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Local govts may ignore standards

By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-27 08:02

Local govts may ignore standards

A visitor to a recent nuclear power industry fair in Beijing, looks at a model of the Jiangxi Nuclear Power Station, which goes into construction this month. The nuclear power project in East China's Jiangxi province has passed the central government's environmental appraisal and is an example of the kind of development environmental officials and researchers fear may get lost in efforts to keep the economy humming. [Asianewsphoto]

Environmental officials and researchers warn against further ecological degradation, because local governments may be ignoring environmental standards as they implement parts of the multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan.

These official and researchers strongly urge governments at various levels to follow the central government's call for keeping the stimulus deal green and balancing economic growth and environmental protection.

The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, a top-notch advisory council for the central government, has sent repeated warnings to the highest-level decision-makers since last November, when China launched its four-trillion-yuan stimulus package.

A team of experts at the council said last week that even some sound practices and systems already well-established had been brushed aside as local governments strive to keep fast growth and create more jobs.

"Thousands of projects have been given the green light in such a short time and these probably have many environmental loopholes," Liao Ming, senior research fellow at the China Society of Economic Reform think-tank told China Business Weekly.

Li Ganjie, vice-minister of Environmental Protection also said he is concerned about whether the provincial and local governments are even able to uphold environmental standards when implementing stimulus plans.

He said about one-tenth of the 230 billion yuan the central government has spent from January to March went to environmental protection, energy efficiency and emissions control.

The Washington-based World Resources Institute has found 38 percent of China's four-trillion-yuan stimulus package is "directly or indirectly" linked to green industries and environmental protection, making the country's stimulus plan one of the greenest launched since the global economic downturn.

But environmental officials and researchers have expressed concern about whether local governments can actually turn the green plans on paper into reality.

Last November the council and its panel of experts submitted a report to the central government, including Premier Wen Jiabao, warning that local governments were likely to ignor the environmental impact in their haste to launch new projects to boost economic growth.

The panel suggested the central government should strengthen environmental inspections.

Liao Ming, the researcher, blamed the local governments in parts of China for clinging to the outdated mindset that higher economic growth trumps all other priorities.

Liao said there are several negative trends. One is that the provincial and local governments in some regions have ignored the "veto system," an accountability system started in 2007 linking leading governmental officials' performance in energy saving and emission control to their career promotion.

"Another trend is that, in the rush to launch investment projects, local governments are not doing careful environmental impact assessments," said Liao.

"This is too risky," he said.

Daniel Dudek, chief economist of the US-based Environmental Defense Fund has urged decision-makers to bear the lessons of the financial crisis in mind. "It was a failure to live within our means," Dudek said.

"When implementing stimulus plans, we should look at the environmental budget we have," he said.

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