 |
|
 |
Large Medium Small |
Strict regulations on ecological conservation and the optimal usage of resources is key to developing China's western region
The State Council's recent stress on speeding up the development of the country's western region, a program that was mapped out and launched in 1999, is aimed at boosting the economic and social status of the underdeveloped area.
Ten years after the initiative, China's eastern regions are witnessing slower demand growth, increased pollution levels and rising raw material prices, a lull brought on after two decades of boom following the reform and opening-up policy.
In this context, the initiative is a timely effort aimed at narrowing the yawning economic disparity between the developed east and the underdeveloped west, and promoting a more balanced and coordinated development roadmap for the country as a whole.
China's western provinces are poised to grow faster despite lagging the coastal regions in development terms.
The western regions' ecology has improved remarkably in the past decades due to the many afforestation programs launched by the central and local governments, and efforts to turn some of the land devoted to farming back into forests and grasslands.
There has also been tangible progress in infrastructure construction in these regions over the past decades, with better expressway, railway and aviation networks and interconnected irrigation, power and telecommunication facilities.
Due to the implementation of the national compulsory education policy as well as educational assistance from other parts of the country, the quality of education in the western regions is substantially better, and it is playing a positive role in channeling local human resources.
Because of their inherent advantages in energy, mineral resources, tourism and culture, the western provinces have developed distinct pillar industries such as coal, and oil and gas.
Some large power generation and transmission projects too have been successfully executed in these regions.
Yet, the area lags others in economic and social indices.
Compared with the booming and highly industrialized eastern region, the western provinces are still at the agro-pastoral stage of development and are thereby largely poor.
For instance, the per capita incomes of urban and rural residents in Gansu province are just 71 and 51 percent, respectively, that of their eastern counterparts.
The western regions still have a long way to go before they can achieve the per capita gross domestic product target of $3,000 and become an affluent region by 2020, a goal mapped out by the central government.
The region also suffers from a lack of housing, medical services and employment opportunities.
The adoption of a resources-dependent economic model and shortsighted approach to conserving its fragile ecology has led to desertification and deterioration of its environment.
The environmental impact has not been mitigated fully although some progress has been achieved.
Due to lower pay structures and extreme weather conditions, the region has faced an outflow of talent, which has hampered local economic and social development.
The region must chart a unique ecological and economic development roadmap, rather than copying the development model followed by the eastern regions.
Only then can it achieve coordinated and sustainable development that takes into account its resource strength, environmental needs and distinct social characteristics.
Toward this end, greater effort must be made to strengthen the local ecosystem and facilitate sustainable development of the region.
Some workable measures must be taken to develop a green and cyclical economy. Cultivating green energy using wind, solar and hydropower sources should be accorded top priority in order to ensure that its industrial progress, environmental impact and tourism potential is balanced.
The central government should fundamentally alter its policy approach toward the vast underdeveloped region.
It must get preferential treatment in investment, resources and taxation to step up the pace of development.
An effective ecological compensation mechanism, and measures aimed at facilitating its implementation, should be put in place quickly to compensate for any likely negative fallout on its ecology during the development process.
The government must levy special taxes on enterprises that heavily exploit the region's resources. It must then use that money for economic development and ecological reconstruction of the underdeveloped region.
Taxation should serve as an important leverage to regulate the ecological-economic relationship in the vast western region.
The tax on prospecting and exploitation of mineral resources in the region must be hiked, and a stringent accountability mechanism put in place to improve the local environment and ecosystem.
National-level ecological zones also must be set up in the ecologically fragile region.
Preferential policies aimed at facilitating inflow of talent - such as raising incomes of those professionals who are willing to serve in the impoverished region - should also be unveiled.
The author is a researcher with the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
