Week 9: Urbanization and Consumption

Urbanization and Consumption Presentation 

Cities in today’s China are growing rapidly, and half of all new construction in the world occurs there. Between 2003 and 2008 alone, construction expenditures rose from $267 billion to $406 billion (Fernandez 2008). This week, Wumeng and I discussed urbanization in China and its implications for the environment. Here I’ll talk about how China’s construction and household consumption effect its environment and economy. 

Construction and resource consumption. 

Construction is one of the most important sectors driving China's growth. Of all the resources China uses in construction, concrete may have the largest environmental impact. Concrete is very energy intensive to produce and accounts for 3 to 8% of global carbon emissions. China uses concrete extensively in construction, representing half of global demand. Demand continues to grow, and Fernandez et al. estimate that China will have to import 30% of it concrete to keep pace. Because of concrete alone, construction represents a large contribution to climate change. In addition, many of China’s new buildings do not meet energy efficiency standards and are wasteful in their electricity use. 

In this discussion, Professor Karp raised the idea of the Kuznets Curve, a model that describes the relationship between income per capita and investment in environmental protection. China is clearly in the heat of development, and its environmental impact from resource consumption will continue to rise for some time. According to Fernandez et al., cities tend to transition from resource-heavy consumption to electricity-heavy consumption, indicating that China’s demand for resources and energy will continue to rise for years to come. With climate change gaining momentum, it would be wise for China to consider how it can make the construction process and  all new buildings more energy efficient. However, construction is happening so fast that its not clear how much control the Chinese government has over this process.

A Chinese consumer economy? After doing some research and speaking with Wumeng, I have a much better understanding of China’s economic position and why we’re pressuring China to consume more. China’s economic growth is heavily fueled by its exports and construction industry, and its undervalued currency makes these goods artificially cheap. This lowers the purchasing power of Chinese citizens, and has created a large economic imbalance within China.  It also has augmented the trade deficit with the US, EU, and other nations. This economic strategy has allowed China to grow at unprecedented rates of ~10% per year and has effectively subsidized its internal construction and urban growth. As a result there has been widespread speculation in construction, in some cases leading to unpopulated ghost cities. 

China and its foreign partners recognize that it is time for China to shift away from this model and that increased domestic consumption is a necessary step to rebalancing the economy. However, higher consumption has obvious implications for China’s environmental impact, which is already increasing due to higher household consumption. As China’s citizens get richer, how much will they consume? Will household consumption reach US levels? Given that China’s citizens consume so little on average compared to Americans, its unlikely that individuals will consume as much as we do in the foreseeable future. However, it is important that China considers the tremendous global environmental impact that its citizens will have if their consumption levels approach ours. 

One important question this class raised is, how much control does China’s government have over its development? The Chinese government holds significant sway over its economy, but as the 2008 financial crisis showed, the world may have less economic control than we think. In a sense it seems that China’s economy has developed a life and momentum of its own, and everyone including the Chinese government is waiting to see where it will end up. This approach has very problematic implications for the environment; as long as China allows development to run unchecked, it will have very limited control over its environmental problems and carbon emissions. 

Citation: Fernandez, John E. "Resource Consumption of New Urban Construction in China". Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2007. 11: 99-114.

Week 7: Water Resources

Water Resources Presentation PDF

According to Chinese environmental activist Ma Jun, water pollution and shortages are the most pressing environmental issues facing China. In week 7, Harmony and I discussed China’s growing water scarcity and what it may look like in the future. After Harmony presented background on China’s water supply, the science of water, and China’s water management actions, I talked about the effect of climate change in China and two case studies of water mismanagement. At the end I discussed the Three Gorges Dam and its environmental implications. 

China, Water, and Climate Change. China is particularly susceptible to climate change for a number of reasons. The country is already prone to floods and droughts and its water resources are unevenly distributed. China also has an incredibly large population with many people living near the coasts, and its demands on agricultural land are greater than ever. On top of this, many parts of China are mismanaging their water resources. 

