Q: Developed countries have followed a path of "polluting, and then controlling and protecting." China is now doing the same thing. How great is the economic loss caused by environmental pollution in China? What measures will be taken to strengthen environmental protection and reduce pollution?

A: The question of how much economic loss is caused by environmental pollution is a hot issue that many experts, scholars and government officials are extremely concerned with. Since methods of calculation differ, estimates of economic loss caused by environmental pollution are different. According to an incomplete estimate, the annual economic loss caused by environmental pollution in China amounts to 2 to 8 percent of the GDP. There are also other losses caused by ecological destruction. As a result, the government has introduced the concept of Green GDP, mainly in the hope of finding a good way to combine economic development with environmental protection. In this way, China can reach the target of both protecting the environment and developing the economy.

The main cause of environmental pollution is the extensive economic development mode that China has long followed, as well as the fragility of the environment and other historic problems that remain. With regards to the current environmental situation, China is taking measures to further enhance protection of the environment in the following six aspects:

First, using the international experience for reference, actively facilitating the development of a cyclical economy, applying the idea of a cyclical economy to its policies, laws, plans and standards of environmental protection, striving to establish a scientific development system suitable for China's conditions, and promoting the building of a society that follows cycles;

Second, keeping close watch on the environment, exercising administration by law, eliminating the backward equipment that causes environmental pollution by optimizing the industrial structure, and promoting clean production to ensure that increased production does not mean increased pollution, while, actively implementing a system of licensing for discharging contaminants to gradually realize the target of both developing the economy and improving the environment;

Third, taking care of the environment in accordance with the ecological system, making concentrated efforts to deal with environmental problems in key regions such as the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and Taihu Lake, as well as their surrounding cities, strengthening control over the discharge of nitrogen and phosphor into seas and rivers, preventing the maritime environment from being polluted by land-sourced pollutants, and carrying out measures to protect key ecologically sensitive areas, resource development areas and nature reserves;

Fourth, establishing an operational mechanism for pollution treatment that is guided by the government, funded by multiple sources and operated under the market system, and gradually increasing the fee for urban sewage disposal, to ensure the construction and normal operation of pollution treatment facilities;

Fifth, encouraging the public to take part in the protection and supervision of the environment, improving the transparency of administration and information to provide conditions where the public can know about and supervise environmental protection work, and maintaining the public's environmental rights and interests; and

Sixth, relying on scientific and technological progress to protect the environment, further integrating various scientific and technological powers and bringing them into play, making concentrated efforts to study and solving difficult, hot-button issues related to the environment and development, and striving to solve more environmental problems with relatively less input.

The human beings only have one Earth. Environmental protection is a global issue and is also our utmost responsibility. We should not only improve our environmental conditions but also aim to realize a harmony between human and nature, as well as a balanced development of economy, society and environment.