China Sunday launched an official website to act as a government
mouth-piece on the heated problem of global climate change.
Officials said the opening of www.ccchina.gov.cn
- the first two c's of its name stand for climate change-is an
important step in signalling that China is committed to keeping the
promises it made when it signed international climate
agreements.
"The launch of the official website is an important step for us in
the endeavour of curbing global warming following the World Summit
on Sustainable Development which recently ended in South Africa's
Johannesburg," Director of the Office of National Co-ordination
Committee on Climate Change, Gao Guangsheng, said at yesterday's
launch ceremony in Beijing.
"The world's climate provisions stipulated that our policies and
measures should be transparent, while fulfilling our efforts in
cutting the world's global warming gas emissions," said Gao.
Wang Changsheng, deputy director of China Information Centre, said
that the website will provide an authoritative platform for
providing an information service to the rest of the world.
The website is at present in Chinese, but its English version will
be up-and-running soon, said Wang, whose centre is responsible for
maintaining the website.
Gao, who is also deputy director of Regional Economic Development
under the State Development Planning Commission, reported that the
Chinese Government has made considerable inroads into the curbing
of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide by controlling
population production, improving energy efficiency and enlarging
afforestation.
According to Gao, the majority of ministerial departments in China
have joined in the fight. The co-ordination committee office
operates under the auspices of Gao's commission.
As
to investment in this regard, official statistics indicate that
between 1998 and 2002, China earmarked a total of 580 billion yuan
(US$70 billion) for environmental protection, some 1.29 per cent of
its gross domestic production (GDP) during the period.
China recently approved the Kyoto Protocol, which, Gao
said,demonstrates the country's willingness to join with other
nations in combating environmental degradation.
(China
Daily October 14, 2002)