Published by Global Village of Beijing

We choose a frog as the symbol of our newsletter, not only for making it lively and interesting, but to remind ourselves and other grassroots of the extension of its meaning---Never jump out of the grassland and pond - the public, in which we are established; Keep voicing our opinions since it is our function and mission; Look upon our behaviors from diversified points of views and realize self-promotion with tolerance and interdependence; and Strive to make our frog jump to keep up with the pace of international NGOs through capacity building.

One frog can only give a weak murmur, yet voices from numerous frogs can be heard throughout the world. One frog has very limited strength, while efforts made by numerous frogs can strike hearts of the public and inspire their participation in our green Earth construction.

Please share your updates, events and information on environmental issues with us. We sincerely look forward to your articles, comments and every possible support.

Sheri Liao
President, Global Village of Beijing

Introduction to Voices of Grassroots Back To Top

Voices of Grassroots is a monthly newsletter, which voices the opinions and activities of Chinese environmental NGOs. It is designed as an information platform to promote the participation of Chinese grassroots organizations in China's sustainable development.

Voices of Grassroots aims to strengthen collaboration between grassroots organizations, governments, and the business sector by updating environmental activities, policies and laws, and public ideas. Additionally, it seeks to assist NGOs in their capacity building efforts by sharing the experiences of relevant organizations and experts. Finally, it endeavors to expand the influence of NGOs nationwide through dissemination on a broad scale.

Voices of Grassroots is published by Global Village of Beijing, with current funding support from the Canadian Civil Society Programme. In each publication, an extensive amount of content comes directly from people who are either working with or are otherwise associated with Chinese environmental NGOs. With an editing panel that consists of leaders and researchers from governments, the business sector, and NGOs, Voices of Grassroots is positioned to be an effective platform through which the voices of grassroots organizations can be heard.

NGO Update (Back To Top)

Qingdao Youth Association of Environment Protection (QYAEP)

QYAEP is a local association of young people in Qingdao who devote themselves to environmental protection. The organization was registered in October 2003 and aims to connect local government with young volunteers and environmental NGOs.

QYAEP's mission is to promote environmental protection strategies, engage young volunteers in environmental protection, advocate economic development in harmony with nature and create public awareness on environmental protection and sustainable development.

Currently, QYAEP focuses on mobilizing and organizing young people in preparation for 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing , and on the environmentally friendly reform and modernization of Qingdao .

Friends of the Earth ( Hong Kong )

On March 13 th , Friends of the Earth held a forum on “Green Consumption and Sustainable Development” at the University of Hong Kong . The event's goal was to show that environmental protection goes far beyond pollution control or tree planting, etc. The forum stimulated a public discussion on the consumption patterns of modern Chinese society, showing that every single person's behavior is a key to sustainable development.
Website: www.foe.org.hk Email: Chris@foe.org.hk

The project includes the following activities:

•  Every 50 households plants 10 Mu desert plant and encloses it; Every 50 households plants 5 Mu trees; Every 50 households builds animal shed (about 30 m 2 ), plants 8 Mu grass and encloses it, and also raises 5 sheep;

•  Organize a service station to provide support and technical training;

•  Train local villagers to become more aware of dealing with desertification and be voluntarily responsible in stopping environmental degradation;

•  Train people to become more aware of a sustainable use of natural resources such as stopping herding on natural grasslands;

•  Let our partners have a chance to learn a “participative management strategies”

Little Swan Artistic Troupe of Shanxi Province

At spring festival, right at the beginning of the Chinese Monkey Year, the “Little Swan Artistic Troupe of Shanxi Province”, brought a breath of spring to the Americans in Washington D.C. Accepting the invitation from International Fund for China 's Environment (IFCE), they visited Washington and contributed greatly to cultural exchange between China and the United States .

“Little Swan Artistic Troupe of Shanxi Province” teaches environmental awareness while providing artistic education at the same time. “The group regularly organizes performances on Earth Day and International Environment Day,” said Dr. HE Ping, the president of IFCE. In 2000, the troupe was honored as “The Environmental and Artistic Education Base for Children” and the troupe leader Mr. LI Zhihua was awarded the “Special Contribution Prize” by IFCE for his commitment in the field of environmental and artistic education.

The ambassador of the Chinese embassy in America LI Ruiyou and officers of the US education department attended the performance and the ambassador congratulated the troupe for their success. After the performance the young performers presented calligraphy gifts to IFCE and the Chinese embassy in the US-capital.

Huai River Guardians

Two conferences on water pollution were held after spring festival in Shen-Qiu County of He-Nan Province, a county beside the Huai River . Outside of the conference venue on Youth Square, Huai River Guardians , a local environmental organization had organized a photo exhibition titled “The Call from Huai River ”. More than a hundred pictures of ecological disasters caused by water pollution attracted numerous viewers. The exhibition encouraged locals to engage in fighting these ecological problems. More than 580 proposals were brought in by representatives of local people after seeing this exhibition.

Sha Ying River , the biggest branch of Huai River has been severely polluted by industrial wastewater for more than ten years. Although Chinese government has devoted a great amount of money to advocate the protection of rivers, the results have not been satisfying for Sha Ying River . This is because of poor enforcement and local protection, where short-term economic benefits count more than long term considerations and public wellbeing. Big local enterprises released their sewage untreated into the river, ignoring the severe impacts on human health and the environment. Finally, this led to the ecological death of Sha Ying River . This is when some concerned citizens formed the Huai River Guardians and became the pillar and main driving force of public awareness related to water pollution. Meanwhile the Huai River Guardians have been widely acknowledged. Local people's representatives and government officers expressed their willingness to support the organization; some even joined it right away.

“Caring Nu Jiang River ” Website

A website featuring most recent news about Nu Jiang—“Caring Nu Jiang River” is now online! Please log on www.nujiang.ngo.cn to check for the latest process about the dam construction and some related materials. There are also over 150 Nu Jiang pictures.

