Chapter 4
China's Plans and Measures for Realisation of the Sustainable Development Strategy
Section 1 Strategic Plans for Realising Sustainable Development
4.1 China regards the formation of sustainable social and economic systems while preserving the natural resource and environment foundations as the overall objective of sustainable development. This is necessary so as to attain economic prosperity, social advancement, and ecological sustainability. Major strategic plans include:
The transition of the economic system from a centrally planned economy to a socialist market economy and the transition of the economic growth pattern from an extensive one to an intensive one will be actively promoted. While maintaining economic growth, the quality of development will be constantly improved by relying on advances in science and technology and development of human resources. A modern enterprise management system (which supports resource conservation, lower consumption, and higher efficiency), mechanisms for technological advancement (which promotes domestic innovation), and an economic operating mechanism (which is based on fair market competition and optimal resource allocation) are taking shape.
The strategy for revitalising the nation through science and technology will be implemented in order to promote the integration of science and technology, education, and social and economic development. Economic development must rely on science and technology. Scientific and technological activities should be re-oriented to serve the needs of economic growth and be aimed at overcoming the obstacles to advances in science and technology. Education will be geared towards the whole world, the future, and trends of modernisation, and must contribute to empowering the population as well as cultivating excellent scientists in various fields for the next century.
Socialist ethics and culture, as well as democracy and legal construction, will be reinforced so as to ensure the parallel advance of material and social civilisations. Therefore we will have a concerted development of the economy and society, and comprehensive progress of the whole society. This will lay a social foundation for sustainable development.
The state policy of family planning will be adhered to so as to improve population growth control, enhance prenatal care and reproductive health, raise the population's overall health and competence level, and improve the demographic structure. A holistic approach will be adopted to resolve the population problem in China. China's total population should be limited to 1.3 billion by the year 2000 and 1.4 billion by the year 2010. In the middle of next century, the total population will stabilise at no more than 1.6 billion.
Equal importance will be given to the development and utilisation of natural resources on one hand, and conservation and propagation of these resources on the other. Conservation, development, and utilisation of the land, water, ocean, atmosphere, forest, grassland, minerals, and biodiversity resources will be practised in accordance with the laws. Every effort will be made to reduce the waste of natural resources. Oceanic resources will be actively explored. The compensatory and pricing systems for natural resources utilisation will be refined and an economic compensation system for the regeneration of natural resources will be established in order to sustain the natural resources base.
Great efforts will be made to control pollution and improve the natural environment. The goal is to curb the trend of worsening environmental pollution and natural environment degradation and to realise environmental quality improvement in selected cities and regions by the year 2000. The trend of deterioration of the natural environment will be reversed and remarkable improvements in the urban and rural environment will be accomplished by 2010.
The policies for alleviating poverty through economic development and strengthening the self-development capacities of poverty-stricken areas will be adopted. The whole society will be mobilised to expedite the alleviation of poverty and provide basic necessities to the 58 million poverty-stricken people by the end of this century.
The national policy framework, legal system, comprehensive decision-making mechanism, and co-ordinated management will be gradually developed.
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