CONTENTS

Abstracts         

Global Implications of Regional Development, with an Emphasis on Asia J.M. Melillo

Environmentally Sound Carbon CyclingZhuang Yahui

The Emergence of Environmentally-Responsible Industry T.E. Graedel

Economic Development,Industrial Transformation and Cities in East Asia H. Imura

Integrating of Eco-industry, Eco-scape and Eco-culture-- A Case Study of Hainan Eco-province Planning Wang Rusong

Tropical Coastal Zone Management from Planning to PracticeJ.T.Baker

Ecological Engineering for Decentralized Waste Treatment - A Shift from Wastewater Treatment to Wastewater Utilization J. Heeb

China's Eco-Agriculture Wang Zhaoqian

Health Promotion and Chronic Diseases in China Xu Hou'en

Identity and Regional Planning in Rapid Growing Cities in China U. Hoyer

Situations and Countermeasures of the Western Regions Development of China Du Pengfei et al.

Sustainable Development and Environmental Management in Shenfu-Dongsheng Coal Mining Area Hu Zhenqi et al.

The Study of Ecological Rebuilding and Sustainable Development of the Juyan Oasis along the Lower Reaches of Heihe Huang Peiyou et al.

The Phosphorus Nutrient Composition, Distribution and Significance of Superficial Sediments in Lake Erhai, Yunnan Province Li Yuan et al.

Problem, Countermeasure and Management of Water Environment of "Three Lakes" in China Li Guibao, et al.

Wetland Mitigation and Its Ecological Consequence in Liaohe Delta Wetland, China Li Xiaowena, et al.

Structural Diversity and Function of Sustainable Development in an Agro-ecosystem Lu Bingyou

Characteristics and Management of Ecological Agriculture and Eco-Labeled Food Production in China Meng Fanqiao et al.

Sustainable Development and Integrated Management at a Scale of Red Soil Watershed Agroecosystem Miao Zewei et al.

Eco-Engineering and Sustainable Agricultural Development in Hilly and Low-Mountain Areas Min Qingwen et al.

Introduction of the Research on Eco-environmental Evolution, Control and Adjustment for Arid Land Pan Xiaoling

A Study on Energy Evaluation and Sustainable Development of 'Sunan Model' A Case Study of Yangzhong Ecological Zone, Jiangsu Province Ren Wenwe et al.

Role of Anaerobic Fermentation Residues in Organic Agriculture Shi Yajuan et al. Digitizing the Jiangling River Study on Ecological Environment

Construction and Sustainable Development in the Jialing River Valley Su Zhixian

Ecological Planning and Sustainable Development Strategies: for Urban Communities in North Zhejiang Province, China Wang Xiangrong

Cleaner Agriculture: A Way to Integrating Agricultural and Environmental Policies Xu Dehui et al.

The Status of Environmental Pollution and Toxicological Countermeasures in China Ye Changqing

Perspective in Development of Environmental Technology in China Lu Yonglong et al.

Public Participation: A Basis of Success for Integrated Small Watershed Management and Treatment Zhang Renwu et al.

The Experience and Perspective of Ecological Impact Assessment in China Zhu Tan et al.

Rural Ecological Engineering of Small Watershed Classified Harnessing and Exploitation in Mountainous Areas of China Yan Fu et al.

An Approach to the Ecological Security Mechanism and Urban Development Pattern in the Region of Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Lin Wenqi et al.

Basic Elements, Processes and Index Systems of Ecological Planning for Sustainable Cities Zhou Qixing

Spatial Analysis of Ecosystem Services and its Application in Reserve System Planning in Hainan Island, China Ouyang Zhiyun et al.

Popularizing Eco-building--An Effective Way to Improve Urban Eco-environment and Implement Sustainable Development Yu Yigeng

Biodiversity Portfolio Design in NW Yunnan's Great Rivers Region Ou Xiaokun

The Theory and Technological Systems of Ecological Balanced Fertilization Industry Hou Yanlin et al.

Technology Applications in Ecological Agriculture Development Wang Shuqing

Ecological Toilet: An Approach to Environmental Improvement Liu Shunyan

Technology Transfer, Industry Transition and Integration of Production Factors Lu Ling

Potential Impacts of Unsustainable Eco-tourism on Natural Reserves in Sichuan Province Zeng Zongyong

with an Emphasis on Asia

Jerry Melillo President of SCOPE

    Humans have been changing their environment for millennia. Early on the changes were local, whereas nowadays the changes span scales from local to global. These changes are driven by increases in the human population and per capita use of resources including water, food and energy. As our demand for water has gone up, we have altered its distribution and composition in many regions. Among the hydrologic characteristics affected by increased human demand for water are the amount and chemistry of water in rivers, and the quantity and quality of water delivered to estuaries and the coastal zone. Our ever increasing demands for food have required the clearing of forests for cropland and pasture, and more recently the addition of large quantities of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizer. Today, the fixation of N associated with food and energy production is greater than natural N fixation in terrestrial ecosystems. Our increased demand for energy has resulted in the burning of fossil fuels, wood and other forms of biomass. These activities are major sources of carbon (C), sulfur (S) and N to the atmosphere, where they affect the climate system and the chemistry of precipitation. Our actions are mobilizing C, N, S and P at unprecedented rates, leading to a range of environmental consequences at the local, regional and global scales.

Over the past century, most of the C, N, S and P mobilization has occurred in North America and Europe. In the last few decades, however, Asia, with more than half the world's population and many of the world's most rapidly growing economies, has been affecting the global cycles of C, N, S and P in major ways. Today we estimate that Asia is affecting C, N, S and P mobilization to about the same degree as is the combination of North America and Europe. At the start of the new millennium, mobilization of C, N, S and P in Asia represents significant percentages of the global total; 20%, 40%, 35% and 35% respectively. Equally important is the fact that this mobilization is increasing rapidly in Asia. For example, during the 1980s, N mobilization in Asia from fertilizer use alone doubled from 20 to 40 Tg N/year.

The mobilized C, N, S and P ultimately accumulate in the Earth System's major reservoirs - atmosphere, land, freshwaters and oceans. Both the site and the magnitude of accumulation determine the environmental consequences. Carbon and N loading of the atmosphere contributes to the greenhouse effect and global climate change. Nitrogen loading of the atmosphere can also lead to increases in tropospheric ozone and a reduction in stratospheric ozone. Elevated levels of troposheric ozone can cause human health problems and reductions in crop production. Reduced levels of stratospheric ozone can lead to increased amounts of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface; a condition that can cause human health problems. The loading of land ecosystems with N can lead to ecosystem acidification and unplanned increases in productivity and C storage. Loading of the atmosphere with S increases atmospheric turbidity and acidity, which in turn can affect radiation balance and cause acidification of poorly buffered land and freshwater ecosystems. And finally, the loading of freshwater ecosystems with P can lead to a chain of events that includes unintended increases in aquatic plant productivity, reductions in oxygen levels in the water column, and ultimately reductions in habitat quality for aquatic animals including fish. The rapid increase in C, N, S and P mobilization observed for Asia over the last few decades is expected to continue. By 2020, C release to the atmosphere from fossil fuel burning and deforestation is likely to double - from about 2 Pg C in 1990 to about 4 Pg C in 2020. Over the same time period, N mobilization is also likely to double - from 45 Tg/ year to 100 Tg/year. And by 2020, it is likely that Asia will consume about 50% of the P fertilizer used world-wide, as compared to 35% in 1990, and the region will account for about half of all S emitted to the atmosphere compared to about 35% in 1990.

Continued increases in the rates at which C, N, S and P are mobilized are not compatible with managing our planet in a sustainable way. They are also not compatible with sustaining and enhancing the quality of life at regional and local scales. Science must be shared among the peoples of the world so that we have a common understanding of the adverse environmental consequences of accelerating the grand element cycles. Technology must be shared among the peoples of the world so that we have a common set of tools to use to enhance the quality of life for people while, at the same time, we reduce the adverse effects of disrupting the life-sustaining element cycles.                           return

Environmentally Sound Carbon Cycling

ZHUANG Yahui

Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, hinese Academy of Sciences

Introduction In response to the UN mandate on GHG control, the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences has initiated a series of demonstration and survey activities to illustrate the feasibility of environmentally sound carbon cycling. The purpose of these activities is to find some "double win" processes that would lead to GHG reduction and sustainable economic development.

Although there are various concepts of sustainability, here we mainly employ the natural balance and pollution concepts shown in Fig.1.

Passive conservation of the natural resources in China is really difficult. As shown in Fig.2, consumption of natural resources without recycling is certainly not sustainable.

Although the conventional carbon cycling, as shown in Fig. 5.3, can recycle some of the waste streams, such as the composted fertilizer, its economic gains are not much because the recycling is confined in the agricultural sector.

