Environmental Legislation

Some local regulations and provisions were endorsed, namely Regulations on Protection of Dumu Reservoir in Qujin City and Provisions for the Environmental Management of the Food and Drinking Sector. Some regulations were issued, namely the Provisions for Management of Environmental Protection Scientific and Technical Planning Projects in Yunnan Province, and Provisions on Management of the Green School in Yunnan Province. 533 cases of environmental offences were investigated and successfully prosecuted, with penalty fees of 1.6242 million Yuan levied. 5 cases were reassessed.

Environmental Dissemination and Education

A variety of mechanisms for dissemination and education activities on environmental protection were initiated, including TV interviews and press conferences with provincial governors, a photography contest, broadcasting TV documentaries on environmental protection etc. Meanwhile, 66 schools were awarded Green School status. 96 individuals were awarded as Excellent Activists and 16 individuals as Excellent Organizers.

Proposals and Petition Letters on Environmental Protection

42 proposals put forward by representatives of the Chinese People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, were addressed with a completion rate of 100%. 101 petition letters were received and responses drafted, and 35 groups and visits from 78 people (some made more than one visit) were received.

International Cooperation and Exchange

Phase 2 of the British Department for International Development funded Yunnan Environmental Development and Poverty Alleviation Programme was implemented by Yunnan Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau, Yunnan Poverty Alleviation Office, Yunnan Development and Reform Committee in conjunction with international consultants Scott Wilson, as well as a series of technical assistance projects on the Greater Mekong Subregion funded by the Asian Development Bank. A case Study on Pollution Treatment and Management of Lake Dianchi, an Experimental Pilot Research on Rural Non-point Pollution Control were initiated. An application for JICA funding for a Project on Environmental Protection of Lake Fuxian and Lake Xingyun was made. Preparatory work for the application of GEF-funded Natural Conservation and Flood Control in Yangtze River Basin was successfully completed.

44 people (some people made more than one trip) and 16 delegations were organised to go abroad for meetings, study tours, training and cooperation research. 2 long-term international consultants and 55 short-term international consultants were invited to work for Yunnan Provincial Government. Visitors from over 20 foreign government agencies, organisations, research institutes, enterprises, NGOs and the privates were received.

Technical Research on Environmental Protection and Cleaner Production

Research funds allocated to the entire environmental protection system reached to 20.423 million Yuan, which was used for 207 projects. Among the research projects, one achieved a patent status and another one won the 3rd-classed prize of science and technology at provincial level. The key project on the Study on Lake Dianchi Water Pollution Treatment Technology, organized by Yunnan Provincial Government and the State Technology Administration, was completed. Its sub-project of Study on Lake Dianchi Non-point Pollution Control Technology passed an assessment and was verified. The research topic of Study and Pilot on Degradable Plastics, arranged by Yunnan Environment Protection Bureau also passed an assessment.

Yunnan Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau issued the first list of enterprises, which were causing severe pollution, and started cleaner production auditing in these enterprises. 29 enterprises were recently honored as Cleaner Production Auditing Pilot Enterprises.

Institutional Capacity Building and Team Building for Environmental Protection

The Yunnan Centre for Environment Impact Assessment of Construction Projects was established, 94 counties, including cities and districts at the same level, set up independent environmental protection bureaus. There were 124 environment inspection institutes and 90 environmental monitoring stations across Yunnan. The number of staff working in the field of environmental protection reached 3,259 across Yunnan.

Environmental Management of Construction Projects

4,411 construction projects' Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports were approved. The execution rate of EIA reached 99.7%. 873 completed construction projects passed their environmental protection assessments. The execution rate of the Three-simultaneous⁽²⁾ Regulations was 96.5% and the execution rate of EIA and Three-simultaneous for large-and-medium-size projects reached 100%. The projects with EIAs had a total investment of 53,040 million Yuan, and the projects which were completed and passed the final assessment, had a total investment of 9,440 million Yuan.

Target Responsibility System for Environmental Protection

The final investigation and assessment was organised to review the overall progress of the implementation of Target Responsibility System for Environmental Protection by the government of 16 prefectures and cities. The provincial government awarded local governments, which had done a good job. The Provincial Government signed up to a Paper on Target Responsibility Contracts on Environmental Protection, with each local government at both the prefecture and city levels.

Pollutants Discharge Permit System

An inspection was organised to investigate the implementation of the pollutants discharge permit system across the Province. Those enterprises, which held a temporary permit for pollutants' discharge, were required to make necessary adjustments in a limited time period. The annual inspection on the system was successfully completed with the joint efforts of the Environmental Protection Bureau and the Bureau of Industry and Commerce Administration. By the end of 2003, 1,700 permits in total had been issued across the province.

Re-enhancing Project for Standard-compliant Pollutant Discharge

By the end of 2003, 186 enterprises were selected for the project and 170 enterprises completed the task, covering 91.4% of all selected enterprises.

Project for Full Standard-compliant Discharge of Industrial Pollutants

550 key enterprises were selected for the project. The Provincial Government assigned the tasks and the list of key enterprises for the projects was published in the ‘Yunnan Daily' newspaper.

