China’s Pursuit for Sustainable Development

Sustainable development has gradually become an International consensus. China and countries throughout the world have become aware of the need for sustainable development and are exploring ways and means to achieving sustainable development. At the same time, global sustainable development is also faced with serious challenges such as rapid population growth, increased poverty, severe environmental pollution, reduction of biodiversity, desertification and global climate change.

The 2012 United Nations Conference on sustainable development with the themes; “green economy within the context of sustainable development”, “assessing the progress and implementation gaps in already agreed commitments”, “ addressing new and emerging challenges” and “ securing renewed political commitments to sustainable development”, will help concerned parties reach a consensus on how to develop sustainably as a global community.

Over the past decade, China has seen accelerated industrialization and urbanization processes which have enriched its connotations of sustainable development. Given the severe resources and environmental constraints on economic development, China has been compelled to transform its development mindset by innovating new modes of development, improving the capacity of sustainable development so as to make greater contributions to global sustainable development.

The idea of harmony between man and nature is a very important component of the traditional values of Chinese civilization. Since the turn of the new century, China has further deepened its understanding of the connotations of sustainable development and is making a great contribution in pursuit of global sustainable development.

The Chinese government has participated in three milestone conferences i.e. the United Nations Conference on Human development (also known as the Stockholm conference), United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also referred to as the Rio Conference) and the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (also known as the Johannesburg Summit) which are vital for the formation and development of the concept of sustainable development.

China is one of the first few countries to propose and implement sustainable development strategies. It has incorporated sustainable development into national strategies and began its full implementation. One major theory put forward by China is the scientific outlook of development which is based on China’s own realities, foreign experiences and new development situations both at home and abroad.  It has also proposed other concepts such as resource saving and environment friendly societies, innovation oriented countries, ecological civilization and green development concepts which it is putting into practice.

China has made efforts to carry out overall regional development strategies to set the national spatial development towards a coordinated and orderly direction. It has been accelerating the development of modern service industry; vigorously advocating green consumption and gradually improving the quality of development. Great importance has been attached to the improvement of the urban and rural environment and living conditions. There’s more greening and area coverage, and drinking water conditions have been greatly improved; with the millennium development goal of “halving the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water” being achieved six years ahead of schedule.

China firmly pursues its national policy of family planning, which has kept the population growth at sustainable levels, thus making a significant contribution to slowing down global population growth and reducing the population pressure on resources and the environment. 

Based on the development and the utilization of domestic mineral resources, China strives to improve the comprehensive development and utilization of resources by eliminating backward production capacity, strengthening energy conservation in key areas and developing new and renewable energy sources. Over the past decade, energy self sufficiency has remained at over 90% and China has become the world’s largest producer in terms of hydropower, wind power installed capacities and solar water heater collector area. Forest cover has increased from 16.55% in 2000 to 20.36% in 2010 and the national trend of ecological deterioration has been brought under control with national ecological environment quality improving significantly.

Relying on the support of Science and Technology and Human resources development, China has continuously increased investment in these areas. Through media campaigns, education and training, China has been able to raise awareness of the sustainable development, both nationwide and globally, encouraging active participation from Chinese people at home and is development partners abroad. These measures are set to compulsively promote the green economic development and social harmony and progress of both China and the rest of the world.

China is also keen on sharing its sustainable development lessons and success with the rest of the world and especially Africa which has emerged as China’s recent most important development partner. Sustainability is now a key priority in China’s Cooperation with Africa. In its Africa policy whitepaper, the Chinese government stated clearly that China and Africa should jointly explore a path to sustainable development. This is being pursued ardently by FOCAC, which has become the important platform for China and Africa to explore ways of cooperation for sustainable development.

Through FOCAC, China has supported Africa in improving people's livelihood, increasing employment and enhancing the ability of independent development through cooperation in agriculture, medical care, health, education, environment protection and human resources which have deepened. In order to improve African countries' abilities to adapt to climate change, China has been launching clean energy projects including solar power, biogas and small hydropower projects in Africa. It continues to explore affordable low-carbon technology transfers to African countries as they work together towards the common goal of sustainable development.