BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Environmental protection, now one of the "brakes" in China's economic macrocontrol policies, will play a more prominent role in the approval process for large construction projects, a Chinese official said on Monday.

    Projects will be cancelled if they either overdevelop land resources or may affect surrounding eco-environment negatively, said Zhu Guangyao, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), at a press conference releasing the country's second white paper on environmental protection since 1996.

    Stricter assessment of construction projects, as Zhu illustrated, is just one of the government's measures to realize the environmental protection goals highlighted in the white paper.

    The 45-page white paper, titled "Environmental Protection in China (1996-2005)" and released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's central government, says that the situation of environmental protection in the country is still "grave".

    The paper points out that since the late 1970s, China's economy has developed rapidly and continuously. During the process, many environmental problems that haunted developed countries in different phases of their 100-year-long industrialization occurred in China all at the same time.

    The conflict between environment and development is becoming ever more prominent. Relative shortage of resources, a fragile ecological environment and insufficient environmental capacity are becoming critical problems hindering China's development, it says.

    The Chinese government has attached great importance to environmental protection and set it as a basic national policy and sustainable development as an important strategy.

    Thanks to these efforts, although the amount of resource consumption and pollutants is increasing greatly, the trend toward aggravated environmental pollution and ecological destruction is slowing down, says the white paper.

    According to the white paper, since 1996, the State has formulated or revised major laws on environmental protection, such as those on prevention and control of water pollution, marine environment protection, prevention and control of air pollution, as well as evaluation of environmental impact.

    For three years in a row, the state has launched special environmental protection campaigns to rectify enterprises that have discharged pollutants in violation of the law and to protect people's health, closing down 16,000 enterprises.

    Statistics in the white paper show that the amount of industrial waste water, oxygen for industrial chemicals, industrial sulfur dioxide, industrial smoke and industrial dust discharged in generating one unit of GDP in China in 2004 dropped by 58 percent, 72 percent, 42 percent, 55 percent and 39 percent, respectively, from 1995.

    Compared with 1996, in 2005 the proportion of cities with air quality reaching Grade II of the state standard increased by 31 percentage points, while that of cities with air quality lower than Grade III decreased by 39 percentage points.

    In recent years, China has completed more than 800,000 rural drinking water projects, solving difficulties and insecurity in this regard for 67 million rural residents.

    The white paper also says that the total newly afforested area has reached over 6.67 million hectares every year since 2002. At present, the national forest acreage is 175 million hectares, the forest cover 18.21 percent.

    By the end of 2005, there were 2,349 nature reserves of various kinds and levels in China, covering 1.5 million square km and taking up about 15 percent of the country's land territory.

    The last decade has seen the largest increase ever in China's investment in its environmental protection, says the paper.

    Between 1996 and 2004, China's investment into environmental pollution control reached 952.27 billion yuan (119 billion U.S. dollars), amounting to one percent of that period's GDP. The year 2005 alone saw a total investment of 238.8 billion yuan (29.9 billion U.S. dollars), with its ratio in GDP up to 1.3 percent.

    The white paper, however, also notes that the government is fully aware of the grave situation of environmental protection in the country.

    Earlier statistics show that rivers that go through cities are polluted in sections of the downtown areas; one fifth of Chinese cities suffer from serious air pollution; one third of the land area is affected by acid rain; 3.56 million square kilometers of land suffer soil erosion; 1.74 million square kilometers of land experience desertification; more than 90 percent of natural grasslands have degenerated and biodiversity has decreased.

    Premier Wen Jiabao said in April at the sixth national environmental protection conference that environmental protection will become part of the assessment system of economic and social development and the performance of officials.

    Zhu Guangyao showed a deep concern over local officials' emphasis on economic development.

    "The 7.5 percent annual growth rate set by the 11th Five-Year Plan will keep the country's development at a stable pace. But some local governments, especially those in remote and backward areas, are still pursuing rapid economic development, giving more pressure on local environment and resources," he said.

    He suggested more efforts should be devoted to maintaining a reasonable and ordered development level and to enhancing the awareness of the importance of environmental protection among local officials and the public.

    In the 11th Five-Year Plan, China has clearly set forth its main goals for environmental protection for the next five years: by 2010, while the national economy will maintain a relatively stable and fast growth, the environmental quality of key regions and cities will be improved, and the trend toward ecological deterioration will be brought under control.

    The blueprint for the country's development in the next five years also requires energy consumption per unit of GDP to decline by 20 percent, compared with the end of the 10th Five-Year Plan period.

    The total amount of major pollutants discharged will be reduced by 10 percent, and forest coverage will be raised from 18.2 percent to 20 percent, according to the plan.

    Zhu also listed seven tasks as the major environmental protection work to ensure the fulfillment of these goals. The most important task is water pollution control, with focus on drinking water security.

    Other tasks including urban and rural environmental protection, air pollution control, eco-system protection, enhancement of nuclear and other radioactive sources security and implementation of the state environmental protection projects.

    In China's future development, environmental protection will become a more and more important standard for the government to adjust its macrocontrol policies, which will ensure a balanced, healthy and sustainable economic growth, Zhu said. Enditem

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