A more dynamic approach relying on recycling of waste streams and value-adding of the downstream byproducts is promising. When we extend the carbon cycle to the industrial sectors, the products manufactured in the industrial sectors have a longer life span, and hence provide a larger carbon pool (Fig.4).

In order to obtain more economic benefits from waste material cycling, we can make some changes in carbon cycling pathways. Waste biomass resources can be converted into biogas by anaerobic digestion or by gasification to replace a part of fossil fuels. The waste sludge from bio-digesters can further be converted into organic fertilizers and biogenic pesticides.

The ancient closed cycle and the current open cycle

Contemporary China is full of conflicts between the traditional closed cycling system and the modern open system. The ancient "closed" nutrient cycling appraised by the western scientific community during the Stockholm Nobel Workshop in 1976 is now shrinking. The current open system causes a series of environmental problems and turns China into one of the major contributors to the global carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants. Unique feature of the traditional sustainable carbon cycling in China According to Shen's Agricultural Book and local chronicles in 1640-1660, an efficient, high-yielding, and self-sustainable agroecosystems was established in the 17th Century in Jiaxing region, Zhejiang province. Fig.5 gives a scheme of the typical agro-ecosystem in the 17th Century (Wen and Pimentel, 1996).

It is interesting to note that, the highest 17th-century rice yields ranging between 6700-8400 kg·ha-1 compare favorably with modern rice yields in California, reported to be about 6500 kg·ha-1.

The unique feature of the 17th Century ecosystem is that, the major energy sources were mainly renewable - solar energy and biomass, with only a little fossil fuel input for forging hand tools, and others. Human labor provided all the power for the production activities.

Could such an anthroponsystem be sustainable today? The answer is yes and no. We say "no", because it is too labor-intensive, and it brings little revenue to the peasants. We say "yes", because we can use more advanced technologies, and get additional value by manufacturing downstream products.

The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES) has begun interdisciplinary studies, looking for environmentally sound carbon cycling that might be important to a more sustainable economic system in the 21st Century. Ecologists, chemists, engineers and microbiologists were involved in such studies.

Multistage utilization of natural resources such that the wastes from the preceding stage of production can be used as the raw materials in the successive stage with very low energy consumption, just as in a natural ecosystem.

Low-pollution processing industries with low energy consumption were established. Polluting and energy-intensive industries were ruled out.

In the following sections, we explore the various options of modified carbon cycling pathways, which could reduce carbon emissions and enhance economic benefits.

Enhancing carbon pools by waste carbon recycling & value addition

Carbon cycling pathways can be modified in order to:

(a) enhance carbon sequestration in our complex ecosystem,

(b) increase the amount of carbon stored in long-lived products, and

(c) recover carbon in waste streams as biogas to replace fossil fuel.

Our aims are to reduce carbon emissions and, at the same time, to bring more profits to the locals.

The traditional pathways were short and simple, whereas our proposed "hierarchic' carbon-cycling pathways are more complicated and thus offer more value addition. The downstream products are: biogas, soil additives, bio-pesticides, proteins, nucleic acids, vitamins, intermediate chemicals for manufacturing industries, and others.

Case study in Dafeng

One of the case studies on sustainable development initiated by RCEES was the comprehensive planning in Dafeng County. Table 1 gives the essential indicators for assessing the quality of planning.

If we compare the material flow sheet in Dafeng (Fig. 6) with the 17th Century flow sheet (Fig. 5), we can see the difference in down-stream processing of primary products. New dimensions, such as endangered species habitats and tourism, appear in the modern flow sheet.

Value Addition of Agricultural Residues

Sugar beet pulp and sunflower calathide were used as the sole carbon source to obtain microbial protein. A new strain Aspergillus tamarii 827 isolated from local soil and identified by the RCEES microbial team was employed for the solid-state fermentation process. The nutrient contents of the fermentation products are given in Tables 2-4.

Solid-state fermentation has rather outstanding features of low energy consumption and low capital investment. Fermentators of a unit capacity of 25 tons of substrates are made of cement (17.6 m in length, 3.6 m in width, and 2.0 m in height) with a steel sieve-plate bottom. Humidified warm air passes through the sieve bottom plate to provide necessary oxygen for fermentation. A movable mechanical stirrer moves horizontally along the fermentation bed to mix the solid substrate well (Xue et al., 1992).

Further value-addition

In order to obtain further value addition, pectic enzymes can be extracted and concentrated from the fermented material with the aid of hollow-fiber ultrafiltration (Zhang et al., 1994).

The quality of the dried extraction product has an average enzyme activity of 18,700 units·g-1 and a polygalacturonase activity of 200 units·g-1, whereas the residual material after extraction still has a high protein content of 17.9%.

Carbon sequestration & renewable biofuel

Carbon Sequestration in Agroforestry Ecosystems

RCEES has made demonstration of carbon sequestration in agroforestry ecosystems located in Fengqiu County, Henan Province. The agroforestry systems consisted of poplar (Poplus canadensis) and crops or paulownia (Paulownia elongata) and crops.

Two types of layout were tested as shown in Table 5. One was the shelterbelt type with 200 ′ 300 m grids. In each grid, three rows of trees were planted at 5 m spacings between trees and at 4 m spacings between rows. For the intercropping plantation, trees were planted at 40m ′ 5m spacings.

The growth parameters of poplar and paulownia in our experimental plots were measured. Then the biomass in living trees was estimated using the allometric formulae developed by Q. S. Zhao (1989) and X. Yang (1986), which hold for plantations growing in similar regions in China. The productivity in the agroforestry ecosystems is shown in Table 6. The increments in crop productivity may be attributed to proper spatial and temporal arrangements of planting.

Accumulated stemwood volumes were calculated using the above-mentioned allometric formulae. They are then converted to carbon mass. Although wood from fast growing plantations such as poplar is of inferior quality, yet it is used in rural areas for wood products such as fiberboard, building timer, packaging, furniture, and others. The lifetimes of these products are in average 10 years. The proportion of stemwood in long-lived products is estimated to be 42%. The rest of fast-growing wood including twigs is mainly used as fuelwood. So the total amount of carbon sequestered in the agroforestry systems is the sum of long-lived carbon stored in wood products and the carbon stored due to substituting coal by fuelwood. Our preliminary estimation is 0.23 ton carbon·ha-1·yr-1 and 0.50 ton carbon·ha-1·yr-1 for shelter belt and inter-cropping plantations, respectively.

The cost and benefit for a complete rotation period of 10 years are listed in Table 7. The cost increment of the agroforestry systems is very small compared to that of a control agricultural system. The benefit, however, is significant. In recent years fruit trees replace poplar and paulownia, and bring about more profit than the poplar/paulownia-crop systems as listed in Table 7. In certain areas, economic trees, such as gingko and eucalyptus, might be even more prosperous than fruits.

Regarding the whole country, two methods have been used for the estimation of the values of carbon pools and carbon sequestration, as shown in Table 8 (China's Biodiversity Study Team, 1998).

Biogas as the Sustainable Energy Source

Human and animal manure, a kind of waste carbon resource, is now used as the carbon source of biogas. In order to maintain a more economically efficient way of carbon utilization, the sludge and supernatant liquor can be used as feed, seed soak, fruit preservation, and mushroom substrate, as shown in Fig. 7.

Carbon Cycling through Lignin Reuse and N2O Emission Suppression

A significant amount of straw is used for pulp making in China. Because of the serious water pollution problem caused by the black liquor, many small pulp mills have been closed in recent years. In many cases, straw is disposed of by incineration in the fields and causes new air pollution. RCEES has developed a new process for the recovery of lignin and alkali from black liquor.

The carbon in the straw is, in fact, separated into three parts - cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin (Fig. 8). The cellulose fibers are used for pulp making, the hemicellulose portion (the so-called oligo sugars) is used as animal feed, whereas the lignin portion is used as a soil additive. The advantage of this carbon cycling pathway lies in that only the lignin portion, which is persistent to microbial degradation, is returned into soil directly. The carbohydrate portions, which are easily degraded by soil microorganism, are not returned into soil. Cellulose fibers in pulp and paper have an average life span of several years, which is longer than that of fibers returned into cropland directly as compost. The hemicellulose portion can be used as a feed and is uptaken by the animals, and is not directly decomposed in soil too.

In this way, we get a larger carbon pool and more economic benefits.Additional advantage of such a process has been found by RCEES. Lignin recovered from black liquor can be used as a soil additive. When a significant amount of lignin is applied in soil, it has an inhibition effect on nitrous oxide emission (Table 9). Furthermore, such a practice would favor the reduction of methane from soil too.

