A Systematic Understanding of the Highlights, Difficulties …
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consensuses and achieve effective coordination, especially in the management of
environmental elements such as water and air, as relevant responsibilities are hard to
define.
4. Difficulty in matching needs with input
As the major contradiction facing the Chinese society has changed, more people now
regard a good ecological environment as a major factor in their happiness. However,
on the one hand, China has a long way to go to restore its ecosystems and lags
behind many other countries in terms of its construction of environmental protection
infrastructure for a variety of reasons. On the other hand, investment in environmental
protection generally does not generate as good results as expected by the public. One
reason for this is a lack of incentives for social capital join the efforts, which may
be the result of an incomplete market mechanism, imbalance between input and
output in the environmental protection industry, and the fact that the environment is
easy to destroy but difficult to restore. According to statistics, in 2016, investment
in environmental protection accounted for only 1.3% of China’s GDP, of which
direct investment in pollution control facilities accounted for 0.6% of GDP and
0.73% of total investment in fixed assets; and the central and local governments
spent 1.2% of their budgets in this regard. In comparison, in developed countries,
investment in environmental protection accounted for 6–8% of GDP at the peak, and
the average level is 2–3%. China’s total investment in environmental protection is
therefore seriously inadequate, and falls far behind what the country intends to do
according to its advanced philosophy regarding an ecological civilization.
5. Difficulty in handling historical problems with current policies
A raft of deeply rooted problems formed due to various reasons over time hinder
China’s progress in building an ecological civilization. Some projects or enterprises
have failed to keep up with new plans and policies for ecological and environmental
protection amid rapid economic and social development, industrial restructuring and
city upgrading. For instance, some enterprises engaged in the chemical industry,
smelting, power generation, mining and other pollution-intensive production activities are located at places that used to be city suburbs and had to be shut down
or relocated as fast urbanization brought residential communities all around them.
This involve some projects that were once strongly advocated by the government
but gradually came under more restrictions and even total prohibition as relevant
standards and requirements got increasingly stringent for ecological and environmental protection. For example, land reclamation shifted from an initiative backed
by the government to an area subject strict control, because blind reclamation and
inappropriate use of reclaimed land were observed with a lack of restrictions. Some
projects were built without sound laws, regulations, institutional arrangements or
plans in place. One conspicuous problem, for example, is how to deal with some
emergency facilities, rural housing, schools, and hospitals that were built without a
clear plan. These problems are unlikely to be solved soon as heavy vested interest
may be involved and there is not yet clear laws, regulations and policies to follow in
this regard.
155
consensuses and achieve effective coordination, especially in the management of
environmental elements such as water and air, as relevant responsibilities are hard to
define.
4. Difficulty in matching needs with input
As the major contradiction facing the Chinese society has changed, more people now
regard a good ecological environment as a major factor in their happiness. However,
on the one hand, China has a long way to go to restore its ecosystems and lags
behind many other countries in terms of its construction of environmental protection
infrastructure for a variety of reasons. On the other hand, investment in environmental
protection generally does not generate as good results as expected by the public. One
reason for this is a lack of incentives for social capital join the efforts, which may
be the result of an incomplete market mechanism, imbalance between input and
output in the environmental protection industry, and the fact that the environment is
easy to destroy but difficult to restore. According to statistics, in 2016, investment
in environmental protection accounted for only 1.3% of China’s GDP, of which
direct investment in pollution control facilities accounted for 0.6% of GDP and
0.73% of total investment in fixed assets; and the central and local governments
spent 1.2% of their budgets in this regard. In comparison, in developed countries,
investment in environmental protection accounted for 6–8% of GDP at the peak, and
the average level is 2–3%. China’s total investment in environmental protection is
therefore seriously inadequate, and falls far behind what the country intends to do
according to its advanced philosophy regarding an ecological civilization.
5. Difficulty in handling historical problems with current policies
A raft of deeply rooted problems formed due to various reasons over time hinder
China’s progress in building an ecological civilization. Some projects or enterprises
have failed to keep up with new plans and policies for ecological and environmental
protection amid rapid economic and social development, industrial restructuring and
city upgrading. For instance, some enterprises engaged in the chemical industry,
smelting, power generation, mining and other pollution-intensive production activities are located at places that used to be city suburbs and had to be shut down
or relocated as fast urbanization brought residential communities all around them.
This involve some projects that were once strongly advocated by the government
but gradually came under more restrictions and even total prohibition as relevant
standards and requirements got increasingly stringent for ecological and environmental protection. For example, land reclamation shifted from an initiative backed
by the government to an area subject strict control, because blind reclamation and
inappropriate use of reclaimed land were observed with a lack of restrictions. Some
projects were built without sound laws, regulations, institutional arrangements or
plans in place. One conspicuous problem, for example, is how to deal with some
emergency facilities, rural housing, schools, and hospitals that were built without a
clear plan. These problems are unlikely to be solved soon as heavy vested interest
may be involved and there is not yet clear laws, regulations and policies to follow in
this regard.