The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, a high-level consultative body providing strategic consultation to China's State Council concerning environment and development issues, is composed of approximately 50 Chinese and international members. The members on the Chinese side are of ministerial or vice-ministerial rank together with several eminent Chinese experts. The international members are of comparable stature.The council, which meets annually, on March 27-28, 2003 launched a Task Force on Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM). The overall objective of this task force is to promote the maximization of the public welfare of river basins in China through better governance of water resources, ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation, and environmental management through information sharing, demonstration and public participation. The task force consists of 12 prominent experts, six from China and six international experts from the Netherlands, UK, US, Japan, the Ramsar (Wetlands) Convention Bureau, and WWF International.
The first international conservation organization invited to work in China, the World Wide Fund for Nature (also known as the World Wildlife Fund), has been in China since 1980. Today the China Program Office of the WWF has 30 staff working on over 20 projects, from restoring the Yangtze River wetlands to environmental education and panda conservation.China's panda has become the well-known symbol of this global organization.
Other non-governmental environmental protection organizations in the world, such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare, have achieved good results in cooperation with the Chinese government and non-governmental organizations in various fields. The International Cooperation Committee of China's Environment and Development, a high-level consulting institute of the government composed of more than 40 prominent personages and international experts, has offered much constructive advice to the Chinese government. The committee's Biodiversity Working Group now has a searchable website on animal species in China as well as links in English to much information on environmental issues.
China also has been an active participant in a number of important international environmental projects, and is playing an increasingly important role in international cooperation on environmental protection issues. Since 1994, when the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change went into effect, China has adhered to a principled stance in international negotiations to uphold the legitimate rights and interests of China and other developing countries. On September 3, 2002, Premier Zhu Rongji declared in a speech at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, that China had examined and approved the Kyoto Protocol. As a member state of the Global Environmental Fund (GEF), China has maintained close cooperation relationship with the organization, established in 1992, that has become the largest investor in the world in the fields of international environmental protection. China is also one of the few donators among the developing countries, having played an active role in fund-raising. At the same time, the GEF has provided financial and technological assistance in helping China to protect the environment and fulfill international treaties. By June 2002, China had more than 50 projects completed, carried out or planned with GEF help at the cost of nearly US$400 million. This made China the biggest beneficiary of the Global Environmental Fund.
