ESTH Newsletter

April 2006

In This Issue:

Environment
• United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Johnson Visits China
• Environment in the 11th Five Year Plan Still Under 1% of GDP
• China Needs Infrastructure to Support Local Environmental Efforts
• Beijing: Worst Air Quality Record in Six Years Compared to the Same Period for Each Year
• Environmental Mitigation for Twenty Key Petro-Chemical Projects
• China Promotes Nuclear Power
• Drinking Water Quality
• Largest Hydropower Project in Tibet
• Beijing: Air Pollution Index for Most Recent Six Months

Health
• Increased Assistance for Orphans, Homeless and AIDS Orphans
• Expanded Rural Cooperative Medical Health Insurance System for Farmers
• New Regulation on Human Organ Transplants
• China's Demographics Update

Science
• China Spends U.S. $111.8 billion on Science Funding over 15 years
• Natural Science Fund expands its Research Plan

ENVIRONMENT

United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson meets with Minister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson's weeklong visit to China included the signing of a Hazardous Waste Annex to the Memorandum of Understanding with the China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), established a Sister Region program with SEPA, and announced a joint pilot project to reduce the amount of mercury in hospital equipment in China.   

Environment in the 11th Five Year Plan Still Under 1% of GDP

Professor Ma Zhong from China's Renmin University suggested that China's central and local governments should increase their environmental protection investments under the 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010).   While the economy is expected to double during the 11th Five Year Plan, and environmental investment will increase 85% as compared to the 10th Five Year Plan (2001-2005), the investment remains at around 1% of GDP.
(China Environment News, April 12, 2006; http://www.cenews.com.cn/news/2006-04-12/55795.php)

China Needs Infrastructure to Support Local Environmental Efforts

China had over 100 companies producing biodegradable plastic products in 2002 with an annual production capacity of over one million tons.  However, these companies   have no domestic market for recycling due to the lack of national standards for biodegradable plastic products and lack of urban recycling.  Currently, Beijing produces approximately 12,000 tons of garbage everyday, 5 tons of plastic bags are consumed each day at supermarkets alone.  Sheri Liao of Global Village Beijing, a non-profit organization, has been promoting recycling programs for many years but has yet to see any significant progress.  She strongly urges city governments to establish a waste recycling system to support citizen's efforts.
(Science Times, April 13, 2006; http://www.sciencetimes.com.cn/col34/article.htm1?id=71843)

Beijing: Worst Air Quality Record Compared to the Same Period for Past Six Years

Beijing experienced five days of continuous sand storms in mid-April, marking its worst air quality record when compared to the same time period for the past six years.   The following link is a photo of the sandstorm. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13488
The Air Quality Index (AQI) was at 500, the highest level measured by SEPA, for two of the five days and triggered health warnings of emergency conditions.  Ten provinces were affected in northern China.  From January 1 to April 12, Beijing reported 53 blue sky days this year, 16 days fewer when compared to the same period last year.  A major source of dust is from Hunshandak Desert in Inner Mongolia, which is approximately 200 km northwest of Beijing.  This is exacerbated by the dust caused by thousands of construction projects around Beijing.
(Beijing Morning Post, April 12, 2006; http://www.morningpost.com.cn/articleview/2006-4-12/article_view_21857.htm; http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/11/content_4412289.htm)

Environmental Mitigation for Twenty Key Petro-Chemical Projects

The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) completed a two months long environmental risk assessment of twenty petro-chemical projects located near various environmentally sensitive areas throughout China.  Pan Yue, Vice Minister of SEPA, required all 20 projects to re-evaluate their environmental impact based on the assessment results and submit an expedited mitigation report. 

(21st Century Business Herald; April 7, 2006; http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/jj/20060407/dd/200604060140.asp)

China Promotes Nuclear Power

The State Council approved an outline for mid- and long-term development of nuclear power generation (2005-2020) to boost clean energy production.  The plan focuses on improving the safety and quality of nuclear power plant construction by using innovative design and operating techniques.  China's power generation capacity reached 508.41 GW at the end of 2005, of which nuclear power accounts for 1.35%. 
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/24/content_4338684.htm; http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2006-03/23/content_235059.htm)

Drinking Water Quality

There are over 300 million farmers in China that have no access to safe drinking water. In early March, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly announced a plan to compliment the 11th Five-Year National Rural Area Drinking Water Safety Project.
In 2006, the Central Government will spend 4 billion RMB (U.S. $500 million), and local governments 8 billion RMB (U.S. $1 billion) to secure safe drinking water for 20 million people in rural areas.  China's current standards for drinking water quality were adopted in 1985, new standards are drafted but not yet adopted. 

