Strategic Research on Environmental Protection in the Pearl River Delta

Author: Wu Shunze
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Publish Date: 2006-12-01
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In April 2003, General Secretary Hu Jintao visited Guangdong Province and proposed the requirements of "leading development, accelerating development, and coordinated development." The 9th Party Congress of Guangdong Province and the 2nd Plenary Session of the Provincial Party Committee determined the future goals: to build the Pearl River Delta into a sustainable development demonstration zone within 5 years, and to achieve a basic socialist modernization in the Pearl River Delta by 2010, forging a path of civilized development with developed production, prosperous lives, and a sound ecological environment. General Secretary Hu Jintao's "three major" development requirements and Guangdong Province's determined goals have placed higher demands on the environmental protection work in Guangdong Province. On March 30, 2003, when Xie Zhenhua, Minister of the National Environmental Protection Administration, came to Guangdong for research, Zhang Dejiang, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee, proposed that the National Environmental Protection Administration and Guangdong Province cooperate to carry out environmental protection planning work for the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong Province, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region. Guangdong Province should strive to create new environmental advantages in the process of modernization.
To this end, in May 2003, the Guangdong Provincial People's Government and the National Environmental Protection Administration established an expert advisory group led by Secretary Zhang Dejiang, consisting of a number of academicians and senior experts. A leading group headed by Minister Xie Zhenhua and Governor Huang Huahua was also formed, as well as a technical group for planning preparation involving nine scientific research institutions, including the China Environmental Planning and Research Institute. Under the guidance of the leading group and advisory group, the technical group conducted a survey and research over more than half a year and completed five thematic research reports by December 2003: "Environmental Scenario Prediction and Countermeasures for Modernization Construction in the Pearl River Delta," "Ecological Protection and Ecological Industry Development Plan for the Pearl River Delta," "Water Pollution Prevention Plan for the Pearl River Delta," "Air Pollution Prevention Plan for the Pearl River Delta," and "Environmental Management Innovation and Capacity Building for the Pearl River Delta," as well as the "General Report on Environmental Protection Planning Research for the Pearl River Delta."
This research report is a systematic integration of the above five thematic reports, including six parts and 15 chapters: background, overall framework, optimizing regional spatial form, guiding sustainable economic development, strengthening environmental safety regulation, and mechanisms and policies. Specific content can be referred to in the relevant thematic research reports. Content related to coastal marine environmental protection, radiation environmental protection, the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao, and the broader triangle will be elaborated in detail in subsequent environmental protection planning reports for Guangdong Province, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao, and other regions. Although Guangdong Province, especially the Pearl River Delta region, has achieved significant progress in environmental protection, there are also serious and undeniable issues. Over the past two decades, the Pearl River Delta has experienced rapid economic development, with a large influx of migrants, uncontrolled land management, scattered urban layouts, disordered industrial development, and a crude economic growth model. The logical relationship between planning, environmental protection, and construction has been inverted, disconnecting economic development from environmental protection. Urbanization has lagged behind industrialization, and environmental infrastructure construction is clearly insufficient. The environmental supervision model and capacity are not adapted to new situations and requirements. Composite, compressed, and cumulative environmental issues have become increasingly prominent, with environmental carrying capacity resources overdrawn. The Pearl River Delta has not yet achieved environmental well-being while its economy has already largely met the requirements of sub-modernization. Among the three pillars of sustainable development in the Pearl River Delta, resources and the environment have become a weak link. Overall, the region is in a sub-developmental state under modernity crises, which constrains the overall competitiveness of the future Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration and regional sustainable development. According to economic development scenario predictions, the future Pearl River Delta will see a significant increase in pollutant generation compared to the current situation, resulting in immense environmental protection pressure, arduous tasks, and a severe environmental safety situation. It is necessary to address past debts, achieve comprehensive environmental well-being, prevent new environmental issues from future economic development, and further meet the environmental goals of modernization construction. Therefore, by 2020, environmental protection in the Pearl River Delta must implement the "11315" project, which includes adhering to one guiding principle, achieving one overall goal, advancing three strategic lines, implementing a set of integrated policies, and completing five major projects, summarized as the eight-character principle of "orderly, sustainable, safe, and innovative."