How has China been affected by climate change so far, and what is its outlook for the future? According to a 2010 article in Nature by Piao et al., temperatures in China have risen 2 ºC since 1960. Compared to the global 0.74 ºC rise during the 20th century, this number is quite high. Like much of the world, the number of droughts and floods are expected to increase, and the article shows that flooding has already risen in the past 50 years. This article also presents data that shows rainfall in the north has decreased since 1960. If this trend continues, water shortages in the north will be exacerbated even further. 

The effects of climate change coupled with poor water management have already had devastating effects in parts of China, including Yunnan and Xinjiang Provinces. Yunnan is currently experiencing a severe drought, with 60% less rainfall than in average years. The proximate reason for this may be the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, but other causes include deforestation to plant rubber trees, poor water management, and climate change. The Tarim River Basin in Xinjiang Province is also experiencing a severe water shortage due to both glacial retreat and heavy agricultural water use. 

In these examples, water mismanagement and climate change combined to create very unstable economic and social situations. Given that China values its stability so highly, will these events shift the way China sees climate change and water use? China’s water is heavily undervalued, and agricultural water waste is widespread. What will it take for China to see climate change as a  security issue, and water as valuable as oil? 

The Three Gorges Dam. Completed in 2006, the Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest power generation facility. For decades, engineers had imagined a dam spanning the Yangtze river in this location in order to control downstream flooding. The controversial project relocated 1.2 million people and flooded 13 cities and 1200 villages to make room for the 58,000 km² reservoir, larger than the land area of Switzerland. While the project helps to mitigate the region’s devastating floods, it also has a long list of environmental consequences. Some of these impacts include increased landslides, greater seismic activity, harm to Yangtze River organisms, and lowering the river’s capacity to flush pollutants. 

Is water engineering the best way for China to cope with floods and the imbalance in its water resources? Is this an effective way to cope with increased floods and droughts due to climate change? In the case of Yunnan, their over-reliance on dams contributed to water shortages and drought. The Three Gorges Dam shows China’s confidence in its ability to engineer water, but it must be careful to consider the long-term impacts on its precious water supply. 

Week 4: China's International Relations and Environmental Partnerships

Week 4 Presentation

This week's topic - China's international relations - is an important one for understanding the context of China's development and environmental impact. Globalization and international trade have been driving forces in China's modernization, and China's international relationships will continue to shape its economic and environmental policies. Within the broad topic of international relations we focused on environment-relevant subjects such as energy security and environmental diplomacy. We structured the class as follows:

1. China's relationship with the US - overview (Cecilia)
2. China-US environmental cooperation (Cecilia)
3. China's energy security (Cecilia)
4. The concept of "Harmonious World" - Hu Jintao's vision for international diplomacy (Devon)
5. China's relations with Africa and Latin America (Devon)
6. EU-China environmental cooperation (Devon)

As Cecilia mentioned, we also discussed China's relations with Japan and Taiwan in more detail. Here, I'll give an overview of the topics I presented and some notes on our discussion.

I. "Harmonious World" - Hu Jintao's vision for international diplomacy

Since Hu Jintao came to power in 2002, he has used “harmonious world” to describe his vision for China’s international rise and domestic Chinese society. By pushing this as his vision for China’s rise, Hu Jintao integrates traditional philosophy and attempts to quell fears of a “China threat.” This concept is also symbolic of China’s growing presence in international affairs. In our discussion, this term proved to be very useful for understanding China’s strategic approach to international relations and the internal problems it faces. Wumeng pointed out that this concept is often looked upon skeptically in China. For example, when websites are blocked in China, people often refer to this as “harmonizing.” He also brought up that the Chinese publication “qi zenme kan,” which lists the seven most pressing issues facing China today, and does not include environmental problems. This discussion helped us put China’s environmental problems in the context of China’s other challenges, including the disparity between rich and poor, high housing prices, and poor medical care. China’s environmental problems are severe, but the country is also met with social issues that may take priority in day-to-day decision-making.

II. China's relations with Africa and Latin America

Hu Jintao has worked to build relations with African and Latin American countries since he came to power in 2002, and since then trade has grown at an incredible rate. China-Africa trade increased from $10 billion/year in 2000 to $72 billion/year in 2007, and China now has formal diplomatic relations with 49/53 African nations. While China has a number of reasons for pursuing these relationships, they are largely centered around oil. Today, one-third of China's oil comes from Africa, and China has oil and gas exploration deals with Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. In exchange for securing oil partnerships, China has offered billions of dollars in development aid to these trade partners.