Conclusion

China has a long way to go to forge a more sustainable society by:

• shifting from direct combustion of coal to cleaner fuels, such as natural gas, coal gas and biogas;
• gradual substitution of chemical pesticides by biogenic ones;
• curtailing chemical fertilizers by genetic engineering.                        return

Industrial Transformation and the Energy System

Prof. dr. Pier Vellinga

Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)/Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

Tel. +31 20 4449515; Fax. +31 20 4449575; Email: pier.vellinga@ivm.vu.nl

Abstract: Human induced climate change is one of the single most significant indicators that human society is not pursuing a sustainable trajectory. Managing the risks requires a major transformation of the way energy needs are met. Such a transformation includes changes in the production and consumption system and the incentive structure that shapes this system.

Research can support a transformation of the energy system by exploring the various transformation scenarios. Such research should take a multi-disciplinary approach, it should focus on the energy system as a whole, including production, consumption and the incentive structure that shapes the interaction between the two and it should be international in scope.

Keywords: Industrial Transformation, Energy Sector, Climate Change Policies, Carbon Dioxide, Energy Efficiency, Carbon Sequestration, Renewable Energy, Incentive Structure, Production, Consumption.

1. Economic Development and Resource Use

The relation between economic growth and pressures on the environment is often illustrated as in Figure 1. As a country develops from a mainly agriculture economy to an industrialised economy its GDP grows, while simultaneously the use of environmental resources and pollution increases as indicated in the left side of the bell-shaped graph of Figure 1.

Figure 1. De-coupling (downward curve) and re-coupling (upward curve) between economic growth and resource use.

Industrialised countries have followed the upward path of the graph of Figure 1 until about 1970. At that time the signals of environmental degradation became very visible. The idea that the developed countries will continue to move downward along the right hand side of the bell shaped graph in Figure 1 (de-coupling of economic growth and environmental resource use) is based on the hypothesis that a services and information economy will use less environmental resources and will consume less materials.

However, recent economic analysis indicates that such a de-coupling is not a generic feature of present day economic development in OECD countries. In fact, the OECD countries' data of the 1990's suggest a tendency towards a re-coupling after some de-coupling in the 70's.

Therefore, the challenge for society in the early part of the 21st century is to de-couple the ways in which the growing societal needs and aspirations are met from their environmental impact, i.e. de-linking economic growth from environmental degradation. This requires a major transformation of the ways in which societal needs and preferences, such as energy and food are met.

2. From reactive to proactive environmental strategies

Considering the industrial age and the societal response to the problems of the environment on the time-scale of decades, one can recognise a number of overlapping stages. As a response to the rapid industrialisation, the environmental issues became quite visible in the 1960's. Since that time we can distinguish a series of societal responses that can be characterised as end-of-pipe, process oriented, product oriented and system oriented (see figure 2).

When we consider the way in which energy needs are met, we can recognise the end-of-pipe mode with scrubbers and catalytic converters; the process mode emphasising energy efficiency such as lean burn motors and co-generation; the constructive mode focusing on new products using much less energy (e.g., the hybrid car and membrane technology in chemical industry and refineries) and ultimately the pro-active approach focussing on ways to meet energy needs with "zero emissions", such as renewable energies and hydrogen-based fuel cells.

A) response phase C) main actors B) focus of attention D) driving philosophy

Figure2. Development Stages in Environmental Policy Planning (Winsemius and Guntram, 1992).

This development stage model (Figure 2) illustrates that environmental policy is moving from policy driven by constraints to policy driven by opportunities, moving from a technical add-on measures to a development driven by visions about the future. Attention is moving from end-of-pipe and process towards products and systems.

3. Industrial Transformation, time scale and geographic scales Industrial

Transformation goes beyond the notion of "green" products and beyond the domain of single sectors. It is about system innovation. Different sectors are likely to get involved simultaneously. Moreover, Industrial Transformation cannot be planned by a single actor, it requires the engagement of society as a whole (see Figure 2).

Transformation takes time, in the order of decades, and involves geographic scales that go beyond a single country or a single continent. In Figure 3 the relation between the various response modes and the time-scale and geographic scale involved is tentatively illustrated.

The food, energy, and information systems are global (market) systems, yet they are also deeply embedded in local cultures and legislation. Consequently, transformation of such systems will take time. Transformation may well start at the local level triggered by local initiatives. However, to succeed in the long run as a new way of meeting primary needs and preferences, it will have to be accepted at larger geographic scales.

Figure 3. Societal Responses to the Issue of Environment, Scales in Time and Space.

4. Multi-Disciplinary Co-operation in a System Approach

To provide a framework for the co-operation required between various disciplines, a matrix was developed as indicated in Figure 4. The horizontal rows reflect the more or less disciplinary, research fields that each have a certain tradition (outlined in the Industrial Transformation Science Plan, 1999), while the vertical columns describe the systems considered relevant for global environmental change.

Figure 4. Tentative Framework for Industrial Transformation research with research fields/disciplinary approaches on the horizontal rows and human needs/ activities in the vertical columns. The "needs" (verticals) should simultaneously be explored from all three perspectives (horizontals).

Systems in the framework of Industrial Transformation research are defined as a chain of interrelated economic activities aimed at providing a specific need for society (e.g., energy and food). Such a system includes: the actors (government, producers and consumers), the flow of goods and/or services they deal with (including the metabolism along the chain) and the overall physical and institutional setting in which they operate.

5. Transformation of the energy system

To explore the ways in which societal energy needs can be met in a way that does not cause serious and/or irreversible environmental degradation, it is important to consider the three perspectives as indicated in the matrix of Figure 4: the consumers perspective, the producers perspective, and the incentive structure that shapes the interaction between the two.

There are many options for future energy provision within an overall transformation process. As the different options are driven by different concerns and opportunities, the most promising strategy is to develop a portfolio of measures each with its own set of players and its own constituency. Some consumers and producers will favour energy efficiency. Others will favour a switch to natural gas, while still others will have an interest in renewable energies such as wind, biomass and solar energy. None of them may be primarily driven by CO2. Efficiency can be a technical and economic goal in itself. Natural gas is cleaner than any other fossil fuel and easier to handle. Renewables are intuitively attractive to many consumers apart from the CO2 issue. Carbon storage/injection in existing oil and gas fields helps to recover oil and gas, more than would otherwise be the case. Injection in deep coalfields could help to release methane (as a source of energy) from these fields.

Because of the range of opportunities available, the best strategy for transformation is likely to be the introduction of a broad set of options that is mutually reinforcing or at least not mutually exclusive for the long term.

In fact, all the mentioned options satisfy this criterion. A transformation scenario with interesting potential is the following. Over the long term, energy could be generated through solar PV with hydrogen as an energy carrier/buffer. Fossil fuel derived hydrogen with CO2 underground storage could be a transitional technology, while increasing the share of natural gas in combination with energy efficiency increases could be the most promising short-term strategy. These three steps together would form a consistent and cost effective transformation scenario. To exploit all opportunities and to respond to the broad range of views the most promising strategy is to shape/develop the incentive structure in such a way that as many options as possible are encouraged. Each will have its specific benefits apart from CO2 emission limitation. It is expected that over time systems convergence will occur. The direction should be towards a significantly lower CO2-intensity. In fact, industrial transformation towards a new way of meeting energy needs will only be successful when societal concerns and technological and economic opportunities are mutually reinforcing.

References

Bruyn, Sander de (1998). Dematerialisation and rematerialisation; Two sides of the same coin. In: Managing a Material World: Perspectives in Industrial Ecology, Pier Vellinga, Frans Berkhout and Joyeeta Gupta (eds.), Environment & Policy, Vol. 13, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht).

Bromley, D.W.(1991). Environment and Economy: Property Rights and Public Policy, Oxford UK, Cambridge USA.

Cleveland, C.J. and M. Ruth (1997). Indicator of Dematerialization and the Materials Intensity of Use: A Critical Review with Suggestions for Future Research, Industrial ecology (in press).

Industrial Transformation Scientific Planing Committee (1999). Industrial Transformation Draft Science Plan, P. Vellinga and N. Herb (eds.), International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change - Industrial Transformation Programme (IHDP-IT), Amsterdam, June 1999, pp. 76 (website: httm://www.vu.nl/ivm/hdp/hdp.htm).

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1995). IPCC Second Assessment, Climate Change. WMO/UNEP, p. 12.

Steg, L. (1999). Verspilde Energie? Wat doen en laten Nederlanders voor het Milieu. Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau, Den Haag, Cahier 156, pp. 144.

Vellinga, Pier (ed.)(1996). The Environment - a Multidisciplinary Concern. Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp. 531.

Winsemius, P., and Guntram, U.,1992, Responding to the Environmental Challenge, Business Horizons, Volume 35, No. 2, Indiana University Graduate School of Business, March-April 1992.