One guiding principle: People-centered, environment-first. The scarcity of environmental and resources in the Pearl River Delta has become increasingly evident. In future development, it is essential to consistently adhere to the new development concept and performance appraisal perspective, emphasizing people-centered and harmonious development between humans and nature, using environmental quality as the basic measure for all regional work, and improving people's livelihoods and environmental quality as the. Significantly raising the standards and requirements for sustainable development in the Pearl River Delta, changing the performance appraisal mechanism that substitutes GDP growth for development, and adopting a coordinated and proactive approach to environmental protection to guide development. No longer pursuing the old model of breaking environmental red lines and prioritizing short-term economic benefits, but supporting, regulating, and guiding sustainable socio-economic development through the sustainable use of the environment. Increase investment in environmental protection, strengthen the macro-regulatory role of the government in environmental protection, and structurally reform the environmental management system. Environmental protection should gradually transition from a "small government, big society" model to a "strong government, big society" model to address market failures and create new environmental advantages.
One overall goal: Strive to achieve environmentally sustainable modernization and build the Pearl River Delta into a comprehensive and coordinated national sustainable development demonstration zone. Among these, 2010 is the key stage for breakthroughs, with an investment of 440 billion yuan (3.5% of GDP), to basically solve environmental pollution issues and preliminarily establish the Pearl River Delta as a national sustainable development demonstration zone marked by an environmental protection model urban agglomeration. By 2020, the stage for consolidation and improvement will be reached, with an investment of 1 trillion yuan (3% of GDP), forming a basic regional ecological safety pattern, achieving international levels of resource utilization efficiency, gradually perfecting a circular economy, and establishing all cities as national ecological cities, building the Pearl River Delta into a world-class metropolitan belt with a well-structured and orderly protected layout, an internationally influential green manufacturing base, and an optimized and sustainable socio-economic environmental complex system.
Three strategic lines: Environmental protection must complete three strategic tasks: optimizing regional spatial form, developing a circular economy, and preventing environmental pollution.
(1) Implement the red-line regulation strategy to optimize spatial form: Strictly protect and prohibit development for 12.13% of the land in the Pearl River Delta, and implement controlled protection and utilization for 25.89% of the land. Nurture, restore, and protect important sensitive ecological functional areas, establish a regional ecological structure of "six zones, six cores, sixteen channels, and eighteen nodes," protect water and air-sensitive areas, and limit the scale of socio-economic activities in areas with overdrawn environmental carrying capacity, changing the current densely developed state of the Pearl River Delta and forming a metropolitan belt spatial pattern consistent with ecological requirements.
(2) Implement the green-line enhancement strategy to develop a circular economy: Take the ecological transformation of industries as the core of socio-economic civilization transformation, adjust and optimize the structure, change the economic growth model of high input, high consumption, and high pollution, and increase the ecological efficiency of technology by more than four times in the next 20 years. By 2010 and 2020, reduce unit GDP material consumption and energy consumption to half and one-quarter of the current levels, respectively, and reduce unit GDP pollutant emission indicators to one-third and one-sixth of the current levels, respectively, guiding the establishment of sustainable economic development models and consumption patterns, improving development quality, and freeing the environment from the pressure of economic development, forming an internationally influential green manufacturing base.
(3) Implement the blue-line construction strategy to ensure environmental safety: Focus on eliminating water pollution and restoring water ecology, treating the east bank, preventing the west bank, addressing the south, and protecting the north, making pollution prevention in river network areas the top priority. Adhere to the principle of urban-rural integration, adjust water intake and discharge patterns, and comprehensively combat water pollution. Implement all desulfurization plans and requirements, reduce the frequency of acid rain by 20 percentage points, lower the concentration of inhalable particulate matter, and actively combat nitrogen oxide pollution and secondary pollution. While addressing past environmental debts, prevent new environmental issues and completely change the lagging state of regional environmental infrastructure construction, restoring the good environment of clear water, blue skies, and clean land, building national environmental protection model cities and ecological cities, and increasing development potential.
A set of integrated policies: Focus on solving issues of comprehensive decision-making, regional coordination, management systems, economic measures, public participation, and capacity building. Based on environmental protection legislation, structurally reform and optimize the environmental management system, establish the Pearl River Delta Sustainable Development Committee (Working Group), implement comprehensive decision-making and regional coordination, elevate the status and management capacity of environmental protection departments, directly manage environmental supervision departments, and gradually achieve vertical management of environmental protection departments at city, county, and district levels, establishing an environmental management system led by the government, promoted by the market, and participated in by the public.
Five major projects: Invest 122.6 billion yuan to construct integrated urban-rural sewage treatment projects, regional ecological safety barrier projects, power plant desulfurization projects, solid waste disposal and utilization projects, and environmental supervision, monitoring, early warning, and emergency projects, laying a solid foundation for the environmental infrastructure of regional sustainable development.