These growing partnerships raise some questions. First, is it ethical for China to maintain a position of “non-intervention” and support of human rights violators? China’s support of Sudan is especially problematic, and they received heavy political pressure during the Olympics to end this relationship. However, China is not alone in collaborating with oppressive regimes. In the words of Dartmouth professor of government David Kang, “We support Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia—huge human-rights violators—because we have other strategic interests. China's not unique in cutting deals with bad governments and providing them arms.” This does not justify relationships with despotic governments, but shows that we must keep context in mind when criticizing China’s actions.

Second, are China’s attempts to build relations in Africa and Latin America just a new brand of neocolonialism? Elizabeth C. Economy of the Council of Foreign relations says providing large aid packages in exchange for exploitative trade deals is an established pattern, and China is not unique in building these kind of relationships. In addition, China denies this criticism, stating that their demand for raw materials keeps prices high, which benefits these countries. In addition, they have offered extensive aid packages to many trade partners including billions of dollars to develop roads, railways, and other infrastructure. So far, China has followed through on some large projects and abandoned others. With time we will see how mutually beneficial these relationships are.

III. China-EU-US environmental cooperation

There are a few key similarities and differences in China-US and China-EU partnerships with regards the environment and climate change. Both the US and EU have held high-level economic summits with China, and in recent years both have incorporated climate change and energy into these discussions. However, the EU and China have made much more progress specifically on climate change, launching the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change 2005. The EU has also formed a number of large research partnerships with China regarding clean energy technologies and carbon sequestration.

In contrast, the US and China have made no concrete climate change agreements or public research partnerships, and continue to point fingers at one another at international climate negotiations. The EU is clearly taking the lead with China on climate change, but this significance of this partnership is uncertain. At Copenhagen, the EU was left out of key negotiations, and China appeared to ignore any progress made with Europe on climate. This represented a major blow to these EU-China climate partnerships as China demonstrated its unbending commitment to development.

Week 11: NGOs

This week we talked about NGOs and civil society in China. While Harmony focused on the facts (for instance, she presented a timeline of the development of NGOs in China), I concentrated on the more abstract, theoretical aspects of the topic.

China is still in the process of reforming and opening up, and while civil society, as evidenced by growth in NGOs over time, has grown in size, the semi-authoritarian context of China limits the way in which civil society, specifically NGOs, can grow. As Harmony mentions below, though in the West NGOs are often conceived of as organizations that keep the government in check or protect civilian rights, in China, they are often conceived of as government “helpers” – in order to even exist in China, many NGOs (especially environmental NGOs) spin themselves as working in the interests of the government. Essentially, Chinese NGOs occupy a unique – or as some authors phrase it, an “embedded” – space within China. They pick up where the government is able to acknowledge it left off, but if they overstep the bounds for action implicitly set by government too much, they are in danger of being shut down or otherwise affected/reprimanded. The lines between government and NGOs thus blur somewhat in China: not surprisingly, the country has many Government-Organized Non-Governmental Organizations (GONGOs) operating within its borders. Is this necessarily a “bad” thing? We often think that NGOs entirely free from (the control, but also the help of) government work best, or that grassroots social change is an absolute essential. But are these notions in any way ethnocentric? Is the Western way NGOs are organized the way NGOs and civil society should be organized everywhere? Could/are NGOs in China as they exist now be as effective as NGOs in other, more open parts of the world? We asked these questions and others, and came up with mixed answers.

The issue of NGOs in China has many fascinating details, but something particularly helpful about examining it was that it crosses paths with many of the subjects we studied earlier in the course. Some of the features of Chinese environmental NGOs discussed above emerge partially because of aspects of China/the Chinese government we learned about throughout the semester. For instance, the decentralization but continued power of government in China we studied in the first weeks of class leads to a situation in which a) citizens have an increasing ability to act if they stay within the lines of Party rhetoric, and b) local government does not always follow through on environmental laws or policy laid out by central government. These effects intersect in such a way that groups of citizens are “allowed” to, can criticize local government officials or the job they’re doing without technically criticizing central government, if they’re careful about the way they word their complaints or go about their campaigns for more effective environmental regulation, better conservation, etc.

