A proposal has been made at the ongoing annual session of the Ninth
National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC) for a national ecological survey that would
raise data collection on ecology from the departmental level to the
national level through establishment of a national ecological
database comparable to those for population and land resources.
"For over 50 years, China has administered five national censuses
and two national land resources surveys, but never has China made
any survey on a national level of her ecological environment," said
Niu Wenyuan, a CPPCC member who is also editor of the Report on
China's Sustainable Development. "So far, people already have clear
pictures about the first two issues, but when it comes to the
ecological environment, there is still much room to explore."
Currently, only various uncoordinated data exist on ecological
issues, Niu said. "For instance, take just one case -- the annual
speed of desertification. There are three different data regarding
this information: One says about 2,600 square km (1,004 square
miles) of land is facing desertification every year, the second
about 2,400 square km (927 square miles), and the third 2150 square
km (830 square miles) -- all of them are reported by various
authorities. So which is the most correct?"
Niu emphasized that -- like information on population as well as
land and natural resources -- information about a country's
ever-changing ecological environment enables people to understand
the nation's basic situation and to make appropriate legislation. A
clear picture about China's ecological environment over 9.6 million
square km (3.7 million square miles) land area would also be
beneficial to the whole world, he said.
During the past over twenty years, China has seen a rapid progress
in nation's economy, but at the same time, we human beings also
seriously interfered the ecological environment, though we have no
idea about the degree of such interference. After China's entry
into WTO, with the ecological environment increasingly influencing
China's social and economical development, it's necessary to have a
set of accurate data in this respect. From the research point of
view, only with the help of these data, can people or researchers
monitor the dynamic changes in our environment accurately.
Niu's proposal received the backing of 17 other CPPCC members,
including Ye Wenhu, a CPPCC member from the Environmental Science
Center of Peking University.
"As soon as Niu discussed it with me, I agreed immediately," said
Ye Wenhu, who added although it's generally accepted that the water
pollution has become a more serious problem and that the endangered
species list is growing -- even experts lack a clear idea about the
situation without a whole picture of China's ecological system.
"The ecological environment in China is very dangerous, with many
places has reached a critical stage," said Ye Wenhu. He cited as an
example of the need for accurate information on ecological issues
an experience he had last year in south China.
"The secretary of the municipal Party committee of a city told me
that the five rivers make the city rich in water resources.
However, when we looked into it, we discovered that four out of the
five rivers cannot be used. When the amount of water conflicts with
the quality of the water, how can he call the city rich in water
resources?"
Ye
Wenhu also visited Dashu town, Xuyong county of Sichuan Province
where although several years have passed since people in the town
refined sulphur and iron ore using traditional method, the water
from the neighboring river called Peace River still runs black,
yellow and red because of the waste from the refining process.
"People were all trying to escape from this badly polluted town,
and the Peace River is no longer in peace. However, this case is
only one of many other similar pollution cases across the whole
country. But as for the specific statistics, we still need to take
further investigation. Therefore, a national investigation is
necessary for a deep understanding about China's ecological
situation." Ye Wenhu said.
According to He Zuoxiu, another CPPCC member supporting Niu's
proposal: "The data from the investigation will be the basic data,
which belongs to China's basic situation. And such work should have
been done a long time ago."
(新華社 [Xinhua News Agency]
March 4, 2002, translated by Feng Shu for china.org.cn)