“Caring Nu Jiang Photo Exhibition”

A photo exhibition on NuJiang River opened on 21 st of March. In the New Century Post Office of Beijing, nearly 300 people saw photographs taken by ten journalists during a field trip from February 16 th to 24 th , 2004 .

The opening was hosted by Beijing People's Broadcast Station's anchor—SU Jingping. He opened the exhibition with a minute of silence, to listen to the recorded sound of water from Nu Jiang River. Six of the photographers gave presentations of their unforgettable trip to Nujiang River area. LIANG Congjie, the president of “Friend of Nature”, researcher CHEN Changdu, WANG Song, CHEN Yonglin of Chinese Academy of Sciences, writer ZHANG Kangkang, singer YU Junjian and the head of Beijing Post Office Committee gave speeches about their understanding of “Caring Nu Jiang”. A special piece of art, a root sculptured by Nu Jiang water was displayed at the exhibition as well. The event concluded with an auction of the photographs. The money from the auction will be used to build a green library on the bank of Nu Jiang.

WSSD Followup (Back To Top)

NGO major group discussion paper on water,sanitation and human settlements

This paper was written based on contributions from the wider NGO community, in response to a call for information sent out by the NGO Major Group Focal Points. Drafts of this paper have been widely circulated for review.

1. Introduction

Issues relating to water, sanitation and human settlements are indeed complex and invariably inter-connected. An overall understanding of how it all functions together is something few can claim to know. An integrated approach is what is essential and the lack thereof is perhaps the biggest barrier to effective implementation.

A crisis of global magnitude is looming on account of inadequate access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation. The compelling statistics are well-known, and urgently demand action.

A fundamentally new approach to water, sanitation and human settlements will be needed if the aim is to satisfy the water needs of 8-10 billion people while protecting the eco-systems that sustain our economies and terrestrial life. Evolving strategies to ensure sustainable livelihoods and communities is at the heart of a resolution to this crisis

2. NGO Perspectives on the status of implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) in relation to Water, Sanitation and Human Settlements: Issues that require attention, including identified obstacles and barriers.

There are many issues that arise within the issue areas of water, sanitation and human settlements. To identify the root-causes for failures of implementation, we give a perspective of its complexity. But first, the barrier of little public participation:

2.1 Public Participation

At the root of many failures is the lack of public participation, including participation of organized forms of the public such as NGOs. Some would argue it is the 4 th pillar of Sustainable Development. Participation is not happening due to governance failures, but also due to lack of awareness. People still do not understand the concept of sustainability and do not know how they can contribute to its achievement. Perhaps the lack of focused attention in the education systems is a factor here. This leads to gaps and divergences in governments and NGO efforts to raise awareness among citizen groups.

Governments need to support and reinforce the efforts of the NGO community in this respect. This would lead to greater participation of the public to promote sustainable development at local levels especially. In the United Kingdom , issues of sustainability are now being included in the school curriculums via for example, the Sustainable Design Awards for 16-18 year olds and the Sustainable Technology Education Project for 11-16 year olds. Such programmes should be encouraged, replicated and amply funded to raise awareness.

At the intergovernmental level, avenues for public participation in managing transboundary watercourses will be essential to ensuring better governance and less conflict among nations. An example of this is the 1995 Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems (SADC Protocol) in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region signed by thirteen countries, which promotes public awareness, public participation, and environmental impact assessment as management tools for transboundary watercourses. Within the region, the 1999 Shared Rivers Initiative seeks to achieve equitable distribution of water resources in the Icomati River Basin , and in other international river basins eventually. The initiative has established a basin wide research agenda and a network of scientists to it. It hopes to foster research that generates legitimate data in a transparent and politically acceptable way and to develop a methodology that can be applied to other, more complex basins in the region.

More examples are possible, all illustrating the enormous added value of public participation in decision-making.

2.2 Water

This section describes in more detail issues arising in the area of Water and Sanitation.

Water is a fundamental Human Right

The fact that water is not treated as a basic human right remains a major impediment to equitable access, distribution and use of water. Water is a fundamental life-support, which cannot be treated as a commercial commodity with supply and demand manipulated to increase its value and with alternatives that can be substituted. Water is a public trust issue and which must not be privatized. New developments in international human rights law provide a viable framework to measure and improve government performance. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has elaborated specific rights, roles and responsibilities at different levels and it provides an enforceable framework for recognizing water as a human right. For instance, the Committee has determined that governments are now accountable to taking specific, measurable steps towards fulfilling the right to water. It has also specified in detail the rights of communities, obligations of governments and even identified when a “violation” would be found to occur.

The right to water is included in many other laws such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on Discrimination against Women, the San Salvador Protocol, the Addis Ababa Charter, the Senegal Convention, the Maputo Convention and others. However, these and other human rights obligations are not being taken seriously enough by national governments.

State sovereignty

Governments must assert their primary responsibility for providing and regulating water and sanitation services. The obligation to protect the right to water includes the obligation to prevent third parties, including corporations, from interfering with the enjoyment of that right. States must therefore retain sovereignty over water as a resource and adopt effective legislation and strong regulatory frameworks to ensure third parties do not deny rights of equal access or pollute or inequitably extract water resources

Incoherence in Governance

Good governance implies the existence of a firm public authority responsible for fair distribution and equal treatment of users. It must ensure that the provision of services remains within the ambit of the public authority closest to the user. Public participation in decision-making and participation to review, monitor and evaluate quality of services provided will ensure transparency. Flexible modes of management must be explored. However, at this stage incoherence prevails at both policy formulation and at institutional levels and, that hampers the implementation process.

(i) Policy incoherence

There remains an absence of policy coherence within and among various government departments. There is little or no coordination among various agencies and actors. The lack of transparency in decision-making and participatory processes adds to the lack of ownership of actions and decisions at local community level.