Week 11: NGOs

Week 11: NGOs

Our final week of formal class addressed the topic of civil society and NGOs and how these might play into potential solutions. We frequently broached the topic for this week throughout the semester when we had discussed some of the current quandaries and were casting about for hope in the future. Viewed through Western eyes, NGOs and civil society organizations often appear to offer a solution to government and corporate tyranny, destruction of common goods, and oppression of human rights. However, despite the many systems that China (and other developing countries) have imported from the West, functions delegated to civil society remain unique in modern China. China is, after all, still tied to historic roots of authoritarian rule through just a few short decades.

In class, we highlighted the growth and development of social organizations in China, the regulations imposed on them and how these regulations are enforced and the functions that common social organizations can fulfill. International NGOs have a slightly different relationship with the Chinese government that is in some ways similar, yet also separate from the domestic NGOs. Taken together, however, both domestic and international NGOs have risen in popularity dramatically in the last few decades. Common ways to quantify NGO growth have been somewhat frustrated by the quasi-legality of many organizations. Although it is possible to register with the state (under the regulation of a body call MoCA, Ministry of Civil Affairs), many organizations choose not to for various reasons. Additionally, membership with NGOs is rarely recorded – given the tumultuous history between NGOs and the Chinese government, many Chinese citizens shy away from official membership (and NGOs may not seek it).

Specifically related to our class, we found that environmentally-focused NGOs are prominent and so are actions from civil society relating to environmental issues. Many long-standing and “famous” NGOs in China focus directly on environmental conservation, education and activism. Other social movements related to specific environmental issues are common. Overall, it is a sector of large overlap.

Unfortunately, the most difficult and uncertain questions relate to the effectiveness of environmentally oriented NGOs. Are they actually improving the situation? Kayla and I went on to address this question further for our final poster presentation and were frustrated by our inability to come up with a concrete answer. At the present moment, we believe that NGOs are starting to be acknowledged and have tangible impacts on the environmental issues that they lobby for, however, it is still too early to declare these positive changes. Yet there is no doubt in my mind that this will definitely be one of the areas of China’s future development to keep an eye on and to better understand.

Week 6: Agriculture and Food Security

中國人將來能不能吃得飽？ With China’s ever-growing population that has placed strain on the world market for grain, this question, which roughly translates to “In the future, will the Chinese people be able to fill their stomachs?” has become increasingly important. This week, we covered China’s agricultural system, its environmental effects, and China’s future food security, and focused on China’s standards for its equivalent of “organic” and discussed a few different scenarios that modeled different paths for China’s future food situation.

The Chinagro simulation model simulates the economics of agriculture for various scenarios in 2010, 2020, and 2030. There was the baseline scenario, which was formulated based on China’s current market behavior and economics of agriculture. This scenario modeled a sustained growth of service and industry sectors, and a high yield of domestic grain, fruit and vegetables. There would be significant importation of livestock feed and meat, however, making consumption of meat in China very sensitive to any changes in market prices. This model is also characterized by the income disparity between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. The next model, the “business-as-usual” model, is based on the assumption that in the years to come, China’s economy will be depend even more heavily upon, and be driven by consumer demand. Here, China would produce more livestock domestically, and people would correspondingly eat more meat due to lower prices. However, land for growing livestock feed would be reduced, and thus China would depend heavily on the world market for feed. In order to reduce the cost of transport, the livestock would have to be located close to harbors, which is also where the large city centers in China are located. The proximity of livestock to urban centers causes severe health risks to the people who live these areas due to increased transmission of disease between animals and humans. The third model is based on the assumption that China will adopt some practices for sustainable living, and would be willing to trade some economic efficiency for environmental sustainability. There would be specific constraints placed on various risk factors, such as how close livestock is allowed to be to city centers by balancing the health effects with the environmental effects of fuel usage. The bottom line here is that not all regions can be protected from associated risks of proximity to livestock, but that overall, this model is the most sustainable. Hopefully, China will recognize that its current obsession with increasing economic efficiency is taking its toll on the environment, and is not a sustainable form of growth for future generations. Sustainable practices must be adopted.

