China's agenda 21 - A critique

Tensions between environment and development are acute in China, with its huge population, unprecedented rate of industrialization and shrinking area of cultivable land, The national Agenda 21, presented two years after the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, is intended to guide the nation's development well into the twenty-first century, The paper systematically reviews the nation's resource and contamination problems in the context of social, economic and administrative circumstances, Seventy-eight Programme Areas are proposed to ensure that future developments are consistent with the Rio Declaration, Overall the 'polluter pays' principle is endorsed, Several impediments to the successful implementation of proposed policies are suggested, including growing autonomy at local administrative levels, the patchy nature of environmental protection and the need for continued unfettered economic growth, While the national Agenda 21 document may not itself precipitate sudden changes, we believe it symbolizes a growing awareness of environmental issues in China.