Lack of Integrated water resource management policies

The absence of an adequate emphasis on integrated water resource management policies and plans presents a major barrier in dealing with issues associated with Water, Sanitation and Human Settlements. Rivers, lakes, wetlands, forests and all other freshwater ecosystems are not just sources of supply, they are habitats for a wide variety of plant and animal species. These ecosystems also perform valuable services for human societies such as moderating floods and droughts, purifying water and sustaining fisheries. Hence nothing but a holistic ecosystem-based approach will suffice in addressing these issues.

Cross-cutting issues, water, sanitation and human settlements

Poverty and access to water have been repeatedly shown to be directly related. Unsustainable consumption and production patterns affect poverty which in turn leads to resource degradation. The “domestication” of international commitments or securing “country ownership” of international policy prescriptions as a way to ensure functioning and sustainable local markets is one way forward in addressing linkages between international commitments and national policy goal and national budgets.

The focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) has been accompanied by a new narrowing of the policy focus on a small number of blueprint models for water management and water delivery, such as privatisation as a panacea for weak service delivery by national and local governments and a renewed attention for large scale infrastructure.

Whereas these approaches have not proven their effectiveness in contributing to poverty alleviation, sustainable development or the MDGs, the singular focus on these water management and delivery options is crowding out alternatives that merit equal attention from governments, donors and multilateral institutions. It is important to incorporate these approaches in Water Management Plans scheduled to be prepared by 2005 according to the JPOI.

Indeed, NGOs and other local actors, such as community organisations and local governments have a key role in identifying and developing options to improve water management and service delivery. Too often, these initiatives are not encouraged let alone supported with resources. They are severely hampered by central policy decisions that fail to recognise their potential and limit their scope.

•  Institutional Incoherence

Coherence is found to be an implementation stumbling block not just at the level of policy formulation but also at the institutional and inter-institutional level as well.

At the community level, governance can be improved by building increased capacity for decision-making within the community to raise funds and mobilize internal human and financial resources. Communities know their needs, and their potential, and are well placed to outsource funds for community-scaled water developments.

At the international financial level, IMF rules and conditionalities to control the public debt of developing countries must be. Budgetary constraints always impose greater burdens on the poorest of the poor. Specific directives should therefore be in place for protecting the public budgets for water and sanitation supply to the poorest communities. Any payments for water by users should not enter into government budgets as tax revenue. They must only be seen as payments for services.

Given renewed attention of multilateral financing organizations and bilateral donors for large scale infrastructure projects to help attain the MDGs, it is of major importance that recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) are followed on a national level, such as is happening in Nepal , Pakistan and South Africa . From the perspective of establishing effective participatory processes and identifying sustainable options for water management and provision, key recommendations and guidelines of the WCD are:

•  To assure that decision making processes related to large scale infrastructure projects allow for prior informed consent of all stakeholders, including local actors;

•  That alternative management options are considered in the decision making process.

Water Privatization takes priority

Although the introduction of market mechanisms and an increased role of the private sector may theoretically lead to socially equitable and environmentally sustainable development, the introduction of economic instruments in the creation of water markets requires complex regulatory frameworks and institutions.

However, the tendency is to consider economic instruments and market mechanisms as an adequate way to respond to existing weaknesses of the public. As such, the increasing attention towards private sector involvement and the creation of markets for those goods and services that have been part of the public domain is a logical follow-up of the Structural Adjustment Programmes and current Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) that call for a diminished role for the public sector.

In countries with a weak institutional and legal framework, such an approach brings with it tremendous risks, and can possibly generate new inequities and further stress on the environment. Therefore, the potential of water markets and private sector involvement should always be considered in nation-specific institutional, socio-economic and legal contexts. Such policy analyses should always set out to assure access to clean drinking water as a basic human right, as well as to protect the ecological, economic and social (livelihood) functions of water-related ecosystems.

Endemic water shortages created by drought, inequitable geographic and social distribution of supply, population growth, wastage by agriculture and industry, lack of pollution control standards coupled with poor or nonexistent waste water treatment, cannot be addressed under most privatization schemes. It is government, and its ability to govern resources, that needs strengthening and hand-in-hand with civil society and local communities.

Addressing these problems often requires democratic and governance reforms, as was recognized in the The Hague Declaration on Water Security. The reality is that the present global market for water supply technology and services is large, undiversified and inequitable. This 400 billion dollar industry is controlled by just a few large multinationals. They are also subsidized, receiving export credits from their governments and sharing in the benefits of development loans to the countries in which they agree to do business.

2.3 Human Settlements

Sustainable human settlements mean settlements where everyone's needs are met with ways of managing resource use and waste generation that do not pass on costs to other locations or to the future. Crucial is that people have the fundamental human right to housing.

Despite the work undertaken in the UNCED process and in the HABITAT process, many problems persist and inequalities are growing. There is an urgent need for new approaches and for disseminating and scaling up existing examples of successful approaches.

International society should refrain from generalized approaches to issues confronting human settlements. Policy and support (including financial) should focus on local action already undertaken and how communities and neighborhoods can help themselves. Within this basic framework there are many different issues that must be considered:

Justice

Within cities there exist major inequalities between neighborhoods, something that citywide indicators too often obscure and ignore. Poor neighborhoods usually have the worst facilities, the poorest environments, and inadequate economic development. This inequality contributes greatly to exclusion and the rise of security problems within cities. Urban regeneration schemes are extremely important to meet the needs of those suffering from environmental and social injustice, but these schemes rarely consider mapping neighborhood level environmental pressures, nor are they always participatory. Low-income settlements are themselves often heterogeneous, with certain groups finding themselves excluded within them. Other groups such as the elderly, the disabled, or people of different ethnicities may also be excluded from local decision-making processes and power structures.

