Full Description
This volume of the China Environment Yearbook is the fourth in the seminal series by China's first environmental NGOs, Friends of Nature. The fourth English translation updates readers on environmentally significant issues of 2008, a year of both tragedy and hope. 2008 was an eventful year that included such setbacks as the Sichuan Earthquake, debilitating snow and ice storms, an algae bloom at the site of the Olympic sailing venue prior to the games, and a worsening global economic crisis. But there were also events that filled the country with optimism, including a successful Beijing Olympic Games with good air quality, the upgrading of the State Environmental Protection Agency to ministerial level status, and significant developments in China's environmental legal system and environmental public information disclosure mechanism.
Other topics explored in this volume include marine pollution, wetlands, road ecology, eco-compensation, debates surrounding the newly instituted "plastic bag restriction" policy, public interest litigation, the concept of a low carbon economy, and the environmental performance of enterprises in 2008. Volume four is essential for those looking for a window into issues affecting China's environment from the viewpoint of civil society.
Contents
Preface
Yang Dongping
GENERAL REPORT
We Are All Victims of Pollution and Responsible for Our Planet
Li Dun
PART I
2008: AN EVENTFUL YEAR
1. Beijing's Environment during the Olympic Games and Post-Olympic Outlook
Li Hujun
2. Large Projects in Quake-Stricken Areas after the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake
Fan Xiao
PART II
ECOLOGICAL PROTECTION
3. Forestry Decentralization May Lead to Crisis
Feng Yongfeng
4. Plateau Wetlands: Functions, Values, and Environmental Deterioration
Tian Kun
5. Pastoral Industrial Policies and Grassland Ecology
Gai Zhiyi
6. Opportunities and Risks of Genetically Modified Crops
Zi You
7. Road Construction: Ecological and Social Problems
Piao Zhengji and Shen Xiaohui
PART III
POLLUTION
8. Air Quality and Quality of Life
Peng Yan
9. Agriculture Pollution Zoning and Comprehensive Control Measures
Liang Shumin
10. Marine Pollution: A Gloomy Outlook
Yu Chen
11. A Turning Point in China's Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction?
Qie Jianrong
PART IV
POLICIES
12. Significant Developments in China's Environmental Legal System in 2008
Feng Jia
13. The Ministry of Environmental Protection: From Organizational Upgrade to Functional Enhancement
Zhang Shiqiu
14. Natural Resource and Environmental Issues in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Chen Hongwei
15. Plastic Bag Restriction: An Unfinished Mission
Mao Da
16. Environmental Public Interest Litigation
Lü Zhongmei
17. Promoting Open Environmental Information
Wang Jingjing and Ruan Qingyuan
PART V
GREEN ECONOMY
18. New Developments in Environmental Economic Policy
Hu Kanping
19. China's Comprehensive Engagement with a Low Carbon Economy
Zhuang Guiyang
20. Ecological Compensation and Payment
Zhang Ke
21. Environmental Performance of Enterprises in 2008
Su Jianhua and Guo Peiyuan
PART VI
APPENDIX
Annual Indexes: Environmental Trends
Terminological Glossary
Index
