GOOD NEWS

The five-year plan lists 24 economic and social development targets and most of them have progressed smoothly, along with several other environmental targets, Xu said.

By 2012, forests in China increased by 7.5 million hectares and the volume of forests increased by 600 million cubic meters, realizing the 2015 target in advance.

The consumption of water per unit of industrial value added fell by 20 percent from 2010 to 2012. The target is a 30-percent drop by 2015.

The emission of three major pollutants, COD, sulfur dioxide and ammoniacal nitrogen, reduced notably in 2011 and 2012.