Poverty

Most governments set their income-based poverty lines too low for urban populations, because they make little or no allowance for non-food needs. This means that they under-estimate who is poor (and the depth of their poverty) in those places where non-food needs are particularly expensive i.e. in most cities where many or most poor groups face high costs for housing, water (purchased from vendors because they have no official supply), keeping children at school, health care, transport (to and from work and accessing services) and fuel. In many nations, the same income-based poverty line is set for all rural and urban dwellers, even though many costs are higher in urban areas or in particular districts. The increasing use of the US$1 a day poverty line also greatly under-estimates the scale of urban poverty because most urban households cannot meet their basic needs with an income of a dollar a day; the more magnetized the economy and expensive the city, the more the dollar a day poverty line understates the scale of urban poverty.

There are also many aspects of (urban and rural) poverty that are not directly related to income levels (for instance civil and political rights and other democratic rights; the rule of law) or only partially related to income levels (poor quality housing and inadequate provision for water, sanitation, drainage and health care which are often caused as much by ineffective governance as by poor households' incapacity to pay).

The Built Environment, including housing

Human Settlements consist of buildings, infrastructure and open spaces. Where buildings are built, how they are built, with what materials, and for what purpose, and who owns them are all elements that need to be considered in developing a sustainable settlement. In many countries in the developing world, the regulations governing building standards were established in the colonial era, and were often copied from those of the colonial power. Most do not allow for the use of affordable, appropriate building materials which are often more sustainable. In Kenya , for example, reform of these regulations has made a significant contribution to allowing poor women and men to build and occupy legal dwellings.

Many cities are experimenting with ecological building, new social housing projects that prevent the security and poor living conditions that have marked low-income neighborhoods across the world, decentralizing business districts, shopping districts, and building transport hubs in such a manner that they invite use of public transport systems. In the case of the existing built environment, many richer nations have programmes to increase the energy efficiency of buildings and increase the ‘livability' of neighborhoods. They must be continued and scaled up.

Internationally, governments have agreed a target to significantly improve the living conditions of at least 100 million slum dwellers before 2020 (UN Millennium Development Goals). Yet this is an unambitious goal given that there are 800-900 million people living in ‘slums' and that by 2020, if action is not taken, 120 million new slum dwellers will have joined the ranks, thus outpacing the target. More improvements are needed in the form of land-distribution and land-ownership as well as new building programmes and more attention to extending and improving basic infrastructure for water, sanitation and drainage. Many initiatives to improve slum-dweller's living conditions are undertaken by organizations of slum-dweller themselves. Many national governments are responding to those needs, yet more could be done, especially in the field of micro-finance.

The privatization of housing, especially in rich countries, decreases the opportunities of the poor to access that housing. Massive privatization in some of the Newly Independent States has put over 90% of the housing stock in private hands. This takes place alongside the growth in gated communities, and increasing spatial and social segregation.

Community Based Organizations have a key role in delivering change. Despite little support they have repeatedly shown what can be done (see examples below). But too often they (and local NGOs) are excluded from the planning, construction and financial control of new housing and infrastructure.

Transport

The human love-affair with individualized and motorized transport (primarily cars and scooters) continues to contribute to the deteriorating ecological conditions in cities, and the consequent economic loss caused by traffic congestion. This is worsened by a steady decrease in public support for public transportation systems. Without policy coherence on the national level related to decreasing the use of cars, this trend is likely to continue. Priority should be given to good quality public transport, non-motorized forms of transport (including walking and bicycling that give, through more people on the streets, security benefits as well as health-benefits) and good communication systems.

Economic Development

In this era of globalization, local communities are increasingly confronted with uncertainties regarding relocation of production facilities, or the closing down of subsidiaries of foreign owned corporations. Many communities find their local industries more and more dependent, if not wholly owned, by distant multi-national corporations. This increases economic insecurity, and decreases the reinvestment of profits in local communities. Management of large corporate entities is no longer in any way attached to the local community. The threat of relocation hampers the ability of communities to co-operate effectively and on equal footing with local corporate entities to improve environmental conditions around industrial sites. The lack of corporate accountability is a major barrier to inclusive local community development.

Local production and consumption, involving Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in a participatory manner, can contribute a great deal to improving the local economy as well as the local environment, including through significant reductions in transportation costs. Governments nationally and locally are limited in what they can do to stimulate local production-consumption schemes by national or international trading and investment rules.

Urban Planning

The scene in many cities around the world is one of concentrated business districts, industrial zones, residential areas (high and low density) including slums, and urban sprawl. As urbanization increases, lessons about good practice in urban planning need to be widely disseminated. Good urban planning, involving real citizen participation, can contribute significantly to relieving the social and environmental injustices currently experienced within settlements.

Urban sprawl imposes great strains on the living environment, through increased transport emissions and costs (with attached issues of more people in cars than in streets, leading to increased security problems), and a higher impact on surrounding land. The focus however, on city centre regeneration has caused neglect for the needs of the existing suburbs, making it likely that in the next decades we will be confronted with increasing problems there.

NGO Corner (Back To Top)

Chinese Media Reporting of Hydro Projects and Their Environmental Impact

Chinese media is different from media in other countries. For instance, media in Thailand is sponsored by big enterprises and therefore mustn't affect the benefit of business; in the United States , media staff are prohibited from including their personal opinions in their reporting and they should be critical, focusing more on the negative than the positive; media in Myanmar is still controlled by a military monopoly. What about media in China ?

1 Non-concurring voices in regard to the “Three-Gorges-Dam” are absent in media reporting, although some were influenced by foreign environmentalists and disagree with building more dams on rivers.

1.1 Since the start of the “Three-Gorges-Dam” Project in 1991, all voices of opposition have been silenced. Despite all of the previous lessons learned from unsuccessful dams, official media only report how much water the new reservoir will hold and how much electricity it will be produce, while totally ignoring its negative influence on the environment. Journalists who support environmental protection cannot express themselves at all. The presentation of information is imbalanced.

1.2 Warnings from previous dam disasters

Since the beginning of the era of industrial revolution, disasters caused by dams and reservoirs have been a problem — in 1864, 250 people in Britain died as the result of the collapse of a reservoir and in 1979 in India, between 5000 and 10,000 people died from the same cause.

