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E-mail China Daily, November 13, 2012
The rising number of "mass incidents" caused by environmental concerns will be reduced as risk assessment of projects is enhanced, a senior official said.
The government will increase transparency and public involvement in decisions regarding major projects with a potential environmental impact, Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian said at a news conference on Monday.
As China develops rapidly it is experiencing environmental problems in a relatively short space of time that more developed economies had centuries to tackle, Zhou said.
In 2012 alone, three violent protests against the construction of chemical projects near residential areas broke out in Shifang, in the southwest, and the eastern cities of Qidong and Ningbo. All the projects were eventually scrapped.
China’s growth is unprecedented and in such a scenario it is natural that some problems will arise, Zhou said.
Protests were generally sparked by projects being launched without first getting approval or not going through adequate assessment as to their impact on local communities.
Zhou said that central authorities require all large projects to undergo stringent risk assessments and his ministry will make concerted efforts with other government agencies to ensure that the requirement is fully honored.
"I believe if all measures are thoroughly followed, the number of emergencies and mass incidents will be reduced," he said.
Official statistics are not immediately available, but Yang Zhaofei of the China Society of Environmental Sciences, was quoted by the Beijing News as saying on Oct 26 that the number of environmental "mass protests" has been growing by 29 percent annually in recent years.
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