State of the World 2006 [antikvár]

Foreword Xie Zhenhua Director, State Environmental Protection Administration, China From the U.N. Conference on the Humán Environment in 1972 through and beyond the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, countries around the world have worked to protect the environment we all depend on for survival. In endorsing the Millennium Development Goals, the global community made a solemn pledge to eliminate poverty, spread education, safeguard the rights and interests of women and children, prevent AIDS, protect the environment, and promote global cooperation. In recent years, the world has made rewarding progress in sustainable develop ment. Yet we must remain aware that the overall condition of the global environment has not improved. Rather, it continues to deteriorate, and developing countries in particular face grave challenges in pursuing sustainable development: poverty in somé countries has worsened with the widening disparities between North and South, industrial countries have slowed the transfer of technology and aid to developing countries, somé countries still suffer from unsustainable production practices and from overconsumption, and unconventional threats such as terrorism undermine world peace and development. A host of tough tasks lies ahead, and the world still has a long way to go to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The government of China has made sustainable development a national strategy and environmental protection a basic state policy. Since the mid 1990s, we have accelerated the pace of building needed environmental infrastructure in our cities, improved pollution prevention and treatment capabilities, closed more than 80,000 highly polluting small enterprises, and raised public awareness on environmental issues. As we enter the new century, we are resolved to change the practice of polluting first and cleaning up later, and we are striving to build a resource-saving, environmentally friendly society. An environmentally friendly society is one in which people adopt a way of production and a lifestyle that promote the harmonious coexistence of humankind and nature. Since 1978, China has witnessed annual growth of the economy of 9.4 percent along with notable increases in people's consumption levels. At the same time, environmental quality has improved in somé cities and regions, emissions of most primary pollutants have been controlled, international covenants on the environment have been signed, and the public's participation in environmental improvement efforts has increased. During this time, the government's active exploration of effective ways to tackle envi ronmental problems has demonstrated that the Chinese governement is a responsible government, that Chinese people are a responsible people, and that China's devel-