The collapse of a dam in Henan province, China , in 1975 killed more than 85,000 people and resulted in almost 10 billion Yuan direct economic loss.

•  Due to both cultural and ecological reasons, the Zi-Ping-Pu Project on Du-Jian-Yan Dam should not be implemented.

•  Official media only report the functions of hydro projects, while environmentally aware journalists deny all benefits of the projects due to lack of deep understanding of hydro projects. Both sides see and present only part of the facts.

•  Not only do hydro project specialists and designers criticize reporters for their voices of opposition, but some other related specialists also keep silent on this issue. Hence, media is never able to produce a more detailed report before or during the project and therefore loses its function of transmitting information.

•  Some thoughts about the ecological pressure of both the natural and human-caused drying up of rivers

The drying up of the Yellow River , Ming River , Mugecuoshen Lake , and others…

During the journalists' forum, journalists and reporters began to show interest in social and environmental impacts of hydro projects and a stream of power also began to form in media fields.

Media coverage of the battle over the reservoir project in Du-Jiang-Yan finally caught the attention of provincial officials and the project was stopped. From this case, we see how public opinions influence governmental decision-making.

Although official newspapers still report possible benefits from hydro projects, alternate voices in he media have persistently come out, despite all the restrictions from the government.

Beginning with the anti-hydro project movement, Chinese environmental NGOs have entered into a new era.

•  Inspiration from the World Dam Conference

•  New concerns about lack of electricity

The Chinese economy grew as much as 8% in 2002, and the demand for electricity grew 11.6%. Supply of electricity generally met the demand. However, the sudden increase of electricity use in summer did exceed the supply capacity and hence there was serious lack of electricity in many parts of China for the first time since 1996.

In 2003, along with the development of the nation, the demand for electricity continued growing. Both household demand and industrial demand has increased dramatically and in turn has produced tension for the government. This ever-growing tension between the supply and demand of electricity has to some extent shadowed China 's prosperity.

It is believed that in 2004 and 2005, China 's economy will grow to an even higher level and the increase of GDP will be greater than 7.3%. Thus, the demand for electricity will also increase rapidly and the outlook regarding supply of electricity is not optimistic.

•  The global anti-dam-building movement focuses on the welfare of indigenous people and traditional culture.

Before attending the Global Dam Conference, we wished to bring up the issue of world heritage conservation and the preservation of the few remaining eco-rivers. Nu River, which has just been granted the title of “World Heritage”, is planned to have a 13 level dam project. A representative from Thailand told me that there are many ethnic groups in Thailand , Myanmar , China , and other countries that share the same river culture, traditions, and way of life. After building the dam, the scenery will be different, the fish in the river will be different, the vegetation will be different, and people's lifestyles will be forced to change. How are we going to pass on our culture and traditions to the next generation?

At this conference, I heard voices from local river people and am concerned about them. A fisherman from Yunan told us that they were not poor before the hydro-electricity station was built, but now they have to spend several times more than city people to buy electricity and the new land they have is not as fertile as the old land.

Many countries introduced their experience in creating a social-environmental-assessment. They have local communities join the research group, working along with them on writing the assessment and submitting the report to relevant government departments.

•  Renewable energy will be the main source of energy in the future

Lack of electricity shows the mistakes the government made in the past. However, it is not only a negative thing – it also has some positive aspects. It has provided a chance to force energy-based industries to lower the amount of electricity they use; to promote an automatic economic structural reform; and to warn household users of the serious situation we are facing today. Also, this will encourage the development of an electricity station.

More over, lack of electricity has prompted the development of cleaner energy and renewable energy. However, at the 2002 Sustainable Development Summit, an American representative mentioned that implementation of renewable resources is a battle with a high price. It is still not very feasible at the current stage.

During our journalist training, a specialist from China Energy Institute said that it is the reason we need an environmental legislation system that is firmly established — that is, we want a long term sustainable development policy to be presented.

The situation in China is not positive. How long are we still going to have a government-controlled media? We don't completely disagree with dam building and the development of hydropower. We only want to be allowed to voice alternate views, and wish that our voice would not be silenced because of “political interference”.

Policy Watch (Back To Top)

Building a Water-Saving Society

On March 22, the twelfth World Day for Water, Wang Shucheng, Minister of Water Resources, emphasized that propelling sustainable development and building a water-saving society is on top of the agenda of the Chinese government due to the severe water shortage that currently exists in the nation.

Water shortage has become an inevitable situation that threatens the security of China 's water environment in the future. Public awareness of the shortage of water resources and water saving solutions should be increased among the people. Wang Shucheng said that China is a nation short of water resources and with an uneven water distribution spatially. In recent years, China has suffered from severe droughts, which have become both more frequent and more widespread. About 400 out of its 699 major cities are short of water. Over 100 of them are severely short of water.

Currently, water shortage and pollution are barriers for China 's sustainable development and will be one of the most significant challenges for the economic and social growth of the nation. If not addressed, water shortage may threaten the existence of human beings. On the other hand, due to our lowly efficient methods of water usage, we have great potential to greatly improve them and realize a water-saving society eventually.

Wang also emphasized that the theme of China Water Week this year is “Harmony between humans and water”. Hu Jintao, G eneral Secretary of the Communist Party of China, stated that we must use scientifically developed concepts to guide our work in population control and resource and environmental protection. Premier Wen Jiabao also said that it is necessary to comprehensively propel the building of a water-saving society and to promote efficient water use in water conservancy work this year.

Building a water-saving society is an important task to put scientifically developed concepts into practice, as well as a strategy to implement policies on resource saving and protection, and a necessity for maintaining the notion of harmony between humans and nature and realizing sustainable development in China.

