An "overall and authoritative" database for the country's ecological status will be established by next March, once the mammoth ecological survey of the central and eastern regions is completed, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).
The administration, along with the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, recently started a comprehensive ecological survey of 19 central and eastern provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, SEPA officials said yesterday.
The ongoing ecological survey will cover 24 categories, including basic social and economic development, land use, soil erosion, forest, water resources, scenic spots, endangered species, wetlands, nature reserves, farm pollution and energy exploration.
The yearlong survey, combined with a previous survey in western parts of the country in 2000, will come out of a database for the country's overall ecology.
Zhuang Guotai, an official with the Natural Conservation Department under SEPA, said the nationwide ecological database will provide comprehensive statistics as "essential references" for the central government to use when drafting policies in line with the country's sustainable development strategy.
The database will also be available online to the media and the public, Zhuang said.
Organizers of the survey, which is similar to the investigation project in western regions, will collect the latest statistics on the social, economic and environmental status in the central and eastern regions and then assess the progress of ecological conservation efforts in those regions, SEPA officials said.
Provincial governments have set up special working groups, usually headed by the governors of the provinces, to cooperate with SEPA on the survey, Zhuang said.
Local governments were required to double check the statistics they provided to ensure accuracy of database, Zhuang said.
Zhuang also said the central and eastern regions, though boasting a relatively developed economy compared to those western provinces, are suffering serious ecological problems such as farm pollution, the decrease of wetlands, drought and flood.
SEPA officials said the ambitious economic development plans should not rule out the protection of the deteriorating ecology there.
(China Daily May 15, 2002)
