NPC: Rules Should Save West's Ecology

NPC: Rules Should Save West's Ecology

China's top environmental law makers vowed Monday in Beijing to pass laws faster to protect the environment as the west develops .

Legislative leader Li Peng said environmental protection must be given top priority in western China before agriculture and industrial projects there begin.

"It is vitally important to prevent ecological deterioration and evaluate environmental protection through legislation and enforcement in the (western development) campaign, said Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, .

Li made the remarks yesterday, which was World Environment Day, at a seminar sponsored by the NPC's Environmental and Resources Protection Committee.

The top legislative body is drafting a law on how to evaluate environmental influence in economic development. The law is due to take effect in 2002, noted Wang Tao, vice-chairman of the committee.

Li also urged the NPC to speed up legislation on anti-desertification efforts and soil erosion prevention.

China has published 19 State environmental protection laws, Li said, but they have not been strictly enforced, especially in western regions.

Poor supervision and poor law enforcement with respect to use of resources have historically destroyed the environment.

Early this year, the central government shifted the focus of its economic build-up from the eastern coastal provinces to western China, which includes the Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui and Tibet autonomous regions, Chongqing Municipality and the provinces of Shaan'xi, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou .

Despite its size and rich mineral resources, the west has 80 per cent of the country's eroded areas, and 2 million hectares of grassland are disertified every year, according to figures reported at the seminar.

The lack of water, money and technology, as well as the risks of heavier ecological damage, make it hard, but necessary, to evaluate development's effect on the environment.

Meanwhile, modern technology should be introduced to this region to help develop ecologically friendly agriculture and prevent pollution.

Li added that the development of the west is a long-term task that requires a good planning and a step-by-step approach.