not to give up the pursuit of development, but to achieve harmony between man and nature, economy, society and resources and environment at a higher level. We must use the strategic vision, strategic thinking and strategic means of building ecological civilization to plan and solve China’s outstanding environmental problems, and actively explore a new road of environmental protection in China. Any achievement or breakthrough in environmental protection is a positive contribution to the construction of ecological civilization. In recent years, China’s environmental protection work has played an important role in solving outstanding environmental problems that affect scientific development and harm people’s health, coordinating and promoting the reduction of total discharge of major pollutants, improvement of environmental quality, prevention of environmental risks and equalization of public services for urban and rural environmental protection, and fostering and strengthening the ecological economy, improving the quality of the ecological environment and enhancing the awareness of social ecological civilization.
Box 4: the State Council’s opinion on strengthening the key work of environmental protection
In October 2011, the State Council issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Key Work of Environmental Protection, which became a programmatic document to thoroughly implement the Scientific Outlook on Development and promote the scientific development of environmental protection in China in the new era. The "Opinions" put forward that, first, we should comprehensively improve the level of supervision and management of environmental protection. Strictly implement the environmental impact assessment system, continue to strengthen the total emission reduction of major pollutants, strengthen environmental law enforcement supervision, effectively prevent environmental risks and properly handle environmental emergencies; Second, efforts should be made to solve outstanding environmental problems that affect scientific development and harm people’s health. Effectively strengthen the prevention and control of heavy metal pollution, strictly manage chemical environment, ensure nuclear and radiation safety, deepen comprehensive prevention and control of pollution in key areas, vigorously develop environmental protection industries, accelerate rural environmental protection, and increase ecological protection; Third, we must reform and innovate the environmental protection system and mechanism. We will continue to push forward the historic transformation of environmental protection, take reform and innovation as the driving force, actively explore a new road of environmental protection with low cost, good benefits, low emissions and sustainability, implement economic policies conducive to environmental protection, continuously enhance environmental protection capabilities, improve environmental management systems and working mechanisms, and strengthen leadership and assessment of environmental protection work.
The Opinions put forward a series of innovative measures. In terms of implementing economic policies that are conducive to environmental protection, the Opinions propose to strictly implement the electricity price policy for flue gas desulfurization in coal-fired power plants, formulate the electricity price policy for denitrification, and give priority to online access for renewable energy power generation, waste heat power generation and waste incineration power generation. Implement differential electricity prices for industries with high energy consumption and high pollution, and implement preferential policies for encouraged enterprises such as sewage treatment, sludge harmless treatment facilities, desulfurization and denitrification facilities and garbage treatment facilities in non-power industries; In terms of environmental responsibility investigation, the Opinions put forward that illegal acts such as starting construction without approval of environmental impact assessment documents, making major changes without authorization during construction, and putting into production without environmental protection acceptance should be investigated for the responsibility of management departments, related enterprises and personnel according to law, strengthening environmental law enforcement supervision and establishing law enforcement responsibility system; In terms of strict environmental management methods, the Opinions put forward that the EIA procedures must be strictly implemented, and the total discharge index of major pollutants should be taken as the precondition for the EIA approval, and the total discharge of industries should be controlled, so as to improve the environmental access standards and emission standards of key industries, and to formulate and revise relevant laws and regulations, and resolutely prohibit the new expansion and reconstruction of projects that increase the total discharge of heavy metal pollutants in key prevention and control areas; In the development of environmental protection industry, the Opinions proposes to increase policy support, expand market demand, encourage the establishment of environmental protection industry development funds through multiple channels, and broaden financing channels for environmental protection industry development. Implement advanced and applicable technology research and development, technical equipment and demonstration projects, and focus on the development of environmental services.Encourage the use of green signs and environmental certification requirements.
Box 5: Twelfth Five-Year Plan of National Environmental Protection
In order to promote the scientific development of China’s environmental protection during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period, the State Council issued the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Environmental Protection in December 2011. The 12th Five-Year Plan of national environmental protection is an important part of the 12th Five-Year Plan. The Plan takes improving the basic environmental public service system as a key task. By promoting the coordinated development of regional environmental protection, improving the level of rural environmental protection, and strengthening the ability of environmental supervision, it strives to narrow the gap between regions, urban and rural areas in the ability of harmless treatment of sewage and garbage and the ability of environmental monitoring and evaluation, effectively ensuring the safety of drinking water sources in urban and rural areas, so that all citizens can obtain basic environmental public services that are compatible with the level of economic and social development and have roughly equal results. For the first time, the Plan takes strengthening the prevention and control of environmental risks in key areas and maintaining environmental safety as a strategic task, aiming at solving the problem of environmental security in the process of industrialization by improving institutional policies and improving the system of prevention, early warning, response, disposal and recovery. First, strengthen the basic system construction of environmental risk prevention and control. Carry out national environmental risk investigation and assessment, deepen environmental risk management measures, strengthen the foundation of environmental risk management, and improve the security system of full prevention and control. The second is to include heavy metals and chemicals in the focus of risk prevention and control. Strengthen the prevention and control of heavy metal pollution in key industries and regions, intensify the elimination of toxic and harmful chemicals, strictly supervise the chemical environment, and strengthen the prevention and control of chemical risks. The third is to comprehensively strengthen nuclear and radiation safety work.Vigorously improve the safety level of nuclear and radiation, improve the safety level of nuclear energy and nuclear technology utilization, strengthen nuclear and radiation safety supervision and radioactive pollution prevention and control. Fourth, vigorously promote the treatment and disposal of solid waste from the perspective of preventing environmental risks of hazardous waste. We will comprehensively promote the prevention and control of hazardous waste pollution, intensify the prevention and control of industrial solid waste pollution, and improve the level of domestic waste treatment.
