Also, China is committed to the pursuit of social harmony. Top priority has been given to coordinated urban and rural development in a bid to narrow the urban-rural divide. Great importance has been attached to the improvement of the urban and rural environment. China has realized the MDG target of "halving the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water" six years ahead of schedule. More importantly, as education levels improve, China has built a huge pool of qualified human resources that can support sustainable development.

Substantive results have been achieved in resource conservation and environmental protection in China. Over the past decade, the energy self-sufficiency rate has remained over 90 percent, and China ranks first worldwide in terms of hydropower and wind power installed capacities as well as the use of solar water heaters. China implements strict arable land and water resource protection systems. With less than 10 percent of the world's arable land and merely 28 percent of world average per-capita water resources, China feeds about one fifth of the world population.

As a developing country, China faces many challenges in sustainable development. The nation is under great pressure to develop as most areas in the country are still in the early or medium stages of industrialization and urbanization. There are 122 million people living under the poverty line in China. Moreover, China is the only country in the world with more than 100 million senior citizens.

The fragility of the natural ecological environment exerts tremendous pressure on sustainable development in the country. Arid and semi-arid regions account for 52 percent of the country's total land area. About 90 percent of natural grasslands in China suffer varying degrees of degradation.

Resource constraints are another major challenge for sustainable development in China. The per-capita recoverable reserves of oil, iron ore and copper are 7.7 percent, 17 percent and 17 percent of the world average, respectively. Since heavy and chemical industries make up a high proportion of the Chinese economy, economic development will remain dependent on resources in the short term. Economic development and social progress face enormous challenges in complying with stringent requirements of saving resources, protecting the environment, conserving energy, cutting emissions, achieving technological progress and realizing management innovation.

Currently, structural economic and social problems are still prominent in China, whose urbanization has lagged far behind its industrialization. Population migration has put huge pressure on social management. Uneven urban and rural development can be seen in the fact that rural production, living conditions and public services are far below urban levels. Also, there are flaws in the structure of different industries. A balance has yet to be struck between domestic and external demand as well as between investment and consumption. Economic growth is too dependent on investment and exports, and domestic consumer demand is insufficient. All this makes it an arduous task to restructure China's economy.

Continuing to promote sustainable development is an inevitable strategic choice for China. The nation will further shift its development strategy, promote innovation on development modes and try to upgrade its ability for sustainable development.

Global challenges

On a global scale, pervasive poverty and environmental degradation continue to pose daunting challenges to sustainable development. UN statistics show that one fifth of the total world population of 7 billion live on less than $1.25 per day, more than 1.5 billion people lack access to electricity, 2.5 billion do not have toilets, and about 1 billion suffer from hunger. In the meantime, greenhouse gas emissions keep rising. If we cannot properly address the problems resulting from climate change, more than one third of the existing species will face the risk of extinction.

Moreover, the poor execution of sustainable development programs, the imbalance of regional economic and social development and the failure to reverse the trend of ecological deterioration have made global fulfillment of the MDGs extremely difficult. Many developing countries are facing problems such as the lack of funds and technology as well as weak sustainable development capacity. The international financial crisis, climate change, food and energy crises and natural disasters have further increased the burden for developing countries to develop sustainably.

Establishing a green economy is no doubt an important measure for sustainable development. But given the limitation on funds, technology and capacity building, developing countries are facing many difficulties in shaping a green economy. Moreover, most developing countries are in the rapid development stage of industrialization and urbanization. While undertaking the tasks of poverty eradication and economic restructuring for a green economy, they are restricted by energy and resource shortages and environmental problems. In this context, the Rio+20 Conference gave a much-needed boost to the world's morale.

Alarming Figures

One fifth of the total world population of 7 billion live on less than $1.25 per day, more than 1.5 billion people lack access to electricity, 2.5 billion do not have toilets, and about 1 billion suffer from hunger.

There are 122 million people living under the poverty line in China. China is the only country in the world with more than 100 million senior citizens. Arid and semi-arid regions account for 52 percent of China's total land area. About 90 percent of natural grasslands in China suffer varying degrees of degradation.

The author is an associate research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies

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