Though we have accomplished significant achievements in creating a water-saving society by setting up trial cities in Zhangye ( Gansu Province ), Mianyang ( Sichuan Province ), and Dalian ( Liaoning Province ), etc., we must be aware of the fact that a gap still exists between the water-saving level and the severe situation of water shortage. The traditional means of managing water-saving efforts and methods by administrative measures can no longer be of assistance under current circumstances. Wang also said that building a water-saving society is the fundamental and most efficient strategy in solving the water shortage issues that currently exist in China . Saving water should be emphasized in the entire process of economic growth and in all aspects of life. We must actively popularize water-saving devices; develop water-saving agriculture, industry and service; build a water-saving society; and promote the efficiency and benefits of controlled water usage.

Creating a water-saving society requires not only stimulation from the government, but also a broad base of public participation and support. Currently, water wastage is very high. Approximately 40% of the cosmopolitan cities in China have water wastage levels that amount to over 12% of the water supply. Though the rise in water price is of great importance for water saving, it is also indispensable to form a consciousness among the general public during their everyday life and work in order to eventually realize the ultimate goal of the harmony between humans and water.

NGO Capacity (Back To Top)

Boards are the Guardians of their Organizations

Governance

•  To steer, set direction

•  To hold and exercise authority , which is granted by the government (in the US and by the laws of most countries) and supporters of the organization

•  To provide accountability for the organization's performance

Why boards?

•  Practical reasons:

---Donors and stakeholders like boards (a mechanism for accountability)

---Chinese law (starting with the law for foundations) may change soon and require boards

•  The nonprofit sector is resilient. BUT nonprofits can be fragile creatures operating in a harsh, unwelcoming environment. A good board can help ensure

--- Accountability and transparency à legitimacy

---Continuity for the organization in times of crisis à sustainability

---Prestige and access to resources

Primary Board Responsibilities

Establish Strategic Direction

•  Determine mission and purpose

•  Ensure effective planning

Provide Oversight

•  Provide financial oversight

•  Ensure legal and ethical integrity; maintain accountability

•  Determine, monitor, and strengthen programs and services

Ensure Resources

•  Ensure adequate funding

•  Select the chief executive

•  Support the chief executive; assess his or her performance

•  Recruit and orient new board members; assess board performance

•  Enhance public standing

Board Role: Ensure Resources

•  Identify resources needed:

•  Funds

•  Leadership (executive and board)

•  Reputation

•  Establish policies for how these resources will be acquired

•  Financial resources

•  Public relations

•  Determine how board members will participate in resource development

•  Fundraising

•  Board member recruitment

•  Spreading the word

Program Oversight

Once the board has established major goals for the future, it needs to:

•  Ensure that plans are made for reaching the goals: How will we accomplish these goals?

•  Monitor implementation of the program:

Are we doing what we said we would do?

•  Evaluate the outcomes: Are our programs effectively meeting the needs we are here to address?

Financial Oversight

•  Establish budget guidelines

•  Oversee financial management

---Ensure that financial policies are in place

---Regularly review and confirm understanding of financial statements and ask questions when they are unclear

---Arrange for an audit and review audit report

Board Role: Enhance public standing (in other words, public relations)

Ensure effective information flow to and from the organization's constituencies about:

•  Programs

•  Values

•  Finances

•  The needs of the community

Forces Shaping the Board's Role

•  History of the organization

•  Habits

•  Stage of Organizational Development

•  Founders/Leaders

•  Strengths of Individual Members

Drivers of Change in Nonprofit Governance

•  Economy

•  Technology

•  Laws and Regulation

•  Ethics and Image

•  Generation Issues

•  Scarcity of Time available for Volunteer Activities

The World has Changed

We live in a time of incredibly rapid change.

•  The leadership challenge:

---How to access all the information and knowledge needed for organizational success in times of change.

•  Organizational success today requires:

--- a diversity of abilities, skills, and perspectives

--- continuous education and training

--- energy and commitment and a team approach

10 Themes in Board Governance

Externalities

•  Strengthening communities by making good boards better

•  Building and ensuring public trust, accountability, integrity, and openness

•  Post corporate board scandal scrutiny of nonprofits

•  Emergence of global NGO knowledge and practices

•  Board structure(s) adapting to increased challenges of funding exigencies and public scrutiny

•  Specialized solutions: one size does not fit all

•  Boards giving themselves the freedom to change and adapt unique structures and operations

•  Boards understanding where they are in their own life cycle

•  Governance as a collaborative, team effort

•  Importance of governance relationships

Boards as Dynamic Organisms

•  Responsibilities change as the organization changes

--- Size of budget, staff, volunteers

--- Visibility and reputation

•  Organization changes as the environment changes

--- Regulatory framework, economy, community (demographics), industry, etc.

•  Having a board helps safeguard sustainability

Board Responsibility for Its Own Performance

•  Effective Operations

--- Meetings, committees, communication

•  Board Membership

--- Making sure the board has what it takes to get the job done

•  Board Evaluation

--- Always seeking to improve

Organizational Structure: Governance and Management

•  Most organizations have only one employee reporting to the board: the chief executive

•  Ensure an effective management structure

•  Develop policies designed to guide the chief executive in managing the affairs of the organization

•  Require accountability

Organizational Structure: Management

Management Responsibilities:

•  Develop plans and procedures for how to accomplish goals

•  Ensure effective use of resources

•  Support those who are engaged in implementation of organizational plans and programs through information, assistance with problem solving, and feedback

Organizational Structure:

The Board-Staff Connection

•  The board holds the chief staff person accountable for organizational management

•  The key connection is in the working relationship between the chief staff person and the chief volunteer officer

•  Staff members and volunteers work together to implement the organization's programs

Upcoming Conferences (Back To Top)

•  April 22nd ~ 24th 2004, workshop on “Environmental NGOs and Public Participation in Transitional China ” will be held by NGO Research Center of Tsinghua University , in cooperation with the Wageningen University of the Netherlands . Participants include practitioners, NGO, academy and researchers in environmental field. Theses are being recruited internationally on specific topics as below.

•  Primary activities of environmental NGO and its social impact;

•  Forms and characteristics of public participation in environmental protection;

•  Legislative and political environment for environmental NGO and public participation;

•  Local, national and international cooperation in environmental field.

