In the wake of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, the Chinese Government published China's Agenda 21-White Paper on China's Population, Environment and Development in the 21st Century as a platform document for guiding the country's social and economic development. That document marked the beginning of the sustainable development process in China. To help implement the sustainable development strategy, this Program of Action for Sustainable Development in China in the Early 21st Century (hereinafter referred to as the "Program") is hereby promulgated. This Program, based on past achievements and experience and taking into account new requirements for sustainable development in the new century, specifies the objectives, principles, priority areas and safeguard measures for the country's sustainable development in the early 21st century.

Part I: Achievements and Problems

After a decade of efforts, China has achieved remarkable progress in sustainable development.

-Economic development. China has maintained sustained, rapid and healthy growth of its economy. As a result, the country's overall national strength has built up considerably, with its GDP topping 10 trillion yuan. China today is the largest recipient of direct foreign investment in the developing world and the sixth largest trading power in the world. People's livelihood and quality of life have witnessed significant improvement. Furthermore, economic growth is increasingly based on more sustainable ways, relying on enhanced efficiency rather than heavy input of resources. The economic structure is being gradually optimized.

-Social development. The trend of excessive population growth has been checked; science, technology and education have made positive headway; and remarkable progress has also been made in social security, poverty eradication, disaster relief and prevention, medical care and narrowing the regional gap in development.

-Ecological conservation, environmental protection and rational exploitation of resources. The Central Government has

greatly increased spending in ecological conservation and environmental protection; the pattern of energy consumption is being gradually optimized; measures for controlling water pollution have been stepped up for key water systems; breakthrough progress has been made in curbing air pollution; comprehensive use of resources has significantly improved; and the ecological environment has improved to some extend thanks to retiring fragile farmlands and switching them to conservation purposes, such as planting trees and grass, and expanding floodwater storage.

-Capacity-building for sustainable development. The strategy of sustainable development has been incorporated into various programs and plans by Central Government ministries and local govern-ments. Public awareness of sustainable development has markedly increased, and relevant laws and regulations have been enacted and enforced.

However, China still faces quite a few challenges in implementing sustainable development.

-The greatest challenges are: a conflict between rapid economic growth and voluminous consumption of resources and ecological deterioration; social development lagging behind economic development; widening disparities between different regions in social and economic development; constraints posed by a large population and scarce resources; and inconsistencies between some existing laws, regulations and policies and actual needs for sustainable development.

-Major problems urgently needed to be resolved include: the comprehensive quality of the population needs improvement; aging of the population is accelerating; the social security system is inadequate; the pressure on employment is heavy; the economic structure is less than rational; the operation system of the market economy needs to be improved; clean energy has a low share in the total energy consumption; infrastructure is underdeveloped; the information infrastructure for the national economy is of a low level; a serious waste exists in the exploitation of natural resources; environmental pollution is serious; ecological deterioration is still not curbed; legislation on resources management and environmental protection needs improvement.

With increasing globalization of the world economy, the international community is enhancing its understanding of and stepping up its efforts for sustainable development and common development. China should, after its accession to the WTO, give full play to the advantage of its system of socialist market economy. In particular, China should give full play to the role of government in organizing and coordinating the implementation of the sustainable development strategy and properly handle the relationship of economic globalization and sustainable development. China should also, based on the achievements of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, actively participate in international cooperation and safeguard the country's fundamental interests, including its economic and ecological security.

Part II: Guidelines, Objectives and Principles

1. Guidelines

Human-centered

Harmony between man and nature

Centering on economic growth and proceeding from the need to improve the quality of life for the people

Seeking breakthroughs via scientific and institutional innovations

Unwaveringly promoting harmony between social and economic development on the one side and population, resources and the environment on the other

Steadily enhancing China's overall national strength and competitiveness and laying a solid foundation for the realization of the goal of comprehensively building a moderate prosperous society by 2020

2. Objectives

Growing capacities for sustainable development

Marked progress in economic restructuring

Population volume brought under effective control

Significant improvement in the ecological environment

Markedly increased efficiency in utilization of resources

Sustainable path of development characterized by rising productivity, prosperous livelihood and a well-preserved environment

Specifically, this strategy seeks to achieve the following:

-Economy restructuring. Complete a transition, through a strategic restructuring of the national economy, from the old mode of economic growth characterized by high consumption of resources, high pollution and low efficiency, to a new, sustainable pattern of low consumption, low pollution and high efficiency. Promote optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, alleviate pressure on resources and the environment, bridge regional gaps in development and narrow the urban-rural divide.