Week 10: Environmental Health

This week we covered environmental health, focusing specifically on common toxins and toxicants in China and their health effects, the basics of epidemiology, air pollution, and the effects of acid rain. The prevalence of diseases such as chronic bronchitis, asthma, and other respiratory disorders amongst Chinese citizen are well-characterized, and have been directly linked to noxious emissions such as PM10. While the current emission standards in China are not as stringent as the standards proposed by the World Health Organization, the greatest contributing factor to chronic respiratory illness in China has been the failure of the Chinese national government to successfully implement and enforce the standards they have mandated. As a result, past and current levels of emissions in many Chinese cities such as Beijing, have been higher than these acceptable standards. The prevalence of chronic respiratory illness among the citizens of Beijing and the corresponding increase in mortalities has lowered the life expectancy in comparison to similarly developed cities such as Shanghai. Although Shanghai, in recent years, has met the Class II PM10 standard for residential and commercial areas and its citizens enjoy the highest life expectancy amongst all provinces of mainland China, residents of this city are still susceptible to respiratory illness. According to World Health Organization, the WHO AQG standards represent the minimum level of PM10 that is correlated with an increased risk of developing respiratory illness with 95% confidence. An increase in 10 µg/m of PM10 from these standards represents a 15% greater chance of developing respiratory illness. China Class II Standards for PM10 are 100 µg/m, 5 times higher than the WHO AQG standard. From this data, it is clear that current emissions standards in China are far from acceptable in terms of protecting citizens from respiratory disease.

Other air pollutants, such as NOx and SO2, contribute directly towards acid rain, whose devastating effects on forests and bodies of water are well-known. This week however, we also studied the lesser known health impacts of acid rain. Acid rain contributes to the buildup of mercury in fish, by favoring the ionic form of mercury in acidic water. Mercury ions can be converted into methylmercury by certain bacteria, and methylmercury is much more lipophilic and able to pass through body membranes than mercury. Acid rain also causes increased leaching of metals, including toxic heavy metals into waterways where people are more likely to be exposed to them. Cadmium in particular is dangerous because it can be taken up by crops, especially dark leafy greens and tobacco, which poses health hazards to the people who consume these goods.

In the face of such devastating environmental consequences, it is difficult to see how this situation can be reversed. However, there is a bright side: many technological changes have occurred that are not reflected in the current data, and motions have been made for China to increase the stringency of their emissions standards. Using a combined technological and policy-based approach, China has the potential to enjoy fresh air, clean water, and blue skies once more.

Week 10: Environmental Health

This week’s topic of environmental health in China was more discussion-based than previous weeks and thus we were able to draw out several themes from the presentations. These themes included rural-urban disparities in health and health care and the burden of chronic disease in China. We began with a very brief overview of the Chinese health care system, then discussed common pollutants in China and their effects on human health. We very roughly divided our presentations by water versus air pollution. Sulfur dioxide, acid rain, and cancer were three topics that we explored more in depth.

The gap between quality of life in rural and urban areas is a topic that has been discussed throughout our course, but in this class we examined disparities in health. In 2005, the New Rural Co-operative Medical Care System provided more affordable health care for rural inhabitants, but also gave steeper discounts for people who elected to go to clinics in rural areas. This discourages rural residents from seeking care in urban hospitals, which often have better resources and can provide better care. Additionally, rural industry, because it is often subject to fewer enforced regulations than urban industry, generates rampant pollution in the countryside. Rural residents often are forced to tolerate exposure to pollutants because they depend on the factories for the livelihoods. Additionally, because fewer epidemiological and medical surveys are conducted in rural areas, it is difficult to quantify location-based differences in health.

Interestingly, China is more like a developed country in the sense that chronic disease is the most common cause of death. Developing country problems like water-borne diarrheal diseases are in fact relatively scarce, even in the sub-tropical regions of southern China. Disease is still a huge problem in rural areas, but it seems to stem from different sources that one would expect, Pollution is obviously a key factor in chronic disease, and particulate matter is the largest contributor to chronic respiratory diseases. Water and air pollution are difficult to control, and several maps we examined in class displayed pollution’s indiscriminate crossing of borders in China, even traveling to Japan and Los Angeles. Cancer is a growing problem in China, evidenced by the expose on “cancer villages” by a Chinese investigative journalist and the growing number of epidemiological studies on this subject. Will China follow the Kuznets Curve and drive back disease as income steadily grows? Professor Karp pointed out that as China adopts Western eating habits, chronic cardiovascular disease and obesity may emerge as new killers. The fact that chronic disease and cancer are already prevalent in still-developing China does not seem to bode well for future epidemiology, as cancer and other such diseases are often slow to emerge, only appearing decades after an exposure. What will the epidemiology of cancer in China look like in 50 years?