Email: icpm2002@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

•  During March 27th ~28th, The 5th Global Civil Society Forum (GCSF) will be held in Jeju , Korea .

The first day of the GCSF focuses on the regional dimensions and the second day on the global dimensions of the relevant topics. At the end of the GCSF, the civil society organizations prepare statements and recommendations to the UNEP's Governing Council (GC).

Website: http://www.unep.org/dpdl/cso/global_csf/about.html

On April 18, 2004 Youth Summit on Sustainable Development.

A two-week, pro-social extra meeting with events open and free to young people from around the world during the 12 th meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-12).

An exploration of the sustainable development job sector featuring organization and companies from government, civil society, the private sector, science, academia, and international organizations.

Website ： www.sustainus.org

Email: steve@SustainUS.org

April 14~30, CSD-12: UN Commission on Sustainable Development

During this session, governments and major groups representatives will meet to analyze progress made in implementing the outcomes of Rio UNCED 1992 and Johannesburg WSSD 2002 on the specific themes of Water, Sanitation and Human Settlements. In 2005, during CSD-13, policy initiatives will be negotiated on the basis of the analysis as discussed during this 12 th session.

Website ： http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd12/csd12.htm

Email: dsd@un.org

Women/Youth and Environment (Back To Top)

In a sunny spring afternoon, Friends of Nature held a leisure workshop on ‘Women and Commonweal' in a reading café. Due to the specific theme of the workshop, most of the participants were female. The significance of the workshop was great in terms of issues it raised and achievements it brought. Discussions started with a kick-off of women-talk. Not being confined within women's daily life, discussions spanned the talks on women's values, working ethics and NGO's development in China . We would like to present the contents of the discussion and share views with everyone. We hope this will enlighten us all.Women and Commonweal

(Source: Friends of Nature)

Guests: Feng Yuan, female, Chief Editor of Chinese Women

Liang Xiaoyan, female, prestige editor, Co-founder of Friends of Nature

Hostess: Zhang Hehe, Programme Coordinator of the Bushbuck Vehicle Project, Friends of Nature

Time: March 6, 2004

Venue: Xingshe Congcong Reading Café

Ms. Liang Xiaoyan (to be called Ms. Liang hereafter):

A plurality of values is a symbol of the modernizing society. The value behind ‘development' is success and efficiency. This has been the mainstream value at present, and is characterized by self-centered and men-like thinking. In reality, what is interesting is that men always have difficulties in positioning themselves in the society and achieving self-fulfillment. In contrast, women are likely to face the mainstream value in a cautious manner. A person who is doing social work for a long time must have a divergent value system that is different from the predominant one.

Ms. Zhang Hehe (to be called Ms. Zhang hereafter):

Women are regarded as a vulnerable group in the society. And so is civil society. Is there any linkage between these two?

Ms. Feng Yuan (to be called Ms. Feng hereafter):

Yes, I think there is. In the industrialization process of capitalistic countries, the public and the private sector were considered to be separate. Women are the ones to give birth to children and at the same time played an important role in industrial production. Additionally, they are engaged in social works based within communities. Their tenacity has entailed them a strong adaptation capacity. I would say that, in China , the most developed civil society lies in the environment protection area and the empowerment of women.

Ms. Zhang: we always link women with fashion, culture, etc. Does social work contain any fashionable elements in it?

Ms. Feng: Recently, increasing numbers of intelligent women are participating in activities of NGOs in Beijing . This is regarded as a fashion. It is a healthier fashion than those going to beauty centers, but in the end damage their own bodies and appearances.

Ms. Zhang: Friends of Nature has met difficulty in pooling young people. Instead of making a value differentiation, we have to make a proper balance between life and culture whenever we conduct our environment protection activities. It seems to have become an awkward scene of ‘environmentalism'.

Ms. Liang: Harvard University in the US is a well-known multicultural top university. Each year, 10% of its graduates start to work in non-profit organizations. The figure is quite impressive. Commonweal consists of two facets ---- one is active commonweal with the pursuit of values; the other is public commonweal. It needs efforts of pioneers to create values, incentives, self-devotion ethics, moral motivation, as well as participatory continuation. It is a long accumulative process. In fact, making both commonweal ethics and public commonweal a fashion is a good thing. The key is to prepare the changes well.

Ms. Zhang: At the time we chose this topic, men's resistance has been taken into account. What do you think about gender inequality in civil society?

Ms. Feng: Broadly speaking, bigger NGOs are becoming specialized. When we analyze the change of NGOs in a specific country, the general trend has been shifted from traditional voluntary work to present specialization. And ‘voluntary' as working ethics has decreased largely. Under China 's mercantile circumstances, the working ethics is under pressure. All people working at NGOs are likely to answer the question of how to make a proper conjuncture between working ethics and value in a materialized society. For sure, everyone has to experience the pain incurred by transition.

Ms. Zhang: Among us, we have the wife of Mr. Liang Congjie, Mrs. Fang Jing. You have been a volunteer of Friends of nature for a long time. You must have a lot to say to us.

Mrs. Fang: I positioned myself as an assistant to the General Manager. I don't think I am a subordinate just because I act as an assistant. A female Taiwan social worker once told me that she found out about her values and realized that people needed her. What is the maturity of civil society? The maturity stems from the strong feeling of the general public that they have to do something for society, as well as from their capabilities and habits of solving community problems. So the success of commonweal is public participation. We have tremendous Chinese characteristics ---- and a lack of public foundations. While looking at western countries, voluntary experience has been an important factor in assessing the relations with society. American law requires children above 12 must learn to help others within their abilities. In doing so, children are educated from very young with the purpose of establishing their linkage to society. We just need to work on this. Many of our activities will then be understood better and supported. Once our Bird Team planned to watch bird in a wetland area on the outskirt of Tianjin . Later, unfortunately, we discovered the wetland had become a ‘dry-land'. We had to return. The driver laughed at us ‘mad' people.

