GEF AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN CHINA.w/[Chairman Mo] Maurice Strong

GEF AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN CHINA: 

Co-chaired by Jin Liqun, Chinese Vice-Minister of Finance, and Zhu Guangyao, Vice-Minister of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), this Panel heard seven presentations, each followed by a commentary, and a discussion session.

Xiang Huaicheng, Chinese Minister of Finance, described China’s efforts in increasing financial resources, strengthening fiscal policies and exploring new funding mechanisms for sustainable development. Participants discussed cooperation between neighboring countries, and the applicability of carbon taxes and emissions trading in China.

Xie Zhenhua, SEPA Minister, briefed participants on the progress of environmental protection in China, noting that it is a national investment priority. Klaus Töpfer, UNEP, stressed decoupling economic growth and environmental deterioration, and urged south-south cooperation. Discussions focused on ways to promote recycling, control desertification and increase NGO involvement in GEF projects.

Jiang Zehui, Chinese Forestry Sciences Academy, introduced the government’s forestry activities and reported on the progress of the ongoing GEF/CHINA partnership on combating land degradation in dryland ecosystems. Joseph Eichenberger, Asian Development Bank, highlighted this partnership’s innovative approach and associated challenges. Participants discussed the need to link national with global projects and increase public involvement in GEF-supported projects.

Wang Dehui, SEPA, elaborated on efforts and associated challenges in strengthening biodiversity conservation and implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity in China. Huang Dawei, Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed mainstreaming conservation with policymaking and increasing biosafety research. Participants discussed management of alien species invasion and the need for public education and participation.

Liu Xianfa, State Economic and Trade Commission, explained how China has decoupled economic growth and energy consumption via a mix of policy instruments, and is aiming at further increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent. Frank Pinto, UNDP/ GEF, commended China’s successes in increasing energy efficiency and highlighted relevant ongoing GEF projects. Participants discussed China’s dependence on oil and petroleum imports, and energy consumption in rural areas.

Gao Guangsheng, State Development Planning Commission, provided background information on China’s climate change policy. Recognizing China’s large population and economic objectives, Zhou Dadi, Energy Research Institute, underscored the need to explore new ways of achieving economic advancement and decreasing per capita energy consumption. Discussions focused on building awareness of climate change issues in rural populations.

Liu Yi, SEPA, shared China’s experience and lessons learned from the implementation of the Montreal Protocol, highlighting strong international cooperation, effective national grant mechanisms and innovative approaches as reasons for success. Commentators Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank, and Omar El-Arini, Multilateral Fund, praised China’s strategic and systematic approach in phasing out ozone-depleting substances.

SCIENCE AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT: Julia Carabias, STAP Chair, introduced the Panel and highlighted the need to understand the linkages between numerous environmental issues. Klaus Töpfer, UNEP, highlighted the interlinkages among several environmental agreements and conventions, and stressed avoiding conflicting results when implementing the different commitments. Robert Watson, the World Bank, explained the impacts of climate change on the WEHAB issues of water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity, and their interlinkages with air quality, desertification, forestry and ozone depletion. He pointed out the need to integrate climate change and biodiversity into broader national policies.

Michael Stocking, University of East Anglia, said that land degradation impacts the local level, and affects poor societies and marginal environments. He underscored the complex linkages among land degradation, GEF focal areas, food security and poverty alleviation. Timothy Williams, International Livestock Research Institute, highlighted the links between livestock production, especially in drylands and GEF focal areas. He examined the environmental and social impacts of livestock management, including its effect on land quality, biodiversity, climate and livelihood. Francis Gichuki, International Water Management Institutions, stressed access to information as a means of holistically confronting impacts of land and water degradation, and urged an integrative approach. He suggested enhancing partnerships, allocating funding for a research commission to "fill information gaps," and drawing on different professional disciplines.

Karlheinz Ballschmiter, University of Ulm, Germany, outlined how POPs pose serious future global environment problems and stressed the need to focus on: POPs regional status, their effects on the environment, and ways of eliminating POPs. He called for increasing research and public awareness of POPs, gathering comparable pollution data, and finding safe alternative methods of destroying POPs. Xu Xioa-bai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, noted the problem of controlling POPs releases and circulation in the environment. She outlined common sources and pathways of pollution. Habiba Gitay, STAP Vice-Chair, explained the need for GEF operational programmes to consider integrated and ecosystem approaches, and develop pilot projects of local, regional and global scales.

EMINENT PERSONS: Chaired by Maurice Strong, the Eminent Persons Panel on the Global Environment and Sustainable Development consisted of six environmental experts envisioning GEF’s role for the next ten years.