(http://www.moh.gov.cn/public/open.aspx?n_id=11183)

Largest Hydropower Project in Tibet
A 1.34 billion RMB (U.S. $165 million), 100 MW hydropower project in the Tibet Autonomous Region is expected to go in operation later this year.  The hydropower plant is built on the Lhasa River and is the biggest in Tibet.  The Lhasa River flows through the eastern suburbs of Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region and then joins the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which is also known as Brahmaputra as it flows out of China.
(Xinhua News,March 27, 2006; http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Mar/163387.htm; http://www.chinatibetnews.com/GB/channel11/70/200512/06/44865.html
Beijing: API for Most Recent Six Months

Beijing's air quality forecast can be compared to the actual measured Air Pollution Index (API) for the most recent six months in the attached Graph 1.  The graph shows that forecasts fall short of actual measured pollution on heavily polluted days.  China's State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) considers API below 100 as good air quality.  Because 500 API is the highest number reported on the index, actual API on those days may be higher.  China's API is similar to that used in the U.S., however, the U.S. EPA air quality index (AQI) measures more pollutants and is more accurate.  Over 100 AQI in the U.S. is considered unhealthy.   
 
http://www.sepa.gov.cn/english/air-list.php3

HEALTH

Increased Assistance for Orphans, Homeless and AIDS Orphans

On April 13, the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) and 14 other governmental organizations including the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance jointly issued a plan to increase assistance for orphans in China.  This is the first comprehensive social welfare plan for orphans, homeless and abandoned AIDS children.  It instructs local governments and civil affairs offices to fund programs on improving the daily life, education, health, employment, housing, and recovery of orphans.

(People’s Daily, April 14, 2006; http://www.mca.gov.cn/pic_news/viewnews.asp?id=406)

Expanded Rural Cooperative Medical Health Insurance System for Farmers
The Ministry of Health is evaluating an expanded pilot project on a rural cooperative medical system to provide health insurance to farmers.   The ministry will evaluate counties in 29 provinces that first established the new rural cooperative medical system in 2003.  China has spent a total of 10.5 billion RMB (U.S. $1.3 billion) to establish disease prevention and control systems at local levels.  In addition, the government spent 3 billion RMB (U.S. $375 million) in support of health clinics in the central and western regions.  In March, the Ministry of Finance announced that the central government will increase rural medical care to 4.73 billion RMB (U.S. $500 million).  Premier Wen Jiabao told the National People's Congress that the central government will double government allowances of 20 RMB (U.S. $2.5) this year for each farmer participating in the rural cooperative medical system.  This change will increase the scope of current trials to 1,145 from 671 counties, or 40% of the counties in China.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2006) http://service.china.org.cn/link/wcm/Show_Text?info_id=164063&p_qry=Wen%20and%20Jiabao's%20and%20report 

New Regulation on Human Organ Transplants

The Ministry of Health issued temporary regulations to ban the sale of human organs and introduced a series of medical standards for organ transplants.  Effective July 1, medical institutions that perform transplants are required to register at provincial Health Departments regarding their human organ transplant practices.  China's top ranking comprehensive hospitals can register their services if they have doctors with clinical organ transplant qualifications, relevant equipments, an existing management system, and a medical ethics committee.  Ministry of Health estimated that at least two million patients in China need organ transplants each year, but only about 20,000 transplants are performed due to a shortage of organs. 

(Xinhua News, March 28; http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Mar/163567.htm; http://www.morningpost.com.cn/ArticleView/2006-3-28/Article_View_18499.Htm; http://www.china.com.cn/chinese/PI-c/1166286.htm)

China's Demographics Update

China's National Bureau of Statistics has released figures based on a recent 1% census showing that the country has a population of 1.30628 billion as of November 1, 2005, with a birth rate of 13.25 births per 1000 population and an annual growth rate of 0.63%.  Total fertility rate estimate is 1.8 children per woman of child bearing years.  Census figures also indicate that more than 11% of the population are seniors above age 60, men constitute 51.53% while women account for 48.47%of the total population, showing overall gender proportion at 106:100.  China has carried out a total of five national censuses since 1949, the current data shows an aging population with gender imbalance. 
http://english.gov.cn/2006-03/17/content_229247.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/16/content_4312392.htm
SCIENCE
China Spends U.S. $111.8 billion on Science Funding over 15 years
In March, China released its National Medium and Long-term Guidelines for Science and Technology Development (2006-2020), China plans to spend approximately 900 billion RMB (U.S. $111.8 billion) on research and development through 2020.  The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has integrated its 15 year development plan with the national guidelines.  The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will focus on 40 key research areas in the next 15 years.  Key areas include the development of the Internet, innovative drugs, bio-fuel development, nanotechnology, clean energy, and sustainable agriculture.  CAS's annual investment will grow by about 12% and the percentage of China's GDP spent on research will increase from today's 1.3% to 2.5%.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/20/content_4324395.htm; http://www.sciencetimes.com.cn/col156/article.htm1?id=70602)
(http://www.china.org.cn/english/scitech/162615.htm; http://www.sciencetimes.com.cn/col156/article.htm1?id=70556)

Natural Science Fund Expands its Research Plan
On March 16, Natural Science Foundation (NSF) of China reported that during the 11th-Five Year Plan period, total government investment in basic research will exceed 20 billion RMB (U.S. $2.5 billion) nearly double that in the 10th-Five Year Plan (10.5 billion RMB, U.S. $1.3 billion).  In the coming 5 years, NSF plans to deploy 15 key research projects, each of them will have a budget of 100 million to 200 million RMB (U.S. $12.5 million to U.S. $25 million).  NSF will also arrange 1,800 key projects with average funding support over 2 million RMB (U.S. $250,000) each and 30 key projects with funding support over 10 million RMB (U.S. $1.25 million) each. 
(People’s Daily, March 17, 2006; http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/nsfc/desktop/jjyw.aspx@infoid=8226&moduleid=399.htm)

 

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U.S. Embassy Beijing

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