Project Scope and Relationship to China's Agenda 21

This project seeks to establish comprehensive management systems to assist with decision-making for sustainable development and to establish an information network accessible to all people. The project is based on programme areas 6A, 6D, and 6F of China's Agenda 21 and is related to programme areas 2A, 4C, and 4D.

1. Background

Sustainable development requires an integrated approach towards achieving social, economic, and environmental objectives. In order to determine the success or failure of decisions for sustainable development, it is necessary to use indicators to provide a measure of progress towards achieving these objectives.

Traditionally, the GNP and other pure economic indices provide a measure of economic activity and are used to indicate progress towards development goals. However, even though these economic indicators are a reliable measure of economic development, they provide an inadequate measure of social and environmental conditions and progress. Changing the traditional patterns of development is essential for achieving sustainability. In order to assist with decision-making for sustainable development, it is important not only to have an indication of the state of the economy, but also to evaluate the quantity and quality of natural resources and the state of the environment, as well as social conditions.

China is in a state of transition from a planning economy to a market economy. Many developing countries, including China, are entering the stage where the economy is growing at a high speed. In order to provide a firm basis for decision-making for sustainable development, the impacts of economic activities on the environment have to be clearly understood and taken into account. This will ensure that long-term sustainability is not sacrificed for short-term expediency. The changes in values, attitudes, and behaviour required for sustainability have to be firmly based on reliable information about the state of the environment and society, as well as the economy.

There is little agreement internationally on how to measure or evaluate sustainable development. Existing research results in China as well as elsewhere in the world are fragmented and incomplete. In fact, most information is only available on a sectoral basis and is unsuitable for use in an integrated manner. It is vital, therefore, that reliable indicators of progress are developed to provide a basis for rational decision making.

2. Objectives

• Long-term Objectives
  • To improve China's capacity building for sustainable development, especially in terms of being able to determine progress towards achieving this goal by utilizing natural resources in a sustainable manner and ensuring that social and economic development does not degrade the environment irreversibly.

• Immediate Objectives
  • By the end of 1997, to formulate the concept of sustainable development suited to China's condition to provide the basis for developing a system of indicators of sustainability.
  • By the end of 1999, to develop a pilot set of indicators of sustainable development based on this concept and to test this system in some typical regions.
  • By the end of 2000, to prepare a proposal for the State Council recommending further action on implementation of this project, including regulations, institutions and systems at the city level or above, as well as related statistical and assessment methods.
  • By the end of 2001, to complete the training for the implementation of this project.

• 3.1 Study the basic features of China's social-economic-environment system and the way it works, and formulate a concept of, and suggested indicators for, sustainable development.
  • Investigate current research on the dynamics and characteristics of the economic-social-environmental system in China;
  • Evaluate existing statistical economic, social and environmental indicators for their relevance to sustainability and examine current research on sustainable development indicators in China and abroad;
  • Suggest some indicators of sustainable development for use in China.

    The implementing agencies for this activity will be the State Science and Technology Commission and the State Planning Commission.

    The project duration of this activity will be three years.

• 3.2 Develop the methodology for collection of statistical and assessment techniques for China's sustainable development indicator system.
  • Evaluate applicable statistical methods and standards for China's sustainable development indicators, including the availability of relevant information;
  • Study the evaluation methods for the state and level of China's sustainable development;
  • Identify the approaches and techniques for assessing the impact of major development behaviours and practices (economic, policies, etc.) on the state of sustainable development and feed the results back to the ways which are used to adjust and control the social behaviour;
  • Evaluate the potential role in the planning for national economic and social development as well as government decision-making played by the sustainable development indicator system;
  • Investigate possible approaches to take the sustainable development indicators and assessment method into the designing, examining, and approving procedures of demonstration projects to determine how the indicators could be used to support the statistical data and statistic analysis published by the State;
  • On the basis of the actions above, submit a recommendation report on the suggestions for China's Sustainable Development Indicator System and Assessment Methods to the State Council.

    The implementing agencies for this activity will be the State Science and Technology Commission, the State Statistical Bureau, and the State Planning Commission.

    The project duration will be two years, commencing from January 1996.

• 3.3 Select three typical cities with different characteristics to test the above research, then based upon these tests, revise China's sustainable development indicators system and assessment methods.
  • Test the proposed set of indicators developed in 3.2 above in the three cities in order to evaluate their effectiveness and usefulness.
  • Using the indicators system, suggest changes for social and economic development in these cities in order to achieve sustainability.
  • Revise the sustainable development indicators and assessment methods on the basis of these results and incorporate these changes into the "Recommendation on Trial Implementation of China's Sustainable Development Indicators System and Assessment Methods" or "Recommendation for Extending the Experiments" submitted to the State Council.

    The implementing agencies for this activity will be the concerned local governments, the State Planning Commission, the State Science and Technology Commission, and the State Statistical Bureau.

    The project duration will be 30 months, commencing from July 1997.

• 3.4 Put forward recommendations regarding the application, standardization, and institutionalization of China's sustainable development indicators and assessment methods.
  • Develop China's (regional) technical supporting system for sustainable development indicators and assessment methods.
  • Develop draft regulations and proposals for institutions, and relevant standards for implementing the assessment of sustainable development in China, including relevant statistic and assessment standards.
  • Implement training program in selected provinces and cities to build capacity at the local level and prepare educational materials to raise public awareness of the relevant issues.
  • Evaluate the usefulness of China's sustainable development indicators for the national accounting system.

    The implementing agencies will be the State Science and Technology Commission, and the Statistical Bureau.

    The project duration will be 6 months, commencing from begin in July 1999.

• 4.1 Chinese Inputs
  • Project management.
  • Chinese experts and other staff, transportation and other necessary facilities available in China.
  • Relevant data and information of sciences, technologies and statistics, and specific knowledge available from existing sources and potential projects sponsored by the Government.
  • Compiling and publishing of training and public awareness materials.

• 4.2 International Cooperation
  • Capacity building, including academic exchange and training.
  • Technical cooperation, including collaborative research cooperation.

5. Benefits

After implementation of this project, China will have a set of indicators for evaluating progress towards sustainable development. This will have profound implications for decision-making, in which the concept of sustainable development is at present ill defined and no measures are available for evaluating progress. This research will provide a sound basis for effective decision-making for sustainable development that will enable changes in environment economy society to be evaluated. The project will help to build capacity for sustainable development amongst the science community as well as for decision-makers. Public awareness of the issues will be raised, thus helping to change values, attitudes, and behaviour.