Nakicenovic, N., Grübler, A., and McDonald, A., 1998, Global Energy Perspectives.                           return

The Emergence of Environmentally-Responsible Industry

T.E. Graedel

Yale University

In the last several years, industrial executives in many countries have become among the most positive advocates of forward-looking environmental performance. This has occurred because of the ability of superior environmental performance to open access to customers, to be financially beneficial, and to stimulate good stock performance and hence increased access to development capital.

The central organizing principle of this new approach by industry is industrial ecology, the "science of sustainability". Industrial ecology attempts to mimic nature in the way it conserves resources, recycles materials, and utilizes by-products. A tool for improvement in this regard is life-cycle analysis, in which the environmental implications of a product are analyzed from the extraction of its materials, to manufacture, to product delivery, to product use, and to end of life. These industrial ecology approaches, when implemented early in the design process, result in substantial reductions in environmental impact.

Examples of corporate industrial ecology are many, ranging from modular approaches to design, pollution prevention during manufacturing, environmentally-sensitive packaging, upgradability during service, and efficient product disassembly and recycling.

Many industries in many different industrial sectors have embraced industrial ecology as a concept that enhances their competitiveness. As industrial development increasingly shifts to the developing countries and their areas of the world, it will be crucial for this development to be environmentally as well as economically superior. The tools to do so are now established; the greater challenge is to educate the new decision-makers on the benefits to be gained, both environmentally and corporately, by implementing industrial ecology.                                return

Economic Development, Industrial Transformation

and Cities in East Asia

Hidefumi Imura

Institute of Environmental Systems

Kyushu University, Fukuoka, JAPAN

1.Introduction

East Asia, including Japan, Korea, China and South-East Asian countries can be characterized by the rapid and large-scale transformation of society that took place in the past few decades and which are projected to continue for some time in the future. Half a century ago, most parts of East Asia consisted of traditional rural societies based on agriculture. After World War II, however, industrialization and urbanization dramatically advanced along with the trend of market globalization, causing drastic changes in their environmental situations. Cities are apparently the manifestation of contradicting aspects - the light and shadows of economic growth.

Economic growth, on one hand, causes various environmental problems, but on the other hand, it enhances the capability of making investments and mobilizing resources that are necessary for overcoming such problems. In reality, however, changes occur so rapidly that arising problems accompanying growth cannot be dealt with in a timely manner, thus generating a myriad of problems. The process of industrialization and economic growth seen in Asian countries can be characterized by the expression "compressed industrialization", since it occurred in a very short period of time compared with Western countries. Environmental problems, as well as policies to cope with them, also developed quite rapidly within a few decades. Japan, the front runner of the industrialization race in Asia, had to go through the process of industrialization and formation of modern cities in 100 years, the same process which took Western countries over 200 years to complete since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. Other Asian countries that underwent industrialization after World War II are going through the same process even faster in only a few decades.

2. Evolutionary Processes of Transformation in East Asia

The current situation of economic growth in East Asia is diverse. Japan has established its position as a leading industrial country. Korea and Malaysia have made great strides to reach the top of middle-developed countries. China, Vietnam and some others are currently undergoing rapid economic growth. Socioeconomic as well as environmental conditions in each country are quite different. From a bird's-eye view, however, there is a similar pattern of evolutionary process of transformation in accordance with the stage of economic development and its accompanying environmental consequences. Many Asian countries are making a great shift from an agriculture-based society to an industrialized society. Simultaneously, developed countries and regions that were fully industrialized by the end of the 20th century are about to make a great transition, affected by changes in the economic structure that is powered by a more service-oriented, information-driven and aging society. Along with these changes, there seems to be structural changes in the pace of population influx to cities and the types of resulting environmental problems.

The environmental problems Asian countries and their cities are now facing can be generally categorized into three types. In chronological order, the first problems to arise are the ones that originate out of poverty, the second are problems that arise from industrial production activities, and the third are problems that are caused by people's daily living and consumption activities. These problems manifest themselves one after another according to the stage of economic development in each country or city. The first type includes environmental problems caused by an absolutely low economic standard in a city, such as poor sanitary conditions and slums. The second type includes industrial pollution such as air pollution and water contamination caused by expanding industrial activities in a city. The third type includes problems caused by people's living and consumption activities such as automobile exhaust gas and noise, household wastewater and garbage disposal. There is also a fourth type of emerging problem, i.e., global environmental problems such as climatic change, which are caused by the mass production and consumption systems that support today's affluent urban lifestyles.

The transition of similar problems occurring in one place and point of time to another indicates that there is a certain similarity among different countries and cities and that they are subject to common evolutionary processes and mechanisms with some time lags. During the past thirty to forty years, most East Asian countries have successfully achieved steady economic growth while riding the wave of market globalization and industrialization. Major challenges for these countries are to solve the second and third types of problems, i.e., production and consumption pollution. However, some countries still face the first type of problems related to poverty. In such a case, getting economic development on the right track is the most urgent task. Yet, the model of economic growth through industrialization sought after by many countries during the latter half of the 20th century needs some reflection and reconsideration. It is now questioned whether or not a new development pattern is possible that will allow a harmony between the economy and the environment, while placing even greater value on the traditional cultures and societies of East Asia that are based on primary industries such as agriculture. Meanwhile, in developed countries like Japan, the focus is shifting from the second and third type, local problems, to the fourth type - global issues.

3. Environmental Management

Institutions.Many countries in Asia have a strikingly short history of adequate legislative and administrative systems for environmental management. The establishment of environmental management systems in these countries only goes back to the 1960s, but it has improved rapidly in the last two to three decades. As these systems have been implemented at a national level, local governments have also established relevant institutions. Although a framework of laws and administration has been established, when it comes to actual implementation, Asian countries are not necessarily fully capable of carrying them out. In many cases, even if regulations and standards for emissions from factories have been established, systems for monitoring and inspecting their compliance to such regulations have not fully been established. National and local policies emphasizing economic development may result in governments neglecting their role as strict enforcers of environmental policy and regulations. Furthermore, in some cases, the administrative system and social functions for strictly enforcing laws and regulations are immature, not only in environmental management, but throughout the entire administrative domain.

Technology. Modern industrial society is supported by various technologies. These technologies are the cause of environmental problems, and simultaneously, the key to solving them. An adequate urban environmental infrastructure, such as sewerage systems and garbage disposal facilities, are also necessary. During the past several decades, new technologies have been developed one after another in order to deal with environmental problems, and have played an important role in improving the urban environment. However, advanced technologies are costly and call for highly trained specialists who can support and manage such technologies. Thus there are barriers to transfer technologies developed in industrial countries to developing countries. Development of technologies adapted to local conditions is becoming important.

Environmental Industry. Recently in Japan, the establishment of a social and economic system based on material recycling has been promoted as an important policy. This trend is expected to spread to the rest of Asia sooner or later. In conjunction with initiating the plan to establish a material recycling society, the development of an eco- industry, or" venous industry", has been urged. In Japan, the environment industry realized an estimated market result of US$150 billion in 1998 and is expected to grow to US$350 trillion in 2010. This will contribute to environmental improvement, increasing business opportunities and act as models of the Win-Win strategy.

Eco-Consciousness. Enhancement of environmental awareness and consciousness of citizens, companies and other actors are providing a stronger basis for environmental management in East Asian countries. Taking China as an example, where there is a wide gap in economic development among different areas of the country, economically developed cities like Shenzhen, Shanghai and Dalian have initiated most leading environmental management programs and have a higher awareness among their citizens for improving environmental quality.

4. Conclusion: Need for Further Studies

Cities are a stage for citizens' lives, as well as economic activities of production and consumption. In order to support the activities of a city, a tremendous amount of natural resources and energy must be supplied from outside the city. Most of the energy resources consumed in cities in Japan are imported from overseas in the form of fossil fuels. More than 50% of food supplies are also imported. An urban environmental management solution must be sought after, while simultaneously satisfying the various goals of a city, such as increased economic productivity and the enhanced convenience and comfort in people's lives. It must be done, not only from a local perspective, but also from a global perspective that allows cooperation with other cities, as well as rural areas both inside and outside the country that support the activities of the city. In order to do that, it is necessary to programmatically promote the Win-Win Policy that will be able to incorporate environmental policies with other policies and achieve both local and global environmental goals.

