Want China Times
March 19, 2015
An aerial view of Tianjin, March 1. (Photo/CNS)
Some foreign experts have said that while China has made tremendous efforts in environmental governance and sustainable development, it still faces many environmental challenges and has a long and bumpy road to travel.
The scale of China’s economy is one of the biggest challenges China has to deal with in environmental protection nowadays, said Isabel Hilton, director of China Dialogue, a non-governmental organization based in London and Beijing promoting nature conservation and business cooperation.
“This is a very big country and it is a big problem,” Hilton said, adding that China has to handle stresses on the environment both from its current economic activities, and from damage inflicted by decades of intensive growth, especially the pollution in the air, water and soil.
“I think in terms of governance we have seen a lot of progress in legislation and regulation. We have seen a lot of progress in things like environmental courts, we have seen a lot of progress in realistic fines,” Hilton said.
Hilton also suggested China take advantage of its enormous manufacturing capacity to fast forward the transformation of its energy structure, “which is still 70% dependent on coal.”
“When China turns its attention to the manufacturing of solar panels or wind turbines, the global price drops because China is very good at this,” she said, adding that China and the world would both benefit from the country’s upgrading of energy structure.
Hideaki Koyanagi, director of the Sino-Japan Cooperation Project Office at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, said that the accumulating burden of past pollution remains one of the major threats against China’s environmental protection.
To eradicate pollution and realize a decisive transformation in China’s environment, not only is the resolution and persistence of the Chinese government needed, but also the active engagement of all citizens.
German ecologist Hans-Joachim Mader said that compared with the country’s economic growth, China’s environmental governance is moving forward at a slower pace. He suggested that China allow natural restoration to keep pace with economic growth.
Mader also pointed out that China has failed to attach enough importance to all-around ecological management, saying China mostly relies on technology to tackle pollution, but environmental governance is not only about applying technologies.
Kelly Sims Gallagher, director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the US Tufts University, believed that China should get away from its heavy reliance on coals in order to better improve its environment and facilitate sustainable development.
Gallagher said that because of its abundant reserve of coal mines, many infrastructures in China are being built based on a coal-oriented economy, which, in turn, increases China’s dependence on coal.
China should control its carbon emission and diversify its energy resources via developing renewable resources, nuclear powers and so on, Gallagher added.