Powerpoint

Week 9: Urbanization

Urbanization in China is a fascinating topic with respect to environmental protection for reasons. On one hand, urbanization is considered by Chinese government as part of the solution for environmental degradation because of the low ecological footprint of urban citizen, which is argued by some scholars. The recent Shanghai Expo expresses the message of building green cities. On the other hand, as we have seen in this lecture, urbanization is accountable for some of the environmental problems in China. The fact that urbanization is a double-edge sword makes it a particularly interesting issue to discuss in this class.

Although China has the largest urban population in the world, its urbanization level is actually lower than the world average. However, it is urbanization level is growing at a rapid pace, from lower than 20% in 1978 to more than 40% today, and it is expected to continue at this rate for the next few decades. However, internal migration is China is limited because of the hukou system that binds individual to his/her birth place. This has several important implications on the characteristics of China's urbanization, and it leads to some social problems in China such as the discrimination against migrant worker in cities.

Urbanization is most dramatic in the region that is also the agricultural base in China. As a consequence, growing cities are eating up farm land around them, exerting a big pressure on agricultural land in China, which is already a scarce resource as we have discussed in previous lectures. Chen's paper offers a good look on this issue. The paper also elaborate on the abuse of land in the process of urbanization, which is evident in the comparison between development area and old town. The characters of those development areas seem to suggest that China is implementing the US model in building new cities, which can be an interesting hypothesis for future studies.

In my lecture I tie up our reading with some background information on land management in China because of its high relevance for our discussion. The discussion on land property in China is of great importance, especially in a comparison between China and the US. The Land Administration Law is the most important central policy on land management, and it reveals how cities in China actually acquire land from its rural surroundings. An overview on the LAL also reflects upon some of the themes we have observed again and again in the course, such as the conflict in interests between the central government and local governments, the lack of an independent legal system, and the widespread existence of government failure.

Slides: http://groups.google.com/group/chinaenvirogisp/web/Urbanization and Land Management in China.ppt

Week 8: Water Pollution

Water has been the hot topic for the past couple weeks (accordingly so as both Weeks 7 & 8 focus on water issues in China), and it continued this week with a conversation on water pollution. Water was one of the first resources protected in modern Chinese environmental legislation, yet this early acknowledgment by the Chinese government of the importance of water plays against an astonishing irony at how bad the overall quality of water is in contemporary China. Week 8 addressed this water pollution problem.

With my presentation focusing on the current and future management practices for water pollution, I built upon last week's World Bank paper on the world's water and then added to that papers from Greenpeace China and the Wilson Institute.

The World Bank stated that the lack of transparency and public participation remain issues that are not helping abate water pollution. This is especially true for China, whose governments are quite reluctant to pubicly release water resource and pollution information. Perhaps in part due to such hush efforts, the Chinese public have not really participated in addressing water pollution issues and participation remains low.

Greenpeace China has an excellent report on water pollution in the Pearl River Delta, "Poisoning the Pearl". Detailing the structure of water pollution standards in China, Greenpeace China found that the current Chinese water pollution regulatory framework fails to regulate many hazardous pollutants, whose concentrations need not be large to affect ecosystems. The enforcement of those laws that do remain is not effective. Finally, the "end-of-pipe" solutions that the Chinese government has in place to address water pollution are backwards, expensive, and ineffective. In conclusion, Greenpeace China recommended a holistic approach to combating water pollution and suggested an entire lifecycle approach beginning with the manufacture of products and pointed to the 2002 Cleaner Production Promotion Law written by the Chinese legislature as a great step towards this holistic thinking.