-Relieving of poverty. Continue to work on poverty alleviation and rural development; further improve the basic conditions for production and livelihood in poverty-stricken areas by building up infrastructure and improving the ecological environment; gradually lift the people there out of economic, social and cultural backwardness; improve the quality of life and the overall quality of destitute population; and build on successful practices and help the poverty-stricken population shed poverty.

-Human resources development. Strictly control population growth; raise the overall quality of the population; build an extensive social security system that encourages quality childbirth and child-rearing and make it available to all; provide as much employment as possible; significantly improve public services; build up capacities for disaster prevention and relief and reduce losses; improve vocational training and improve the quality of workers through the introduction of a national accreditation system. By 2010, the total population should be kept within 1.4 billion and annual average natural growth rate within 9 per thousand. Further expand the coverage of the nine-year compulsory education; the gross enrollment rate surpasses 95 percent for junior middle schools and reaches about 20 percent for higher education, and the literacy rate keeps higher than 95 percent for young adults.

-Resources development. Rationally develop and efficiently utilize resources; and build a sustainable safeguard mechanism and strategic reserve system for important resources.

-Environmental protection. Significantly improve environmental quality for most parts of the country and basically check the deterioration of the ecological balance; basically restore ecological functions and biodiversity in key regions and curb pollution of farm-lands. By 2010, forest coverage will reach 20.3 percent; 33 million hectares of degraded, decertified and alkalized grasslands will be improved; soil erosion will be put under control on another 50 million hectares of land; discharge of main pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and industrial solid wastes will be reduced by 10 percent from the preceding five years; and sewage treatment will be raised to over 60 percent in urban areas.

-Capacity-building. Build a sound system of laws and regulations on sustainable development; improve the information sharing and policy support systems; build up capacities for scientific decision-making and overall coordination on the part of government; greatly increase the public's participation in sustainable development efforts; and participate more in international cooperation in the area of sustain-able development.

3. Principles

-Achieving sustainable, well-balanced growth. Center on economic development while promoting harmony between man and nature; balance population growth against resources and the environment; and keep social and economic development in step with ecological conservation.

-Invigorating the nation through science and education and persistent innovation. Give full play to the role of science and technology as the primary productive force and the role of education as the leading, all-encompassing and fundamental factor in economic development. Step up innovation, develop all categories of education, and promote the integration of the sustainable development strategy with the "revitalizing the nation through science and education" strategy.

-Enabling the government to exercise macroeconomic control and market forces to regulate the performance of the economy. Give full play to the initiatives of government, enterprises, social organizations and the public. The government should increase investment, enhance supervision, play a leading role and provide a sound policy environment and public services. Market forces should be fully used to encourage businesses, social organizations and the general public to participate in sustainable development.

-Actively participating in international cooperation. Open wider to the outside world and participate in the process of economic globalization; and take advantage of the domestic and international markets and resources to promote sustainable development.

-Achieving breakthroughs in key areas. Make overall planning, highlight priority areas and implement them in steps. Pool human, material and financial resources to achieve breakthroughs in key areas and regions; and on this basis, advance the sustainable development program in an all-round way.

Part III: Priority Areas

1. Economic Development

Dynamically adjust the industrial and regional economic structure as well as the urban-rural economic structure; actively participate in economic globalization; gradually achieve a strategic transformation of the national economy, so that economic growth will be based on lower consumption of resources and less pollution.

-Industrial restructuring. Make strategic adjustments to agriculture and the rural economy; raise efficiency in the utilization of land and water resources and reduce environmental pollution and ecological deterioration. Restructure the crop-farming and animal-husbandry sectors, optimize the geographical distribution of farm production, promote industrialization of agriculture, and promote technical upgrading and institutional innovation in township enterprises. Restructure and retool industry and alleviate the pressure on resources and the environment by industrial development; and transform and upgrade traditional industries with high technology and advanced, appropriate technology. Select a number of backbone enterprises for transformation and implement a number of hi-tech projects. Develop vigorously the service sector to boost supply capacities and quality of services to meet growing demand; develop the real estate sector centering on housing construction; improve tourism infrastructure and