Assess the extent to which environmental degradation hinders Chinas sustained economic development. After China’s reform and opening up in 1978, China has increasingly ecome the most polluted country in the world. !hile the CC" has ta#en several initiatives to cope with the ever$rising environmental issues, the extent of pollution in China is so severe that it has ecome an issue of e%ual importance as sustaining the econ econom omy, y, ther therey ey e&ec e&ecti tive vely ly ma#ing ma#ing it now now an outw outwar ard d hind hindra ranc nce e to the the economy as it directly opposed the latter in many ways. 'herefore, this essay see#s to argue that environment environmental al degradation degradation is fundamental fundamentally ly a hindrance hindrance to econ econom omic ic develo developm pmen entt as it is mutu mutual ally ly excl exclus usiv ive e to su sust stai aine ned d econ economi omic c development. (nvironmental degradation has lowered living standards in oth rural and uran regions regions that could unsettle unsettle social social staility, staility, thus disrupting disrupting China’s sustained economic growth. A conse%uence of rapid industriali)ation and urani)ation, air and water pollution have worsened y China’s heavy reliance on coal for energy. *y +7 China has ta#en over the - for the /rst time as the world’s top producer of greenhouse gases. 'his is worsened y the greater dependence on motor vehicles as the asic means of transport and the prolem of corruption. !ater and air pollution y +1+ have caused 70 premature deaths and around 8 of 23". 4f this goes on, it could not only upset China’s socio$political staility, the foundation of Chinese economic development, as people egun to /ght vigorously for their environmental rights, it can also a&ect China’s food produc productio tion, n, resulti resulting ng in higher higher costs costs of living, living, hence hence sowing sowing seeds seeds of social social dissents. (nvironmental degradation also resulted in the depletion of clean water supply and arale lands, which are essential for sustaining China’s economic growth. 5ver one$%uarter of China’s land is now desert. China has lost twice as much forested land over the century as it now possesses. 6ore than a third of China’s land is eing scoured y serious erosion that is putting the country’s crops and water supply at ris#. oil is eing washed and lown away not only in remote rural areas ut also near mines, factories and even in cities. (ach year, aout .0 illion tonnes of soil are lost, threatening the country’s aility to feed itself. 4f the loss continuous at this rate, harvests in China’s north eastern readas#et could fall fall in 0 year years, s, addi adding ng to eros erosio ion n cost costs s esti estima mate ted d at +i +ill llion ion yuan yuan etween +1 and +1 alone. 5nly of China’s +7 largest cities supply drin#ing water that meets the state’s standards. 5utside China’s maor cities, the growing numer of privately run cottage industries has dramatically increased local water pollution. :ealth prolems arising from poor environmental conditions can strain private and pulic resources, diverting attention and capital that could e devoted to sustaining economic growth. :undreds of millions of Chinese people still rely on fouled water that will cost illions of dollars to clean. ;or example, in ++<, the government government gave illion illion yuan to environment environmental al protectio protection, n, including including forest forest protection, reclaiming farmlands for forests and comating deserti/cation. China is the world largest investor in clean energy, spending -3 <.illion in +9. 'he government is o&ering 0yuan susidies for the purchase of plug in hyrid electric vehicles and yuan for pure electric vehicles in /ve cities. 'he 2olden un "rogram will susidi)e 0 of the costs of uilding aove 0megawatts solar power proects and transmitting and distriuting the solar power form those proects. 4n remote areas, the incentive will go up to 7.
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ome have argued that environmental degradation on China’s growth has een limit limited ed y the the gove govern rnmen ment’ t’s s drast drastic ic polic policies ies.. 'he 'he capi capita tall adop adopte ted d seve severa rall measures including shutting down construction sites and factories around *eiing while getting more coal$urning homes and enterprises to convert to gas. 6ore vehicles that fall short of emissions standards will e removed from the roads and petrol stations must o&er high$%uality petrol and diesel. 5ver < o=cials in the southern city of >antong were the latest to e exposed for ta#ing r ies from the enterp enterpris rises es to condon condone e their their pollut polluting ing activi activities ties.. China China has succee succeeded ded lowering its energy consumption per unit of 23" y + y +1. China shut down down small small therm thermal al power power$ge $gener nerati ation on units units with with a total total instal installed led capacit capacity y of <.+12!, phased out .09millionn tonnes of ac#ward steel$ma#ing capacity of <.+12 <.+12! !. Chin Chin incre increase ased d in wind wind power power generat generating ing capaci capacity ty from from <6! <6! to 12! 12!. *y end of +7, +7, more more than than +.0mi +.0millio llion n rural rural househ household olds s were were using using household household io$gas digesters, digesters, therey therey reducing reducing caron emissions emissions y million million tonnes. 4nnovative solutions have also een devised y CC" to comine the need for environmental conservation with the pursuit of economic growth. inopec has upgraded its desulphuri)ation facilities to produce cleaner fuel. -nder China’s 11th ;ive$year ;ive$year "lan, it is developing hydropower, solar power, wind power, natural gas, iomass fuel and methane. !ind resources are concentrated in the northern and western regions of China, as well as along the coast and are suitale for oth rural village electri/cation and large scale, grid connected electricity production. Current utili)ation of solar energy induces small scale uses, such as household consumption, television relays and communications ut it increasing steadily, especially in the numer of solar #itchen ranges to sustitute for the use of coal. !hile !hile solar solar and wind wind power power provi provide de sig signi/ ni/can cantt renew renewale ale energy energy potent potential ial,, China’s growth in renewale energy in the next decade will e dominated y hydropower, particularly with completion of the 18.+gigawatt 'hree 2orges 3am proect in +9. 3espite 3espite the determined determined measures ta#en to stem environmental environmental degradation, degradation, these e&orts continue to e undermined undermined y challenges challenges such as prerogatives prerogatives for rapi rapid d grow growth th,, corr corrup upti tion on and and wea# wea# enfor enforce cemen ment. t. (nvi (nviro ronm nmen enta tall pro prolem lems s therefore continue to hinder China’s economic growth. 6any elieve that what China lac#s is strong political will to enforce anti$pollution laws and measures to overc overcome ome the vested vested$in $inter terest est group groups s that that loc# loc# them. them. 5ne main main ostac ostacle le to environmental reforms that neti)ens have pointed /ngers at are state$owned oil giants. 'he oil companies have dragged their feet over producing etter %uality, cleaner fuel so that cars can meet emission standards, ecause re/ning cleaner fuel would ac# up their costs. 'he pollution prolem really lies in China’s oil standards which are not high enough. 4n conclusion, the CC" has ta#en several initiatives to cope with the ever$rising environmental issues. :owever, the extent of pollution in China is so severe that it has ecome an issue of e%ual importance as sustaining the economy, therey e&ectively ma#ing it now an outward hindrance to the economy as it directly oppo oppose sed d the the latt latter er in many many ways ways.. :enc :ence, e, envi envirronme onment ntal al degr degrad adat atio ion n is fundamentally a hindrance to economic development as it is mutually exclusive