Although the history of modern cities is rather short in Asia, the speed of change is outstanding - the consumption pattern is shifting from the frugal to the extravagant and private motor vehicle ownership is evolving. This rapid change may embrace both challenges and opportunities for Asian cities to find new development patterns which are different from American and European cities. Further study should be made to investigate how to re-orient the traditional course of urban development toward sustainable paths, and what technological, institutional and social transformation would be required to achieve this goal.                      return

Integrating of Eco-industry, Eco-scape and Eco-culture --

A Case Study of Hainan Eco-province planning

Rusong WANG

Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese

Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, wangrs@panda.ioz.ac.cn

Hainan Island is the second largest island in south China with 34,000 km2 land and 7.5 million population. While the tropical and subtropical forestry and rich biodiversity are famous, its economy is less developed and left behind most of the coastal provinces in China. In order to promote its sustainable development, a campaign of ecological province development was initiated by the local government together with researchers from Chinese Academy of Sciences. The central task of eco-province development is to encourage a kind of economically productive and ecologically efficient industries, a kind of systematically responsible and socially harmonious culture, and a kind of physically beautiful and functionally vivid landscape. The key for its ecological planning is the ecological integration. It is aimed at improving its structural coupling, metabolism process and functional sustainability through cultivating an ecologically vivid landscape (ecoscape), totally functioning production (eco-industry) and systematically responsible culture (eco-culture). The social-economic-natural complex ecosystem theory was used, and a combinatory model consists of mechanism model, planning model and implementation model has been developed for the Hainan eco-province development plan. The key of the planning is how to integrate "hardware" (technological innovation and integrative design), "software" (institutional reform and system planning) and "mindware" (behavioural inducement and capacity building). The technological innovation, institutional reform and the capacity building are critical to its implementation. The human ecological relationship is modeled through identification of its key factors, feedback and function, and simulation of its partial problems, process and alternative policies. Some integrative strategies for regulating its technological, institutional and behavioral aspects were put forward for helping local people to help themselves.

Unlike biological communities, human society is a kind of artificial ecosystem dominated by human behavior, sustained by natural life support system, and vitalized by ecological process. It was named by Shijun Ma a Social-Economic--Natural Complex Ecosystem (Ma and Wang, 1984). Its structure is expressed as an eco--complex between human being and its working and living settlement (including geographical, biological and artificial environs), its regional environment (including sources for material and energy, sinks for products and wastes, pools for buffering and maintaining) and its social networks (including culture, institution, technology) and economic networks (the primary, secondary and tertiary industries and infrastructural services). Its natural subsystem consists of the Chinese traditional five elements: metal (minerals), wood (living organism), water (source and sink), fire (energy), soil (nutrients and land). Its function includes production, consumption, supply, assimilation, steering and buffering, which play a key role in sustaining the complicated human ecological relationships (Fig.1).

I. Eco-sustainability

Based on the ancient Chinese human ecological principles such as the Yin and Yang (negative and positive forces play upon each other and formulate all ecological relationships), Wuxing (five fundamental elements and movements within any ecosystem promoted and restrained with each other), Zhong Yong (things should not go to their extremes but keep equal distance from them or take a moderate way) and Feng-Shui theory (Wind-Water theory expressing the geographical and ecological relationship between human settlements and their natural environment), an eco-sustainability planning was carried out for the eco-province. The main goal is to promote eco-sustainability at four levels of natural ecology, economic ecology, human ecology and systems ecology from 5 kinds of contexts: time, space, quantity, configuration and order (Wang and Qi, 1991).

General speaking, the decision making process in many rapid transition areas is based on short--term, small scale, cause--effect reasoning. People used to see physical "being" rather than ecological "becoming", and pay much attention to engineering construction, economic growth and social service by neglecting its eco-service function and man's role in it.

According to Lao Dan, a famous ancient Chinese philosopher, this service function is "such a thing which seems to forth from nowhere, and yet it penetrates everywhere". It is "formless, shapeless, vague, indefinite, imperceptible and indescribable, always changing, and reverting to the state of nothingness" (Yang, 1968). This nothingness is a kind of accumulated emergy described by H.T. Odum, a kind of steering force or QI in Chinese word, a kind of higher hierarchy information or orderliness, or a kind of "Holly spirit" across time and space (Wang, Zhao and Ouyang, 1991).

To measure this nothingness, the critical issue is how to image the complicated interactions, how to simplify and integrate the diversified relationship, and how to develop a practical instrument for promoting the sustainable development. The essential idea of eco-province development is to plan, design, manage and construct the ecosystem's function of production, living and sustaining according to ecological cybernetics. The emphases are put on how to make trade-off among the different social, economic and natural goals, how to build a human unit with high efficiency, harmonious relationship, and middle level well-being, and how to help local people to lead their community to a healthy developing process by themselves (Wang, Zhao and Dai, 1989).

Planning in Chinese means a kind of integrative learning process for planners, policy makers and the publics to reach a vision of how the ecoscape is coupling, functioning and vitalizing in time, space, quantity and order; a kind of integrative design process for physical, ecological and aesthetical innovation; and a kind of interactive adaptation process for looking environmentally sound, economically productive and behaviorally feasible way of implementation.

Here the key is integration of "hardware" (technological innovation and integrative design), "software" (institutional reform and system planning) and "mindware" (behavioural inducement and capacity building) (Wang and Yan, 1998).

The ultimate goals of the systematically responsible planning are comprehensive wealth, health and faith. Wealth measures the structural state of the monetary assets, natural assets (mineral, water, forestry, soil, air and biodiversity), human resource (man powers and intellects) and social resource (institution, arts etc.); Health measures the functional state: human health, ecosystem health, and risks and opportunities on human being and their life support system; Faith measures the behavioural mode: values, material attitudes (life style, consumption customs, recycling tradition, and eco-ethics) and spiritual relations (perceptions, concepts and believes towards the totality or supernatural forces) (Wang, Zhao and Ouyang,1996). The temporal, spatial, quantitative, structural and functional context are the main contents for the systematically responsible planning.

A combinatory model consists of mechanism model, planning model, and management model has been developed for Hainan eco-province planning. The framework is:

Mechanism model:

Dynamics model for understanding the main driving forces and main metabolism processes;

Cybernetics model for understanding main positive and negative feedback, and main risk and opportunities;

Contexts model dealing with temporal evolution, spatial pattern, metabolism balance, institutional coupling and functional order.

Planning model:

Key Identification Model (key limiting, promoting, buffering and critical factors, key dominating and compensating components and key negative and positive feedback);

Partial Simulation Model (problem diagnosing, process tracing, policy testing);

Adaptive Optimization Model (pan-objective ecological programming).

Implementation model:

Eco-industry Model (technological innovation to incubate totally functioning technology);

Ecopolis Model (institutional reform to cultivate systematically responsible institution) ;

Eco-culture Model (behavioral inducement to encourage ecologically vivid culture).

In the planning process, following structural and functional coupling, metabolism balancing and eco-order cultivating have been analysed, which is the base for Hainan eco-province planning:

Structural coupling

Hierarchy and networking (the human eco-complex is organized in an ecological order through both vertical and horizontal connections, forming different scales' eco-unit from individual, community to ecosystem).

Dominance and diversity (having its dominant and diversified components, human society is able to drive and maintain its productive and sustainable development).

Openness and independence (open to outside will let the complex ecosystem make full use of external resources, and independent from outside will enable the ecosystem more self-reliant and keep away from outside risks).

Robustness and flexibility (robust structure will enhance the ecosystem's fertile productivity, while flexible structure will enable the ecosystem easy to adapt to the changing environment).

Eco-metabolism balancing

Fire (energy flow and impacts, clean and alternative energy)

Water (quantity and quality)

Soil (land quantity and soil quality)

Wood (food and biomass production, processing and consumption)

Metal (chemicals, mining and financial flow)

Functional coupling

Exploitation and Adaptation The severe environmental stress leads to adaptation through changing its eco-niche and suit itself to alternative resources. A successful development should be the one maximizing its available eco-niche and optimizing its life strategy in order to adapt itself to and make full use of its environment.

Competition and Symbiosis All urban sectors survive through competition for resources and fertile production as well as symbiosis for maintaining its sustainability. Competition stimulates high efficiency of resource using and symbiosis encouraging sustainability of ecosystem.

Proliferation and Compensation When the function of an ecosystem is disturbed, some of its components might take the chance to expand or proliferate unusually so as to dominate the system. While other components might make up the missing function or substitute automatically the malfunctioned components so as to maintain the original function of the system. An ecosystem may benefit or suffer from these proliferation and compensation mechanisms. To stabilise an ecosystem, compensation mechanism should be encouraged, whereas to raise its productivity, proliferation may play a key role.

Exhaustion and Stagnancy Due to the resource exploitation, when the output from an ecosystem is much higher than the input into it which is far away from the minimum cost for restoring its depleted function, an ecological exhaustion will happen. When the input into an ecosystem is much higher than the output from it with much materials and energy leaking into the environment, an ecological stagnancy will happen. In a totally functioning ecosystem, the I/O ratio is appropriately 1.