Ms. Zhang: About this issue, what's the volunteers' input?

Ms. LIANG: This is a two-faced issue. Autonomy of NGOs is still weak. NGOs are doing things in a consultative manner. Some NGOs launch projects. After the completion of the projects, it is important to evaluate if local people are able to continuously benefit from the projects. Sustainability is going to be a big issue. Where does success lie? Local people's passion to build a new relationship is conducive to commonweal. We should do more things in our local communities. This awareness is an important criterion in assessing our work. Projects we are going to launch must meet the need of each community. If the conduction of a project has changed local people's life, we then have to investigate whether people like the changes and are willing to accept them. By undertaking commonweal activities, the public's inside can be discovered, and new interpersonal relationships can be established.

Ms. Feng: May I introduce the concept of ‘participative development'?

Ms. Zhang: Could I ask our two guests talk something about work as women?

Ms. Feng: Actually my work stretches far beyond those things related to women. We are putting gender concepts in a broader social context. It is related to both social structure and men. First, we are building a women media-monitoring network, with which we can monitor whether media treats women equally to men. We also comment on those publications and offer our comments about the situation of Chinese women; second, we provide participation of gender, development training and collaborative activities. Third, we protest against violence against women. We are affiliated to China 's Law Research Institute. At the first session, I participated in a training project, and at the second, I was the director.

Ms. Liang: In 1993, I took part in founding Friends of Nature. Initially I was a volunteer. After the 1995 Beijing World Women Conference, I participated in a number of women's organization. I went abroad to study in 2000. In 2002, I strategically moved my focus to countryside education. I have been in search for a linkage between civil society and the public. We opened a countryside library, which met the various needs of people with different educational levels from different locations. We worked very hard to offer most suitable books to them after contacting some publishers. We have trial places in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. The problem is fund-raising. Most of funds for Chinese NGOs are from overseas at present. Funds needed for our projects are affordable for Chinese. The question is why they should trust us. The obstacle of Chinese NGOs expansion is about commercial registration. I'm responsible for institutional matters. We have 13 volunteers. I think there are some essential factors for the development of Chinese grassroots NGOs: legitimacy, feasible projects, financial resources and voluntary workers .

Hebei Green Friends: "Daughter of Earth Award" (Back To Top)

Hebei Green Friends is currently preparing the "Daughter of Earth Award" assessment in collaboration with Hebei TV station and Hebei Economic Daily. This event has been held twice before with remarkable results. Women learned more about grassroots and their concepts. Many of them took more responsibilities and became more active to call for environmental protection and poverty alleviation. Their efforts were very successful and gained various awards from governments.

Background of "Daughter of Earth Award"

Chinese people usually have two sources for environmental information: One is individual experience; the other is delivery of information through the media. Because environmental issues evolve gradually and indistinctly, individual experience plays a minor role compared to public spread of information by the media.

Yet in China a majority of journalists is still not concerned with environmental issues and only a few initiate reports in this field. In Hebei province, several female journalists first commenced to call for a green Earth. Seeing what they did to promote public awareness in EP, the Green Friends Association began to think about how to encourage participation of more journalists to propel sustainable development in China. The "Daughter of Earth Award" was set up in 2000 under this condition to reinforce concerns and journalistic reports on environment topics.

Warning and Pollution (Back To Top)

Warning and Pollution

Even children know that frogs are friends of humans , and enemies of pests. But many farmers in Yushutai Village , Panjin City , of Liaoning capture and kill frogs or even sell them to make money. This kind of illicit activity has been carried out for decades without being stopped and punished! Moreover, frog killing runs counter to Panjin's ‘building a bio-city' policy! The consequences of frog killing and selling, e.g. break biological balance and damage to water conservancy sites, have brought the local government's concern and attention. So far, those illicit activities have been stopped.

In 2003, many villagers made money by selling frogs. The Yushutai Village Committee's intervention to stop them did not work. Since the 2003 Spring Festival, lots of villagers who joined the illicit frog business usually sold frogs for the price of 0.6 yuan per 500 kg. In peak time, each ‘buying site' can hold over 10 thousands frogs per day. In a period of several months, more than 100 thousands frogs are captured and sold in the frog trade! Another even more incredible fact is that the villagers killed most male frogs because venders only bought female ones!

It is known that the period between Spring Festival and April each year is the best period to capture frogs. Because frogs are still weak after a winter's hibernation, also the female frogs haven't spawned and have plenty of oil inside their bodies.

Yushutai villagers said that some people, including the students who dropped out from school in the surrounding village, have also been attracted into the frog business. Now, the number of frogs in the wild is decreasing drastically. Dams and river trenches are seriously damaged around the area. It is told that the local police station can't do anything except to confiscate the captured frogs, because the forest administration is controlling wild life protection.

One biologist, Professor Liu Mingyu of Liaoning University , has pointed out that the population of frogs is actually declining in some places because of environmental degradation and the dry-out of rivers. Frogs can only live in moist areas. The enormous shrinking of the areas suitable to support frogs should alarm us that frogs are probably a species whose population is decreasing at a much faster speed than other species. As we all know, frogs protect crops. The capture of frogs not only disturbs natural biological balances, but also destroys water conservancy facilities. The long-term loss for humans and the society shouldn't be underestimated!

The Black Beak Gull Protection Association at Panjin is planning to launch a series of frog protection activities starting in April to educate the local public, including school pupils. The activities will be mainly implemented at schools in form of speeches and lectures, and the distribution of educational leaflets. The President of the Association, Mr. Liu Detian, who is the winner of 2002 Ford Auto Environment Prize, is busy with the preparations. He hopes to receive all possible support from grassroots NGOs in the form of provided background information and doable frog protection measures, etc.

(Source: Liu Detian)

If you would like to kindly help, please contact us. Alternatively, you may contact Mr. Liu Detian by directly emailing him. His email address is: heizuiou@263.net .

We look forward to your participation and help!