Finally the Wilson Institute paper on China's water pollution laws mentioned legislative compromises that have hurt China's ability to fight its water pollution in its 2008 Water Pollution Control Law as a "result of compromise with other ministries and the business community". The compromise in question was dropping the very effective "penalty per day" for continuing violations. Though a step in the right direction, the law will not be revised again for at least another eight to ten years.

Week 8.ppt

Week 8 Response: Water Pollution

What industries and infrastructures have led to dire water pollution concerns across China? Last week’s discussion on water resources naturally delved into pollution issues, covering broad concerns and nationwide pollution statistics. This week our discussion aimed to study water pollution in China in more depth, analyzing pollution regulations and examining the problem from a case-study perspective. After an overview of water pollution regulation in China, we focused on three case studies in order to analyze the root causes of water pollution: aquaculture, e-waste, and the pollution of Lake Tai.

China’s environmental concerns began to emerge on a national scale not long after the Reform and Opening Up in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. In order to cope with the environmental consequences of modernization, China needed to adopt a new regulatory system and create an infrastructure to handle rampant pollution and environmental degradation. Along with industrialization, the Reform brought along an influx of Western ideologies, from capitalism to democracy. The environmental regulatory framework that began to emerge in China in the 1990’s was largely based on Western environmental policies. But the question remains – are these Western policies suitable for China’s environmental problems? Does their translation into the Chinese governmental system decrease their efficacy? What role do regulation and infrastructure play in determining environmental problems like water pollution?

Studying e-waste in China is an excellent way to examine these questions. E-waste export is a modern phenomenon, and e-waste recycling has emerged as a highly lucrative and informal industry in China. E-waste recycling in China is a point source of water pollution, from leaching of toxics in the recycled parts to ash from the burning of the electronics. E-waste is extremely difficult to regulate in China, despite recent efforts of Chinese ministries and even international laws such as the Basel Amendment, due to the irresistible combination of cheap labor and high demand. One large ideological obstacle is that Western-style regulatory policies in China do not incorporate Chinese views on e-waste. Chinese people tend to view e-waste as a resource rather than true waste – recycling rates are low in China because people are reluctant to pay for a recycling service when it seems to them that they should be paid for their valuable recyclable waste. Recent policies such as the Technical Policy on Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (2006) adopt a Western view of e-waste and overlook its value as a commodity in China’s lucrative e-waste recycling market.

Aquaculture is another large industry in China that has a significant impact on water pollution. China provides 70% of the world’s aquaculture products, and demand for Chinese aquaculture will continue to increase as depletion of marine fisheries continues. During the discussion, I mentioned that I believed aquaculture may have a greater potential for effective regulation and improved environmental standards than many other polluting industries in China. International markets place pressure on China to produce clean and uncontaminated fish – the US FDA annually rejects hundreds of shipments from China due to pharmaceutical contamination. China also places an emphasis on technological improvement of aquaculture. The Fisheries Bureau in China works with several supporting institutes to encourage research and innovation in the field of aquaculture, providing a framework for industry improvement. Additionally, aquaculture in rural China is managed through a collective system that also leaves room for privatization, a flexible hybrid of management that allows maximal benefit to rural communities through. Aquaculture not only brings jobs and money to rural regions, but also provides an important source of protein, which is often very difficult to obtain in rural areas.

Our class began and ended with a discussion of research integrity in China. We looked over a New York Times article, “Rampant Fraud Threat to China’s Brisk Ascent”, that succinctly addressed China’s status in the international academic arena. Given that many of our sources for this class are from Chinese institutions, the class must be careful to assess each reading and understand the goals of the institutions from which they were produced. For example, the article on Lake Tai from this week’s reading contrasted with other prominent international opinions on the serious pollution of Lake Tai. The Chinese article promoted increased public education and eco-tourism as a way to protect Lake Tai, while international papers tend to emphasize market-based solutions and institutional reform, highly Western ideas that do not necessarily align with Chinese regulatory ideals. This week, analyzing water pollution through case studies provided critical insight on the ideologies and infrastructures in China that play a role in regulating pollution.