Eco-order cultivating

· Spatial order that balance the geographical, atmospheric, hydrological, eco-systematical and esthetical harmony

· Temporal order that balance the continuity and sustainability of past, current and future development

· Quantity order that balance the positive and negative feedback to ensure there are no stagnancy and exhaustion

· Structural order that maintain a institutional harmony coupled form different components, chains, loops and networks of the system

· Functional order that vitalizing ecological order of competition, symbiosis and self-reliance of the complex ecosystem Faced with sharp contradiction between reductionism and holism approach, objective and subjective method, quantitative and qualitative data, and vertical and horizontal interconnection, a methodological transition towards ecological integration is undergoing from planning physical being to ecological becoming, from numerical quantification to relationship qualification; from mathematical optimizing to ecological learning; and from operationally intelligent computer to ecologically intelligent man(Wang, Yang and Lu, 1991).

Through field investigation, statistics analysis, experts interviewing and system identification and simulation in Hainan province, we find that, the abundant ocean mineral and biological resources, the tropical climate, the coastal scenery, and the clean environment are its key promoting factors; The poor economic development, less advanced technology, some institutional miscoupling and low literacy of local people are its limiting factors; the wide area of ocean and the wide hinterland in mainland are its physical and economic buffering factors; while the rain forestry ecosystem in its central part and the foreign human and capital resource investment are the critical factors having both positive and negative effects on its development.

The tourism industry, tropical agriculture and ocean resource processing industry are or will be its dominant industry, and the strong desire of the province government for eco-province development is the dominant driving force for the future development.

The loop between the poverty of natives and the local ecosystem deterioration, and between the wrong image of Hainan economy, strong dependence on foreign investment, and real estate business are the key positive feedback. While the loop between environmental regulation and traditional economic development, between the social/cultural and infrastructural investment and temporary economic development are negative feedback.

The key structural problem in the island's development is that there is no significant dominant industry. The functional problem is the buffering and compensating components are not strong enough to sustain its development, the natural ecosystem is deteriorating and the service function is depleting, and the opening policy is not strong enough to attract and maintain the investment from mainland and abroad. The simulation results show that:

Though the resources in the island are abundant, the eco-efficiency is quite low in the island due to the internal and external natural, economic and social resources are not appropriately used;

The social and economic institution, the material and energy metabolism, the planning and management capacity are not compatible with the goals of sustainable development, and the island is anti--cybernetically steered, the eco-compatibility is restricting its further sustainable development;

As the production mode and the life style are simply copied from post-industrialization countries and can not adapt to the local situation, and the peoples' consciousness and capacity is relatively low, the island eco-vitality is relatively weak.

The main task of the Hainan eco-province development, therefore, is to improve its structural coupling, metabolism process and functional sustainability through cultivating an ecologically vivid landscape (ecoscape), totally functioning production (eco-industry) and systematically responsible culture (eco-culture) in order to improve its eco-efficiency, eco-compatibility and eco-vitality.

The focus of the Hainan eco-province development will be put on comprehensive utilization of natural resource (tropical climate and landscape; ocean biological, mineral and scenery resources), comprehensive conservation and management of environment (biodiversity, watershed, rain forestry and coastal and ocean ecosystem), comprehensive development of people (decision makers, entrepreneurs and the publics) through technological innovation, institutional reform, and capacity building. Integration, demonstration, citizen's participation and scientists and technician's catalyzing are the key in the experiment. Their evaluation indicators are:

Production efficiency: growth rate of economy, productivity (per capita output, profits and taxes etc.), resource use efficiency (water, energy, main raw materials and capital), wastes emission and regeneration (air, sewage, solid wastes), resource potentials utilized ratio;

Life quality: People's satisfaction with income, housing, traffic, food, education, recreation, environmental quality and other basic conditions and facilities, social security, life expectancy, health state, and cultural diversity;

Institutional harmony: compromise between dominance and diversity of the structure of industry and products; between self-reliance and openness to external system; and between the social governance ability and individual or sectorial creativity;

People's capability: the capability of decision makers (policy appropriateness, sensitivity of information feedback, ecological responsibility), entrepreneurs (creativity, eco-awareness and vitality) and citizens (literacy, values and attitudes);

Ecological order: including social order (social mode, security and morality), economic order (sustainable resource supply, inflation rate, unemployment etc.) and natural order (landscape, waterbody, atmosphere, biodiversity etc.).

II. Ecoscape planning The ecoscape is the ecological landscape of the social-economic-natural complex ecosystem coupled with the contexts of time, space, quantity, configuration and order. There are four layers of Feng-Shui identity for a good human settlement and its environment:

· Physical identity: a geographical, physical, hydrological and geo-chemical pattern and process

· Biological identity: a productive, diversified and vigour living system with strong ability of competition, adaptation and self-organisation

· Ethical identity: an interactive reality connecting with past and future, with surrounding and other regions, symbiosis with other species and communities

· Cultural identity: it is not only a shelter or producer for survival, but also an aesthetic reality, a super-organism between man and nature, a harmony between material and spiritual life for enjoyment, dedication and realisation

A sustainable ecoscape should be driven by balanced positive and negative forces to promote and sustain its development according to Feng-Shui theory. The dominating feedback of the transition in Hainan in previous years is positive one characterized by huge modernization demand, real estate industry orientation, structural and quantitative growth. While the negative maintainer of holism planning, environmental regulation, ecological restoration and eco-awareness is relatively weak. It has been leaving severe long-term and large-scale ecological impacts on next generations and regional and global ecosystems. To turn the feedback from positive into negative, one has to comprehensively understand its dynamics and cybernetics, and to make ecologically compatible planning, design and management through technological innovation, institutional reform and behavioral inducement.

A sustainable ecoscape should be planned according to the Feng-Shui principles formulated in ancient China:

Totality: geographical continuity, hydrological circulation, ecological integrity and cultural consistence;

Harmony between structure and function, internal and external environment, implicit and explicit layout, nature and man, objective being and subjective value, material and spiritual goals;

Mobility: constant wind and water flowing, vertical and horizontal flow, meandering streams, undulating and far stretching, and five basic movements;

Vitality: luxuriant, flourishing and productive fauna, flora and soil and aquatic biome;

Purity: clean and limpid water, clean and transparent atmosphere, quiet and secluded surrounding, never overloading its carrying capacity;

Safety: backed by hill, enclosure, explicit, spacious, openness, easy to disperse and defense, disaster resistance;

Diversity and heterogeneity of landscape, ecosystem, species, society and culture;

Sustainability: negative and positive interlocking feedback, self-reliance, self-maintenance,

sufficiency and efficiency, appropriate exploitation and development.

Through analysis of its eco-network, eco-capital, eco-throughput, eco-service and eco-integrity, we evaluate the ecoscape of Hainan Island:

Eco-network: watershed network (Nandujiang river, Changhuajiang river, Wanquanhe river etc.), highway network (east, west, and central line), urban network (infrastructure, building and roads), administrative network (18 counties and cities, agriculture and industrial linkages)

eco-capital: forestry stock and coverage, biodiversity richness, soil fertility and erosion, wetland capacity, water quality and quantity, atmosphere cleanness, surrounding quietness, human health, eco-awareness, aesthetics

eco-throughput: energetic and atmospheric (fire), hydrological and meteorological (water), nutritional and agricultural (soil), biological and eco-systematical (wood), mineral and industrial (metal) movements, investment intensity, population density, ecological footprint, information intensity

eco-service: primary productivity, spatial containing, water retaining, wastes purification and recycling, climate regulation, soil cultivation, disaster resistance, disturbance buffering, pests regulation, water and soil conservation, transportation, recreation

eco-integrity: landscape wholeness, hydrological totality, ecosystem succession, human settlements beaty, and cultural continuity

A physical and social eco-assets assessment of the 18 administrative counties/cities has been carried out on the Island. The physical assessment includes standing biomass, forest coverage, biodiversity, soil organic matter, water resource potential, climate and scenery. The anthropocentric assessment includes technology, institution and people's capacity. The result shows that the physical eco-assets abundance of the Hainan Island was greatly reduced since 1950s. For example, the primitive forest coverage has dropped from 35% in 1950 to 7.2% in 1987 and to only 4% or so now and it has become increasingly fragmented. The crown coverage in 58% of these forest has been shrinking from 0.8 in 1950s to 0.4-0.5 now. Within 50 years, 200 species are in danger of extinction, the mangrove area has been reduced by half, and the size of coral reefs and undeveloped coastline have been reduced by 55.5% and 59.1% respectively. The fishing resource along the coast has been degraded and 14 species have disappeared. Since 1984, the declining trend is slowing down and partly inversed in some regions when the province government took a series strategies for forest coversation. The provincial forest coverage has increased from 38.3% to 51.5%. While the social eco-assets abundance has been greatly enhanced since 1978 especially after the Island separated from Canton as a special economic developing province in 1989.

