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China will set up 40 to 50 key ecological protection zones during
the next five years in several regions in an effort to stem the
tide of environmental destruction that has been taking place in
recent years, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA).
During the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), SEPA plans to
establish 12 State-level ecological protection zones at the source
regions of the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe, Liaohe and Pearl rivers.
The Dongting and Poyang lakes, Heihe, Songhuajiang River, Nenjiang
and Tarim rivers and the erosion-control areas at the northern foot
of the Yinshan Mountain will also be included in the establishment
of protection zones.
Different from nature reserves, where human activities are prohibited,
the new ecological protection zones will allow limited human activities.
According to Yang Chaofei, head of the ecological protection department
under SEPA, people will be permitted to use the zones, but only
in a way that is consistent with the idea of ecological protection.
All forms of production and activities that are destructive to the
environment will be forbidden in the new zones, and all projects
which cause serious environmental pollution will also be banned,
Yang added.
In addition, population growth will be strictly controlled in the
protection regions and residents will be resettled if a zone's population
grows beyond certain predetermined capacities, he explained.
The country needs the establishment of these zones because damage
to the environment in China is increasing, the SEPA official said.
Human activities are seriously harming the environment, and current
protection efforts can't keep pace with destructive activities,
according to Yang.
Major problems related to China's environment include the contradiction
between extensive economic development and the limited ecological
capacity to bear that development, and the inconsistency between
people's growing demands on the environment and the deterioration
of ecology, he said.
According to SEPA statistics, the area covered by the protection
zones will account for 13 percent of the total land area of China.
Among other environmental efforts China plans to undertake in the
next five years is the rehabilitation of 15 percent of the areas
which have been ecologically destroyed by mineral exploration. China
also plans to raise the livestock industry sewage treatment rate
to 100 percent.
Human destruction of the eco-system will be punished and the deterioration
of the environment will be monitored in China throughout the next
five years, Yang promised.
(Xinhua 11/28/2000)
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