A Basic State Policy

    In the 1982 institutional reform, an environmental protection bureau was set up under the Ministry of Urban and Rural Construction and Environment Protection. However, it was made a separate budgeting unit – parallel of the ministry – of the central treasury and had financial and personnel authority independent of the ministry. As the bureau's first chief, I had an even larger state fund to dispose than that of the minister. Frankly, this kind of leeway was rarely seen at that time.

    The second national conference on environmental protection was held in 1983, in which the strategy of protecting environment with Chinese characteristics was formally determined. Furthermore, it was listed as a basic state policy, which meant great importance would be put on this issue and an opportunity to educate people to change their views. But many ministries and state commissions were actually against, even sneered at this policy – how could anything related to the environment become the subject of state policy?

    In 1984 the Environmental Protection Committee under the State Council replaced the temporary Environmental Protection Leading Group Office. As a special coordinative organization, it consisted of heads of dozens of ministries and state commissions and was directed by Li Peng, then vice premier. The committee office was located in the building of the Environmental Protection Bureau, and I was appointed concurrent director. Of these committee members, four later entered the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and three others become premier, in succession. This committee guaranteed China could make good on a series of important policies and regulations in the decade to come.

    In 1988 another institutional reform separated my bureau from the Ministry of Urban and Rural Construction and Environment Protection and established it as the State Environmental Protection Administration. As its director, I was responsible directly to the State Council. There once was a big debate about that independence. Many officials argued that there were special organizations handling garbage disposal, forestation, water pollution and other environmental affairs, so this kind of centralized structure was unnecessary.

    I started another round of lobbying, trying to convince relevant officials that the environmental control and supervision were separate functions and that the role of the new organization was to ensure compliance rather than specific environmental construction tasks. Fortunately, my point of view was approved.

    After the 1983 environmental protection conference, my bureau concentrated on establishing an environment management mechanism. After five years' effort, three management policies and eight management systems were in place, including a policy of prevention first and comprehensive control, an environmental assessment system, an accountability mechanism and so on, right down to sewage disposal registration and license granting criteria and procedures.

    Promoting Environmental Legislation

    I was always in support of cooperating with the media to fight the agents of environmental destruction and to promote the concept of ecological primacy. That was why I made every effort to formulate a series of large-scale campaigns popularizing environmental principles and fostering China's good image in the international community.

    In 1996, tens of thousands of highly-polluting factories were closed down. This action was without precedent in history and marked increased public awareness of the need to act on issues. Witnessing the transition, I had a strong feeling that our country should discard the resources-consuming economic development mode. In 1992, I led the compilation of Ten Strategies for Environment and Development, in which sustainable development took first place. The strategy of sustainable development was officially adopted in 1994 when the government released an action plan and specific measures for the policy, and it was incorporated into the nation's development strategy in 1997.

    During my 10-year service to the Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee (EPRCC) of the NPC from 1993 to 2003, I was fully engaged in revising and drafting over 20 laws. Of them, the Environmental Impact Assessment Law gave me the greatest sense of accomplishment. I once said, if this draft wasn't adopted, I could not die in peace.

    When studying foreign cases, I concluded many countries used environmental assessments, to good effect, as a control mechanism. The U.S., for example, had a law on environment assessment by the 1960s. The core of this law required an environment assessment be conducted before any construction started. In some cities, too much emphasis was put on economic performance, resulting in increasingly serious environmental problems. New problems show up before old ones are solved. From my perspective, an environmental assessment law could neutralize emerging problems.

    As early as 1979 when the first law on the environment was approved, I made a strong appeal for such a clause on assessments, and succeeded. Based on this clause, the government later introduced a "one-vote veto" policy on the performance evaluations of officials which effectively linked their promotion to the health of their environmental situation.

    My first task in the NPC was to make a special law for environmental assessment, but in the minds of many legislators, my plan was too exacting for a developing country. So I failed in the first five-year term. Fortunately I got re-elected to the EPRCC and naturally had no intention of giving up on my law. I began to persuade Li Peng, then chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, to lend his support, and a legislative agenda was passed in 1998.

Qu Geping attending an activity promoting environmental concepts.   CFP

    The drafting of regulations started in earnest, but many ministries published special documents against the agenda. Their reasoning was no more complex than that China remained in the preliminary stages of development phase and could not just copy the laws of developed countries. A popular view was that the law gave an environmental protection body life-or-death power over construction projects, which seemed inappropriate.

    When the argument reached a stalemate, I went to persuade Premier Zhu Rongji, and Wen Jiabao, who was then vice premier in charge of environment, and won both their support. After rounds of discussion, related departments under the State Council indicated their openness to a second review of the draft. The draft was passed in the first round of voting, with only one vote in dissent.

    My Dream Goes On

    I retired in 2003 after my second term in the NPC, but remained close to the drama unfolding in our environment. Looking back over the four decades of my career, I found I had no sense of achievement. Even more severe environmental degradation sometimes leaves me depressed.

    The problem, in my opinion, lies in local leaders who place a priority on economic performance or the GDP index, but spare no thought for nature. Now the central government has put forward the organizing principle of a "scientific development outlook" which puts sustainability and the resolution of economic, environmental and resource issues at the forefront.

    Objectively speaking, the problems are complicated and won't disappear overnight. According to the government's blueprint, we should have pollution under control by 2020, though some say in 2015, and see significant improvements in the entire ecology, especially urban sectors, by 2030. But I suppose it will be 2050 before we have an environment suitable for living as well as enjoy a sustainable economy.

    In the 21st century, the prospect of global environment is a concern for everyone. I still dream that one day the polluted air will be clear again; that blue sky and white clouds won't exist only in memory, and that the spring will be full of vigor again.

    Qu Geping was born in June 1930 in Feicheng, Shandong Province. In 1976 he was appointed China's chief representative to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and later became the first director of the State Bureau of Environmental Protection and chairman of the Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC). He received many international awards for his outstanding contributions, including the UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize in 1992 and the Blue Planet Prize in 1999.