An ecological zoning was carried out according to natural and human ecological principles, which divide the province into four functional zones:

Ocean ecosystem around the island with an area of more than 2 million km2, which will be the main resource for next century's prosperous of the island. A more sustainable ocean resource exploitation and efficient ecosystem conservation are necessary. The main work of the eco-development in the coming years is to enhance the research and development for ecologically sound high-technology incubation.

Coastal aqua-terrestrial ecotone consists of estuary, beach, mangrove, coral reef, coconut trees, forestry belt around-the-island. This is a fertile and fragile region and critical in nature's conservation subject to severe deterioration. To let people understand its ecological function and spontaneously protect it is a main task for the sustainable development in this area.

Densely populated rural and urban ecosystems characterized by intensive industrial and agricultural production. Most towns and cities of the island locate in this area. To encourage the eco-industry and ecopolis development, and strictly control the decentralized industries in rural area. The sewage treatment, for example, for hundreds of small scale and extensively distributed rubber and sugar factories all over the island, is encouraged to use ecological engineering rather than environmental engineering to reduce the costs and reuse the water.

The rain forestry ecosystem in the central mountain area has the eco-service function of water containing and supply, biodiversity cultivation and landscape conservation. It is the sensitive region for resource exploitation and the critical region to support the whole island's life surviving and social-economic development. To increase its natural forestry coverage, to enhance capacity building of the 1400 km2 natural reserve areas, and to prevent the area from overexploitation are the main tasks of this zone.

III. Eco-industry planning

Industrial development from primary, secondary to tertiary industry is the key for the sustainable development of the island. The eco-industry is characterized by

The horizontal coupling of different production processes and to gain positive benefit from sharing unused resources;

The total process coupling of primary, secondary and tertiary production, consumption, recycling, restoration and capacity building into one eco-industrial complex;

Integration of the internal and external physical and artificial environment into one production unit so that the pollutants of the system can be assimilated and zero emission of hazard wastes could be realized within the system itself;

Adaptive structure and diversified outputs to meet the external change with a production orientation to service function rather than profitable products;

Increase rather than decrease the employment through creation more service works within the enterprise;

Labors should play a multi-functional role in the production process rather than slave of machine, in which their work is not only a way to earn their life but to enjoy and realize themselves;

A harmony between hardware, software and mindware, between research, development and training, and between high-tech and eco-tech in the production management;

A strong network of information feedback, technology innovation and advisory experts, and a capable, energetic and well cooperative leadership; l A strong ability of self-regulation with decision making and management based on eco-cybernetics.

To meet the challenge of globalization in scope and scale, the ecologirization in production and consumption and in hardware, software and mindware, and diversification and decentralization in institution and behavior, and based on the eco-niche assessment, three kinds of eco-industry have been planned for the island:

Resource based industry: tropical climate based agriculture, oil and gas based green chemical industry, and sea resource based food and pharmaceutical industry. l Tourism induced industry: eco-tourism industry, industry for tourism goods and facilities, eco-real estate industry, training and education industry.

Knowledge based industry: high-tech information industry; eco-industry transferring, consultation and incubation; market information service; and cultural products industry. We divided the possible industrial development into three categories:

Kind A: the ecologically unsustainable development which are forbidden in Hainan no mater it is profitable or not, such as the decentralized heavy polluted rural industry;

Kind B: the ecologically tolerable and economically favorable development such as the centralized high-tech heavy chemical industry which might be less sustainable but socially and environmentally feasible; and

Kind C: the ecologically and economically sustainable industries such as the ecological engineering for production, distribution and service of eco-fertilizer, green chemicals, green food, hybrid clean energy, eco-mobility and eco-building

The Hainan eco-industrial development plan has prepared a red list for kind A industry, and a green list for kind C industry. While most current industries which have to go the middle way as that of kind B will be gradually transformed into kind C.In order to encourage this eco-industry development, some eco-industry incubation base, eco-compatibility evaluation center for industrial products, and several pilot eco-industrial parks will be initiated at Qiongshan, Yangpu and Machun.

IV. Eco-culture planning

The consciousness,creativity and capability of policy makers, entrepreneurs and the publics are the key for Hainan ecological development. Nowadays' coastal area in China is being transformed from rural society into urban and industrial society. A main driving force of this transition is the introduction of modernization experiences of western industrial societies. While bringing advanced technology and economic prosperity to people, the western modernization has also been leading to social disintegration, marginalization of rural industries and ecoscape deterioration. Chinese human ecological tradition is being displaced by the western style of living and production. The reductionism is substituting holism, diversified human ecosystem is being substituted by mono-production and monoculture, self-reliant life style is being substituted by modern life style characterized by high-energy consumption and high environmental impacts. Individual man is becoming more and more lazy, stupid, greedy and incompetent.

Ecologically speaking, the "modern" society is a somewhat inefficient, immoral, unhealthy, counter--cybernetical and less ecologically viable habitat. Its efficiency of resource using is much lower than that of a natural ecosystem. It exploits resource through degradation of hinterland ecosystem and imposes environmental impacts on its surroundings. Its people are estranged and competitive rather than intimate and cooperative. Its artificial living and working environment is far away from the real needs of human health. People more and more rely on electricity, water, car and chemicals to survive themselves, more and more depart from nature.

In order to jump out from this ecologically decaying culture, a refinement of people's concepts, thoughts, values, manners, emotions, tastes, customs and habits should be encouraged. And an eco-cultural revolution in production mode, life style and consumption behavior is necessary. Only when the life style is harmonious with nature in metabolism process, structural pattern and functional development, and human activities are enhancing rather than depleting the life supporting system, that a sustainable development is expected to be realised (Wang, Zhao and Ouyang, 1996).

The eco-culture is to build an ecologically sound and historically continuous culture in the area of cognition (philosophy, science, education); paradigm or norm (religion, legislation, morality); arts (literature, aesthetics, music); behavior (production and consumption mode, customs); tangible form (architecture, landscape, products); institution (system, organization,); mindware (consciousness, believing, values); and health (Qi-gong, exercise, health care, Chinese medicine). Institution and legislation reform, professional and vocational education, and national and international networking are the focus to cultivate and disseminate eco-culture for every government agencies, companies and families in the island.

An ABC brochure of eco-province development was prepared for every officers and families in the island. Several training courses and lectures on eco-province development have been provided or planed for different trainees from governors, mayors to ordinary citizens. A new College of Ecological Development will be built in Hainan to train local decision makers, entrepreneurs, teachers and researchers.

Eco-culture could be embodied in the eco-tourism development. Some pilot studies have been or will be initiated at Nanshan, Wenchang, Qionghai and Ningshui to cultivate Chinese culture (a combination of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and other diversified culture), the native Ni and Miao minority culture and the ecological culture. The eco-culture could be mostly embedded in the eco-cities, eco-counties, eco-villages, eco-enterprises and eco-communities. 18 pilot eco-village selected from each counties of the whole province, and some eco-city developments are being programmed by local people together with researchers and technicians from outside.

V. CONCLUSION

Efficiency, equity and vitality are the three dominating agents in sustainable development. Its main driving forces are energy, money, power and spirit. Competition, symbiosis and self-reliance are the main mechanism to maintain the sustainability. The key instrument for Hainan eco-province planning is eco-integration in total metabolism of material and energy; total cultivation of eco-industry, ecoscape and eco-culture; total coordination of system contexts in time, space, quantity, structure and order; total design of development goals in wealth, health and faith; total cooperation between decision makers, entrepreneurs, researchers and the publics. Sustainable development requires systematically responsible planning, totally functioning design and ecologically vivid management, which combine hardware, software and mindware into a integrative implementation system, and encourage bottom-up and flexible rather than top-down and rigid institution, and helping local people to help themselves through capacity building. An ecologically sound planning should help local people to set up a vision about how the ecoscape is coupling systematically and ecologically functioning and vitalizing, and how the action is connected with their social, economic and long term ecological interests. The Hainan eco-province planning has demonstrated this model.                     return

TROPICAL COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT

- FROM PLANNING TO PRACTICE

Joe Baker

Queensland is Australia's north-east state, and has widely varied coastlines. The Great Barrier Reef stretches some 2000kms along the tropical eastern portion of Queensland, and much of the coastline of the Gulf of Carpentaria is little settled. By contrast, all of the major cities of Queensland are effectively on the coast. About 6400kms of Queensland's (7000km) coastal zone lies within the tropics.

Tourism is a major industry for Queensland, and coastal sites are the favourite locations of many local, national and international holiday-makers.

Fishing is a major recreational activity on the coast and indigenous and professional fishing activities are also well established.