Powerpoint

Week 7: Water Resources

China's Water Resources

Is the liquid gold of the future not the poisonous sheen of oil but instead the promise of pure, potable water? Much of the world currently faces water scarcity to some degree – in fact, one out three¹ people worldwide – and with the uncertainties of the future, such as climate change, urbanization, and the ever-growing population, the possibility that water shortage will be exacerbated into a crisis is real. This week, we discussed China’s water resource situation in depth. China is potentially “ahead of the game” when it comes to a water crisis: some have been hailing the water resource situation of Northern China as a serious problem since the 1990’s. “Water scarcity” is defined as less than 1000m³/year per capita; Northern China has barely 757m³/year per capita, and in some parts, as low as 300m³/year per capita. However, the true scarcity of China’s water resources is reflected by more than these numbers. Other factors affect the water that is truly available for human usage: water quality, access to water, rights to water, et cetera.

In class, we examined both some of these drivers of scarcity and the effects that they are having in China. For my presentation, I tried to categorize the drivers into primarily into natural and human-related. I believe that there are several ultimate human-related drivers: economic growth, population growth, industrialization, and urbanization. These lead to the prominent proximate driver: increased demand for water. Poor management, or ineffective management is another human-related factor driving the scarcity of water in China that is extremely important and perhaps in a classification all of its own. Despite this attempt to separate causes, I find that the interactions of the effects start to make it a superfluous exercise. Natural drivers of scarcity include the natural distribution and availability of water across the geographic landscape in China, which is extremely variable in both time and space. China includes both deserts and areas of high rainfall as well as being subject monsoon periodicities on both annual and interannual time scales. Yet these natural cycles are changing. The very recent Piao et al (2010) article in Nature that we read attempted to predict the future of the water availability for China’s future in a warming climate. I was disappointed by the lack of conclusive statements that they made, yet skeptical that they could draft any reasonable predictions, given the ways that the Chinese are currently altering the natural hydrology of their landscape. We have talked about a few examples of this: the 3 Gorges Dam, groundwater withdrawal compacting aquifers, even the South-to-North transfer of water or the city of Harbin seeking a new water source geographically farther away than the Songhua river. All of these complicate the predictions of how water will be available across China.

Considering the complications involved with sorting out causes, I will turn instead towards our discussion of potential solutions. How is China going to move towards a future of water management? Some things about the Chinese water resources have changed in ways that may be irreversible, such as the construction of the 3 Gorges Dam, and what is actually important is now how China proceeds forward. The World Bank proposes that China’s government performs an extensive overhaul on the management system and philosophy within the country. Water governance, like other environmental policy, is decided on national levels and left to local bodies to be implemented and enforced. However, a single water source may end up under the jurisdiction of multiple ministerial bodies. Clearing up the bureaucratic uncertainties with a more streamlined protocol would improve the ability of China’s government to meet its goals regarding water management. Additionally, the current spatial scale of administration may be inappropriate and more consideration of river-basin scale management is required. These suggestions from the World Bank are easy for us to agree with. However, other suggestions offered for improvement are more controversial. Is a water privatization system (as proposed by the World Bank) the best way to proceed to increase efficiency of water usages, decrease demand, encourage improvements of water-related infrastructure and reduce pollution? Or can the Chinese government make better choices with enforcement of the current system of “command-and-control”?

Unfortunately, our class is far from having the answers to the above questions. Instead, our limited discussions of national problems and policies as well as the case studies that we broached have only just gotten our feet wet, so to speak. Wumeng’s current event topic today, pollution in the Songhua river, was an excellent way to review many of the issues we discussed yesterday. The Songhua river is the major water source of three northern provinces in China, yet pollution has been making it a less available water resource. In class, we watched a CCTV news report on the issue and how, despite the severity, the government was stepping in to fix it. Not only is greater pollution of small (likely TVE) industries going to be curbed, but the city of Harbin is creating access to a purer, but more remote water source. Fixes that, looking at the state of the river and the drinking water supply today, have not been as successful as the government or the people would have hoped for. Additionally, this issue brushed upon the international affairs associated with water politics as the Songhua river leads into Russian territory. Clearly, the current methods are not as effective as they need to be to really solve these problems and change is required. But to what extent should China maintain its’ strong governmental control and to what extent should it allow other forces, such as NGO’s or market-based strategies, to enact change?

¹ World Health Organization. Accessed Oct 19, 2010. http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/water/water_facts/en/index.html