Special Action on Investigating Environmental Offences

Action on Cleaning-up Enterprises with Illegal Pollutants Discharge Aiming to Ensure the Public Health was carried out. Through this action, many enterprises were closed down such as a Zinc refinement factory with a traditional abstraction method in Xuan Wei city, and Lead Melting factories in Chongposhao region of Ge Jiu city was collectively treated. In the action, 6,981 people (some people were involved more than one time) were involved in from the Environmental Protection Bureaus, 3,322 enterprises were inspected, 156 enterprises were penalized and 89 cases addressed.

Reform on Environmental Supervision and Inspection and Pollutant Discharge Fee

25,000 visits of on-site environmental supervision and inspection were carried out. In total 40,000 people (some people were involved more than one time) were involved in the action of environmental supervision and inspection. 6,867 pollution treatment facilities were examined.

The Provincial Government approved the idea of a pollution discharge fee, jointly formulated by Yunnan Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau, the Financial Department and other 3 government agencies. The full title of the initiative is Ideas on How to Implement '‘Management Regulations on the Collection and Usage of Pollutants Discharge Fee', ‘The Mandate on the Collection of Pollutants Discharge Fee', 'The Mandate on the Usage of Pollutants Discharge Fee'.

An Active Role in the Fight against SARS

During the period of SARS' prevention and treatment, 2000 people (some people made more than one visit) was involved, and more than 500 medical units were inspected. A general inspection was undertaken at 371 common hospitals, with over 50 patients hospitalized. A careful inspection was undertaken for the disposal of medical wastes and sewage, which were discharged by 22 hospitals designated to tackle SARS treatment. 70 people (some people made more than one visit) in 2 groups were made to inspect protected areas of drinking water sources. 30 people (some people made more than one visit) in 5 groups were assigned to inspect Waste Water Treatment Plants.

Environmental Pollution Accidents

114 environmental pollution accidents occurred throughout the Province. Of these, 59 were water pollution accidents, 44 air pollutions and 11 other types of pollution. The area of crop-land affected by the accidents was 2.3469 million km², and the area of fishery pools polluted was 49,200 km². The direct economic loss caused by these accidents amounted to 1.536million Yuan.

Environmental Protection Planning

Work commenced on The Environment Protection Planning for Well-off Society of Yunnan. And the yearly action plan of The Tenth Five Year Planning on Water Pollution Prevention and Treatment of Lake Dianchi Basin and The Ideas on how to implement ‘The Tenth Five Year Planning on the Water Pollution Prevention and Treatment of Lake Dianchi Basin' were completed.

Capacity Building for Environmental Protection

The Yunnan Environmental Monitoring Network Management System, funded by World Bank, was strengthened through a total accumulated investment of 25.67 million Yuan by the end of 2003. The total investment to the project for the Air Quality Automatic Monitoring System was 4.5 million Yuan, of which 2 million Yuan was drawn from central government funds. Total investment of the project on Water Quality Automatic Monitoring System was 1million Yuan. 0.9million Yuan was invested for capacity building of environmental supervision and inspection. The Environmental Monitoring Station in Honghe Prefecture, which was funded through the Yunnan-Shanghai Cooperation Scheme, was completed and passed its final assessment.

Prioritized Distribution of Environmental Monitoring Sites

The attestation and re-inspection of monitoring sites at provincial level for surface water and air was completed. Through the prioritized attestation, 148 monitoring sections were established on 74 tributaries of 6 larger river systems. 44 monitoring sites were set up in 12 lakes. 28 monitoring sites were set up in 29 protected areas of drinking water sources, such as lakes, reservoirs and rivers. 38 monitoring sites were established in 15 prefectures and cities.

Organic Food, ‘Green Food' and ‘Nuisance-free Food'

19 enterprises and 40 products achieved the certificate of Organic Food in Yunnan . 30 production bases of ‘Green Food' were set up with an area of 20,000mu, which earned a profit of 60 million Yuan. 52 enterprises achieved the certificate of ‘Green Food' with 91 products produced. Their production bases had an area of 1.3045 million mu and a yield of 0.6765 million tons, which earned a profit of 1,933 million Yuan. 2 enterprises achieved the national-level certificate of ‘Nuisance-free Food', with 2 products produced. They created a yield of 500 tons and earned a profit of 15million Yuan. 119 enterprises achieved the provincial-level certificate of ‘Nuisance-free Food' with 199 products produced. They created a yield of 0.45 million tons and earned a profit of 1,365 million Yuan.

Meteorological Grade Forecasting for Forest Fires and Satellite Remote Sense Monitoring

A Meteorological Grade Forecasting Service System for Yunnan Forest Fires was established. A 24-hour forecasting service was developed to alert against forest fires as well as a medium term analysis was provided for the trends of forest fires. The short-term forecast was broadcast to the public through the media, such as TV. The highest temperature point on the ground was monitored by NOAA and FY-1D and the results were reported to the forest departments in a timely manner.

Translated by: Xu Weihua, Wang Hong, Zhou Bo

Revised by: Mark Willett, Mark Watson, Jeremy Richardson, Henry Voigt, Yang Weimin