Fisheries Management in all Queensland waters was advanced through the Queensland Fisheries Act 1994, which established the Queensland Fisheries Management Authority (QFMA), and concern for coastal resources was further illustrated by the passage of the (Queensland) Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995.

The Fisheries Act 1994 establishes that the QFMA, in carrying out its responsibilities, must have regard primarily to the ecologically sustainable use of Queensland fisheries resources.

The Act defines Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) as development carried out in a way that maintains biological diversity and the ecological processes on which fisheries resources depend, and that maintains and improves the total quality of present and future life.

The National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development (Commonwealth of Australia 1992) provides the guiding principles for ESD and these are set out below:

· Decision making processes should effectively integrate both long and short term economic, environmental, social and equity considerations.

· Where there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation. This is often referred to as the precautionary principle.

· The global dimension of environmental impact of actions and policies should be recognised and considered.

· The need to develop a strong, growing and diversified economy, which can enhance the capacity for environmental protection, should be recognised.

· The need to maintain and enhance international competitiveness in an environmentally sound manner should be recognised.

· Cost effective and flexible policy instruments should be adopted, such as improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms.

· Decisions and actions should provide for broad community involvement on issues which affect them. A (Queensland) Fisheries (Tropical East Coast Inshore Finfish) Management Plan is being developed. Its proposed objectives are:

· Maintain inshore finfish stocks at sustainable levels.

· Minimise the unintended adverse effects of fishing on non-target species including protected wildlife.

· Achieve and maintain fair access to fisheries resources by indigenous, recreational and commercial fishers.

· Provide a viable and sustainable commercial finfish net fishery that gives economic and social benefits to the local, regional and State economics.

· Provide an attractive and sustainable recreational fishery that gives economic and social benefits to the local, regional and State economies.

· Provide a viable and sustainable commercial fishing tour fishery that satisfies the needs of the local and tourist fishers and gives economic and social benefits to the local, regional and State economies.

· Promote and encourage practices that maintain ecological processes and protect fish habitats.

A Gulf of Carpentaria Inshore Finfish Management Plan came into being in 1999, and the East Coast Plan should come into effect during 2001.

The Draft Queensland Coastal Management Plan will be released for public comment in May/June this year. The objectives of the Act under which this Plan is developed are to:

a) Provide for the protection, conservation, rehabilitation and management of the coast, including its resources and biological diversity.

b) Have regard to the goal, core objectives and guiding principles of the National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development in the use of the coastal zone.

c) Provide, in conjunction with other legislation, a coordinated and integrated management and administrative framework for the ecologically sustainable development of the coastal zone.

d) Encourage the enhancement of knowledge of coastal resources and the effect of human activities on the coastal zone. Coastal management is to be achieved by coordinated and integrated planning and decision making, involving, among other things

· Preparing coastal management plans that - - state principles and policies for coastal management;

- identify key coastal sites and coastal resources in the coastal zone and planning for their long term protection or management;

- are developed in consultations with the public;

- have regard to Aboriginal tradition and Island custom of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people particularly concerned with land affected by the plans; and

- by declaring control districts in the coastal zone as areas requiring special development controls and management practices. The presentation will show how these different plans interact, and illustrate how special considerations are given to regional needs, in coastal zone management.                  return

Ecological Engineering for Decentralized Waste Treatment - A Shift from Wastewater Treatment to Wastewater Utilization

Johannes Heeb

International Ecological Engineering Society / seecon international ltd.

The utilization of constructed or natural wetland-systems is nowadays an integrated part of the wastewater management in many countries worldwide. Long-term experiences prove that this ecosystem based treatment units achieve the performance of technical plants or even exceed it. Furthermore wastewater treatment systems based on concepts of Ecological Engineering show multiple positive effects in terms of ecology and economy. They can be considered as eco-habitats and the operation costs are far below the ones of technical systems.

Recently more and more projects are developed in order to not only treat wastewater with natural systems but to consider and use wastewater as a valuable resource. Promising case studies in Germany and Switzerland show that the utilization of wastewater to produce eco-friendly building material leads to interesting perspectives in economical and regional development as well as in land-use planning. Doing so win-win-situations as a basis for a sustainable development are created: This happens by integrating the interests of different stakeholder groups (farmers, communities, building business, environmentalists, etc).                     return

China's Eco-Agriculture

Wang Zhaoqian

Agroecology Institute of Zhejiang University

Since 1980s farmers in China organized favourable circling agricultural production in the light of the principle of ecology and economic consideration, by which not only the sustainable productivity can be maintained but also the resources and the environment can be protected.

Usually, the organization of some ecological systematic engineering project (the development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, processing enterprises; rational use of resources; as well as environmental protection are involved in those projects) is combined with the construction of eco-agriculture at township, village, farmer household levels. Taking agricultural production and regional development under unified overall planning is the distinctive feature of CEA, which is also a contribution to sustainable development.

There are various models, which can adapt to different local ecological and economic conditions. Those models and some large-scale (township or county level) eco-engineering projects under overall planning are central to CEA construction.

Statistics has shown that CEA has been extended to 10 million ha of cultivated land in China and is becoming increasingly welcomed by the government officers and farmers.                           return

Health Promotion and Chronic Diseases in China

Xu Houen

Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100083

In the recent years, morbidity and mortality of lung cancer, cerebro-vascular diseases and diabetes have been increasing in urban than those of rural areas. How to control these chronic diseases and how to reasonably use natural resources for health promotion are very much concerned by people and government nowadays than before.

1. How to control the development of chronic diseases

1.1 Life style improvement is urgent

In 1976, a case- control study was conducted to determine the effects of cigarette smoking and air pollution on lung cancer, the study focused at an area of high lung cancer incidence spot -- the west industrial area, Shi Jing Shan District. The results showed that a 2 - 3 times relative higher risk of lung cancer in this area as compared with that of non-smokers. Smoking is a big problem in China. About 2/3 young men are smokers, evidences and epidemiological investigation results showed that smoking is related with the mortality of some cancers, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary heart disease, and cerebro-vascular diseases ect.

Besides, deficiency of exercise, improper diet and more mutagenes in the environment are risk factors for cerebro-vascular diseases, cardio-vascular diseases and diabetes as well.

1.2 To control pollution according to the environmental quality standard

It is based on both the health effect and the developing level of economy. E.g., the first step of air quality is to reach to the second grade (TsP 0.3 mg/m3, SO2 0.06 mg/ m3, NOx 0.1 mg/ m3), in order to decrease the morbidity of pollution related disease, the second step is to reach the first grade which means that pneumonic function damage may be avoided, and I hope that during the next 10 years, all cities in China can reach to the standard of first grade.

1.3 Work on sensitive bio-markers for the assessment of genetoxic risk

In order to prevent diseases, we should know which are the most sensitive bio-markers and approach more sensitive bio-markers. E.g., regarding BaP exposure,my research work showed that urinary BaP can be used as a bio-marker of exposure, SCE can be used as an effective marker as well, when BaP is overloaded in the human body, the urinary BaP can be detected and reaches to the level of more than 0.002 ug/L, and the SCE frequence increased.

2. Make reasonable use of resources

2.1 How to use the effective components of wild fruits and plants, as Chinese Kiwi and haw berry, to reduce the damage induced by environmental mutagens.

Different species have different antimutagenenic effects. There have been more than 50 species of kiwi fruit. Most of them possess good effects on anti-mutagenesis. Study has shown that Kiwi Drink possesses broad spectrums of anti-mutagenesis, especially it can decrease the level of 8-Hydroxydeoxygranosine (an indicator of the oxidative damage of DNA) because of its anti-oxidative effects. 2.2 How to decrease the toxic effects and develop the beneficial effects are two aspects in toxicology.

E.G., China has rich resources of rare earth elements (REE). REE has been used in agriculture. Study results showed that the dose of La(NO3)2 around 2mg/Kg would induce the toxicity effect on chromosome damage, but the low dose of 0.02 mk/Kg revealed anti-mutagenic effect; and the results also showed that supplementation of low dose of Lanthanum (0.02 mg/L) very likely possesses anti-artherogenesis effect. As apo E knocked-out mice (imported from Jackson laboratory) were fed with artherogenic (high fat + high cholesterol) diet, and simultaneously supplemented with low dose of Lanthanum(0.02 mg/L) water ad libitum for 12 weeks, the average area ratio of atherosclerotic lesion plague/vascular wall of thoracic aorta is 0.0979±0.0440, and the ratio of the positive control mice fed with artherogenic (high fat + high cholesterol ) diet but supplemented with de-ionized water (without lanthanum ) is 0.2330 ± 0.1703, P<0.05.

I hope that our environment will be green, our food and drinks are clean, traditional exercise will be developed and life style improved soon.                       return

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Last updated Nov.25,2002.
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