China will try to resolve its current outstanding environmental
problems and realize its environmental goals as set out in the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), says
Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan.
Zeng told the China Council for International Cooperation on
Environment and Development (CCICED) that China also hopes to
contribute to the world's sustainable development.
By 2010, China plans to improve the environment in major areas
and cities. Initially it will attempt to curb the deterioration of
the environment by reducing the amount of energy required to
produce a unit GDP by 20 percent and total discharge of CO2 by 10
percent. It will maintain 120 million hectares of cultivated land;
and increase forest coverage to 20 percent, up from the current
18.2 percent, said Zeng.
Since its founding 15 years ago the CCICED, has contributed to
China's undertakings on sustainable development, said Zeng. He
urged the organization to study environmental problems and give
more and better proposals on the issue.
The meeting was chaired by Zhou Shengxian, minister of the State
Environmental Protection Administration, and attended by officials
and representatives from Chinese and foreign governments, the
United Nations and other international bodies, and some domestic
and international observers and scholars. Cheng Siwei, vice
chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress (NPC) was also in attendance.
The CCICED was established in 1992, by the Chinese government,
foreign governments, and international organizations.
(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2006)