CHINA GROWTH BAD FOR NATURE
6.1.2006. 17:21:55
http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=126698&region=2

A US environmentalist has warned that China and other developing industrial nations much change their outdated model of production and consumption, as their pace of economic growth poses a grave threat to the environment. This comes as a survey of people in China revealed that they now rate environmental protection higher than economic growth.

"Our global civilization today is on an economic path that is environmentally unsustainable, a path that is leading us toward economic decline and eventual collapse," said Lester Brown, president of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute. China is surpassing the United States in consuming most basic resources, and Mr Brown said economists must grasp the need to restructure the so-called "old economy". Citing figures compiled by his institute, Mr Brown said China already consumes almost twice as much meat as the United States (67 million tonnes compared to 39 million tonnes), and more than twice as much steel (258 million tonnes compared with 39 million tonnes). If China continues on the same path of consumption, Mr Brown projects that it will consume the equivalent of two0thirds of the world's grain harvest and double the world's current paper production by 2031. "There go the world's forests," he said. The environmentalist said the western economic model, built on fossil fuels, cars and disposable products, cannot function in populous countries such as China and India, whose population is expected to surpass China's in 2031.

Mr Brown said the contemporary economic model cannot be sustained at a time of globalization and intense competition to produce more at ever lower prices. "Environmental scientists have been saying for some time that the global economy is being slowly undermined by environmental trends of human origin, including shrinking forests, expanding deserts, falling water tables, eroding soils, collapsing fisheries, rising temperatures, melting ice, rising seas and increasingly destructive storms," he said. With the onset of climate change, "we may be approaching the point of no return." He called on world leaders to embrace renewable energy, move to eradicate poverty, stabilise population and restore natural systems, in a bid to avert disaster.

However there are encouraging signs that Beijing may adjust its policies, amid growing concern over air and water pollution. A handful of Chinese firms have announced plans to employ wind power.

An explosion at a PetroChina plant in Jilin, China, on November 13 caused 100 tonnes of benzene to spill into the Songhua river, causing cities along the river to cut water supplies and sparking widespread concern over industrial safety. Growing environmental concern in China

Meanwhile, a survey issued by the China Environment Culture Promotion Association found almost 80 percent of respondents want to see conservation prioritised ahead of economic growth in the country. According to a Xinhua report, the survey found 79 percent of almost 4,000 respondents want greater governmental input in environmental protection and 60 percent believe awareness-raising campaigns do not go far enough. The greatest concern was air pollution caused by industrial pollution, followed by garbage treatment and sewage treatment. "The survey shows the public feel the urgency of environmental problems," said an official with the organisation. "That's a very encouraging development."

SOURCE: World News