What’s happening to the environment is arguably one of the world’s most important stories today.
Guardian newspaper journalist Jonathan Watts did not mince his words in 2012 on his departure from China after reporting on the country for nine years. Speaking at the China Environmental Press Awards he spoke of the major challenges faced in the world’s most populated country as its economy forges ahead. And he had a message for the Chinese journalists receiving awards for their coverage of the environment.
As he noted: “I believe you are covering the most important story in the world, but that story is too often shunted into a cul-de-sac. It is necessary to be more assertive and to take the key issues into other areas – economics, politics, foreign affairs.”
Watts is right. The environment is the biggest story in the world, even if the world’s mainstream media typically fails to recognize it. And media coverage of China’s industrialization and economy is something that needs far more attention. The Middle Kingdom faces major challenges as the land, air and water gets polluted in the rush to get rich. And what should not be forgotten is the country’s drive for natural resources abroad, whether just over the border in Myanmar or as far afield as Africa and South America.
Chinese farmers planting trees
China’s pollution footprint is large, both at home and abroad. Asia’s two economic giants – China and India – are continuing to increase emissions.
Those carefully following efforts in China to deal with the environmental challenges see serious problems but also some signs of hope.
In a piece in China Dialogue entitled, Why it’s time to end China-bashing on the environment, Li Shuo says a mismatch between global hopes and Chinese realities is inevitable unless negotiators on both sides employ smarter diplomacy.
China’s environmental challenges have hit a new peak, and the people are no longer able to overlook the failings of environmental protection. No matter how difficult it is to achieve, no matter what the setbacks are, China needs tougher environmental policy. This is something the international community hopes for, and China’s environmental conditions require.
Li Shuo says don’t give up on China.
As China reconsiders the world, the world also needs urgently to rethink China, says Li Shuo. “This challenge will remain as long as this heavyweight sits at the negotiating table, and only get harder as time goes on. People must learn how to work with China in multilateral climate processes, and the same is true for China’s negotiators.”
The challenge in a country of 1.3 billion people is immense. Watts identified areas that need careful attention:
– Environmental stress is often exported, both through overseas “outsourcing” and internal relocation of dirty industries. Starting in my country the UK, this has been the trend of industrial development over the past 200 years. The unsustainable portion of the globe is now far bigger than the sustainable part.
– Poor environmental management can be lethal. This was brought home by visits and interviews in http://www.chinadialogue.net.proxy.webboxxx.com/article/show/single/en/3762 “cancer villages” such as Xinlong in Yunnan, which is badly contaminated by cadmium.
– The collapse of an ecosystem can lead to the collapse of an economy. On a micro-level, the drying up of Anguli Lake in Hebei destroyed the tourist business that the local Mongolian herders had established. At a macro-level, we have barely started calculating the costs of environmental destruction, but these “externalities” cannot stay off the balance sheet forever.
Chinese artist and activist Ai Wei Wei makes a statement about pollution in China by wearing a gas mask– Environmental disruption can lead to social disruption. This was brought home in covering the aftermath of violent protests in Huankantou, Zhejiang province. There have been peaceful demonstrations against petrochemical plants in Xiamen and Dalian, or incinerators in Beijing and Guangzhou. I also believe the upsurge in unrest in big minority areas, such as Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia is ultimately related to the increasing exploitation of natural resources in those areas, which is damaging grasslands, blocking rivers and disrupting traditional – and sustainable – patterns of life. So far, fortunately, we have not seen severe cross-border conflicts over resources in east Asia, but they could easily blow up in the South China Sea, or if major water-diversion projects are launched in Tibet or Xinjiang.
– Some problems are being dealt with. Many others remain largely neglected. Awareness on air quality has surged in the past year (thanks in no small part to the US embassy’s monitoring twitter feed). But the very serious threat of soil pollution is barely entering public consciousness or policymaking priorities.
– The Chinese government has tended to focus on top-down, engineered supply-side solutions to environmental problems, hence the South-North Water Diversion project and investments in renewables. But I have seen little movement on demand-side, cultural and educational campaigns at the grassroots to change behaviour. This has started to change somewhat with the moves to set ceilings on water and coal use and to slow economic growth. But I am not yet convinced the authorities will be able to implement this.
– The transition to a low-carbon economy in China is far from assured. While I have seen the impressive transformation of wind and solar farms in Jiuquan, Donghuan [both in Gansu province] and elsewhere, the renewables industry is over-capacity. Many technical and financial challenges remain. Meanwhile, China’s coal addiction seems to be getting worse. The share of coal in China’s energy mix actually increased last year and China now probably accounts for almost half the coal burned on the planet.
– Action often comes too late. I saw this during the expedition to search for the Baiji dolphin, which was lavishly funded, had strong political support and expertise from across the world. But it was too late to find a single dolphin. The baiji was declared functionally extinct after 20 million years on earth.
Ma Jun – Advocate for the environment
Rapid development at the expense of China’s natural environment has become a major cause for discontent in the world’s second largest economy, but now the government is finally bowing to public outcry, says a leading environmentalist, Ma Jun.
