Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China

Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国环境保护部
Agency overview
Preceding agency	State Environmental Protection Administration
Jurisdiction	People's Republic of China
Headquarters	Beijing
Agency executive	Zhou Shengxian, Minister of Environmental Protection
Parent agency	State Council
Website
http://www.zhb.gov.cn/

The Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国环境保护部; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國環境保護部; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Huánjìng Bǎohùbù), formerly State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA, simplified Chinese: 国家环境保护总局; traditional Chinese: 國家環境保護總局; pinyin: Guójiā Huánjìng Bǎohù Zǒngjú), is a cabinet-level ministry in the executive branch of the Chinese Government (People's Republic of China). It replaced the SEPA during the March 2008 National People's Congress sessions in Beijing. [1]

The Ministry is the nation's environmental protection department charged with the task of protecting China's air, water, and land from pollution and contamination. Directly under the State Council, it is empowered and required by law to implement environmental policies and enforce environmental laws and regulations. Complementing its regulatory role, it funds and organizes research and development. In addition, it also serves as China's nuclear safety agency.[2]

History

In 1972, Chinese representatives attended the First United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Sweden. The next year, 1973, saw the establishment of the Environmental Protection Leadership Group. In 1983, the Chinese government announced that environmental protection would become a state policy. In 1998, China went through a disastrous year of serious flooding, and the Chinese government upgraded the Leading Group to a ministry-level agency, which then became the State Environmental Protection Administration.

Organization

There are 12 offices and departments under SEPA, all at the si (司) level in the government ranking system. They carry out regulatory tasks in different areas and make sure that the agency is functioning accordingly:

Department Structure

Department	Chinese Name
General Administrative Office	(办公厅)
Department of Human Resources & Institutional Affairs	(行政体制与人事司)
Department of Planning and Finance	(规划与财务司)
Department of Policies, Laws and Regulations	(政策法规司)
Department of Science & Technology and Standards	(科技标准司)
Pollution Control Office	(污染控制司)
Natural Ecosystem Protection Office	(自然生态保护司)
Department of Environmental Impact Assessment	(环境影响评价管理司)
International Cooperation Office	(国际合作司)
Department of Nuclear Safety	(核安全管理司)
Environmental Inspection Office	(环境监察局)
Office of Agency & Party Affairs	(机关党委)

Leadership

Leadership
Position	Name	Chinese Name
Administrator/Minister:	Zhou Shengxian	(周生贤).
Vice-Minister:	Pan Yue	(潘岳)
Head of Discipline:	Zhu Guangyao	(祝光耀)
Vice-Minister:	Zhang Lijun	(张力军)
Vice-Minister:	Wu Xiaochun	(吴晓青)
Vice-Minister:	Zhou Jian	(周建)
Vice-Minister, Bureau Chief for Nuclear Safety:	Li Ganjie	(李干杰)
Former Administrator/Minister:	Xie Zhenhua	(解振华)

Xie resigned in December 2005 amidst an industrial pollution scandal by PetroChina, a Chinese national oil company, on the Songhua River in the northeastern province Heilongjiang; local environmental protection officials were accused of protectionism, while senior officials at SEPA were blamed for their underestimating and ignoring the matter. [3] [4].

The Vice-Minister, Pan Yue (潘岳), who has served in SEPA with Xie and is still in power, has been one of the most vocal high-level officials in the Chinese government critical of the current development model. He warned during an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel in 2005 that "the Chinese miracle will end soon" if sustainable issues were not addressed urgently. [5].

Regional Inspection & Enforcement Centers

In 2006, SEPA opened five regional centers to help with local inspections and enforcement. The five centers are direct affiliates of SEPA:

Region	Head Office	Enforcement Area
Eastern Center	Nanjing	Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Shandong.
Southern Center	Guangzhou	Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan.
Northwestern Center	Xi'an	Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Ningxia.
Southwestern Center	Chengdu	Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Tibet.
Northestern Center	Shenyang	Liaoning, Jining, and Heilongjiang.
SEPA headquarters	Beijing	Beijing, Tianjing, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia.

Areas of activities

SEPA regulates water quality, ambient air quality, solid waste, soil, noise, radioactivity. In the area of R&D activities, SEPA has funded a series of "Key Laboratories" in different parts of the country, including: Laboratory for Urban Air Particles Pollution Prevention and Control for Environmental Protection, Laboratory on Environment and Health, Laboratory on Industrial Ecology, Laboratory on Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Recovery, and Laboratory on Biosafety. [6]

In addition, SEPA also administers engineering and technical research centers related to environmental protection, including: Center for Non-ferrous Metal Industrial Pollution Control, Center for Clean Coal and Ecological Recovery of Mines, Center for Industrial Waste Water Pollution Control, Center for Industrial Flue Gas Control, Center for Hazardous Waste Treatment, and Center for Solid Waste Treatment and Disposal of Mines. [7]

China is experiencing an increase in environmental complaints: In 2005, there were 51,000 disputes over environmental pollution, according to SEPA minister Zhou Shengxian. From 2001 to 2005, Chinese environmental authorities received more than 2.53 million letters and 430,000 visits by 597,000 petitioners seeking environmental redress. [8]

In the media

Vice minister Pan Yue, a former journalist, said in an interview with http://www.chinadialogue.net that the fundamental cause of the worsening global environmental crisis "...is the capitalist system. The environmental crisis has become a new means of transferring the economic crisis." [9]. He believes China's role in the environmental crisis "... has arisen, basically, because our mode of economic modernisation has been copied from western, developed nations. In 30 years, China has achieved economic results that took a century to attain in the west. But we have also concentrated a century’s worth of environmental issues into those 30 years. While becoming the world leader in GDP growth and foreign investment, we have also become the world’s number one consumer of coal, oil and steel – and the largest producer of CO₂ and chemical oxygen demand (COD) emissions." [10].

See also

• Environment of China
• China water crisis
• Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China
• Organic Food Development Center
• Ministries of China

References

External links

• Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China Official website
• Daily air quality reports
• Interview with Pan Yue