China varies development modes for different regions
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-11 16:16

Under the proposed program, China calls for different economic growth modes for regions based on environmental characteristics rather than on a unitary mode.

According to the draft, China will restrict or forbid exploitation and development in the areas which are listed as environmentally sensitive areas. Development in the areas that are susceptible to wind and sand erosion and wildlife nature reserves will also be restricted or banned.

Jai and Zhou's lands in Gannan Prefecture are listed as a wetland and an environmental protected area in the draft five-year plan. The local government has already taken the lead and is helping thousands of nomadic herdsmen to settle permanently. They hope this will help restore the former pasture lands and stop the desert from further encroaching.

"This is the first time for China to propose different modes of development for different regions in a five-year development program," said Chen Jianhua, secretary of the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Committee of the Communist Party of China ( CPC).

"This is a new concept that is extremely significant, " he said, adding that China's regional development policy used to be formulated based on administrative orders."

He explained that the former method did not take into account a region's unique environmental characteristics or development potential .

"This will help fairly allocate public resources and solve specific problems that are unique to a particular region," he said.

Over the past few decades, various localities pursued economic development with single model with little consideration of the deteriorating environment and the misuse of resources.

According to the estimation of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), China's economic losses due to its deteriorating environment account for 8 percent of the nation's GDP each year.

The country loses the equivalent of 667,000 hectares of arable land annually, said the UNEP. Desert lands now cover 30 percent of the country's land area, threatening the livelihood of nearly 400 million people. China has also suffered frequent river pollution accidents, sand storms and other environmental disasters in the past few years.

Li Shantong, a member of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said the former regional division policy is one reason for the broadening gap between the economically developed regions and China's western environmentally sensitive areas.

"It was hard to take advantage of what the different regions have to offer due to a lack of cooperation among them," said Li, also a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council.

China's new five-year plan requires restricting or banning industries which are harmful to the environment in the protected areas.

Meanwhile, industrialization and urbanization of these areas will be "seriously" restricted, said Li.

Zhu Zhixin, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, noted that narrowing the gap between environmentally sensitive areas and developed regions doesn't necessarily mean the former's per capita GDP should be brought up to the latter's level. One of the major tasks is to ensure all residents enjoy equal basic public services.

The new goals for regional development have reduced emphasis on GDP, said Chen Jianhua, NPC deputy from Gannan Prefecture.

He said one of his major tasks in the coming five years is to remove 6,800 households of herdsmen out of the grassland before 2010, in addition to development of public service facilities and make efforts to better protect and improve the local environment.