Published by Global Village of Beijing

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. (detail)

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 Express (Back To Top)

Ford Environmental Prize

Ford launches its fifth environmental award in China

27 th September, 2004, at the Great Hall of People, Ford Foundation had its fifth environmental award ceremony. One million rmb was awarded to 17 environmental organizations and individuals from China, including the volunteer group “Green River” that has been working in a demanding environment in Tibet, and Feng Yeting who has been working to prevent desertification for 20 years and many other people who have devoted their lives to environmental protection.

In the past 5 years, Ford Environmental Prize has received more than 1,300 applications and given more than a hundred prizes in Mainland China. It has become one of the biggest and most influential environmental prizes today. Ford Foundation's vice president and chief representative of Ford China Cheng Meiwei said “compared to the previous four years, the awards we gave this year are more scientific and the overall quality of the awarded projects are much higher than before. This shows that environmental awareness around the country is improving fast. Ford is hoping to make more effort in environmental protection and be a responsible corporate.”

--Ford Foundation China

NGO Activities

Volunteers of Green River attend the opening ceremony of “Kekexili”

Directed by Lu Chuan, a famous Chinese director, the movie “Kekexili”, which portrays the hard work of anti poaching groups to preserve the Tibetan Antelope, has been given a lot of public attention these days.

On the 26 th of September, volunteers of Green River who have worked for months on the Tibetan Plateau were invited to the opening ceremony of the movie “Kekexili” in Sichuan. After the movie, volunteers introduced their work in Tibet, how they helped the Tibetan Antelopes cross roads and railways, as well as their research on wild species.

October 30 th , Friends of Nature also held a movie showing of “Kekexili” in Beijing. President of Friends of Nature and the director of the movie gave a talk on their experiences in Tibet.

--Green River, Friends of Nature

Jiaxing Roots and Shoots in “Animal Action Week”

Sponsored by IFAW—International Fund for Animal Welfare, Jiaxing Roots and Shoots had their public awareness campaign on animal welfare during the International Animal Action Week.

They promoted Jane Goodall's notion that “everyone is important, everyone makes a difference” to tell people that every one of them can help protect animals directly or indirectly. They also gave lectures on “stopping trade of wild animals” and organized students to do research on selling and eating of wild animals.

IFAW China’s 10th birthday celebration held in Beijing

October 25 th , IFAW China office had its 10 th birthday celebration at Kempinski Hotel, Beijing.

China's All Star Football Team was invited as IFAW's Animal Caring Ambassadors and assistants of IFAW's International Animal Action Week.

Established in 1994, IFAW China now has several projects in different fields such as protection of Asian elephants and Tibetan Antelopes, and has been conducing research on replacement of bear gallbladder s. They also helped with the planning and drafting of animal welfare law and implementation of the CITES Convention.

--IFAW China

Green Beijing opens its photo exhibition “Back View of the Grassland”

After long preparation, Green Beijing held the opening ceremony of their grassland photo exhibition.

Green Beijing has been doing research and interviews on desertification, industrial pollution and grassland degradation in Inner Mongolia since 2002. The “Back View of the Grassland” photo exhibition contains a lot of first hand information and pictures, showing how much the grassland is destroyed by misguided development, including mining, agriculture and other industries.

One case included in the photo exhibition on pollution and sicknesses caused by a paper-making factory is well known. Although herders around the factory have legal assistance, the case has been ongoing for four years without a final decision from the court. The factory, which was ordered by the central government and SEPA (Sino Environmental Protection Administration) to be shut down long ago, is now still operating and polluting, without having paid any compensation.

The photo exhibition will be shown around the country in universities to educate college students on environmental protection and desertification prevention. Green Beijing is hoping that this exhibition will draw more attention from the public in the environmental field.

--Green Beijing

Environmental education in crane reserves

Started in September 2003, Beijing Brooks Education Center (BBEC) has been working on their education project in two crane reserves: Zhalong and Boyang Lake. Now, their three textbooks on local wetland environmental education “Story of the Sea of Grass”, “Kids of Nature” and “Crane Xiaoyun” are finished ready to be published before the end of October. This project was sponsored by the International Crane Foundation and Henry Luce Foundation.

--Beijing Brooks Education Center

STATEMENT FROM CHINA’S NGOS ON THE UN SYMPOSIUM ON HYDROPOWER AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Oct 29, 2004 Beijing

The UN Symposium on Hydropower and Sustainable Development, which is jointly organized by UN and Chinese government, was held in Beijing, China, providing a precious opportunity of communication for people from different sectors who are concerned with the issues of hydropower and sustainable development. As representatives of Chinese NGOs, we are honored to be invited to participate in the symposium. We are also pleased to note that five representatives of displaced people from Yunnan Province have also been invited to participate in this symposium and we consider this a positive step towards greater openness.

However, we regretfully notice that the organizer has failed to allocate adequate opportunities for the displaced people and NGOs to present their voices. The symposium was dominated by officials from governmental hydropower departments, technical experts as well as representative of hydropower developers who are closely associated with big hydropower development projects. Their views were largely uniform in stressing the important role of hydropower in economic development while little was mentioned about the potential acute threat that huge hydropower plants may impose on the ecology, social and cultural traditions in the affected areas. Very few practical solutions have been proposed to resolve the conflict between sustainable development and hydropower development and to solve the problems of displaced people who have become victims of hydropower development.

As many officials and experts have rightfully pointed out, China is becoming the center of hydropower development and has aroused increasing attention from the world. However, all participants who are concerned with sustainable development cannot neglect the social, economical and ecological problems that have repeatedly occurred amid the haze of hydropower development in China, especially those projects which have started without appropriate social and environmental impact assessments. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to state our principles and recommendations:

First, open-mindedly recognize and learn lessons from the mistakes of big hydropower projects, both domestic and international, in order to avoid committing the same mistakes in new development projects.

Second, a comprehensive plan of conservation and sustainable use of major watersheds in southwest China should be completed as soon as possible with the joint participation of all related governmental departments and multi-discipline research institutes. The priority conservation areas on China's major rivers should be set aside while useable area and “ecological capacity of development” should be identified with a scientific development outlook, which is emphasized by the national government.

Third, re-evaluate existing hydropower development plans in China and suspend certain projects that have aroused great public concern and recent controversy, such as the dam projects on Nu River (Salween River) and the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Fourth, the current standards and implementation methods commonly practiced in resettlement of communities affected by hydropower projects must be improved. And the four rights, i.e., “Right of Access to Information, Right of Participation, Right of Decision-making and Right of Monitoring,” that have been repeatedly stressed by the Chinese government, must be fully granted to the affected population.

Fifth, to curb the current craze by some hydropower developers to gain rights to develop projects in southwest China, we suggest that the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council organize a cross-sector meeting with participation by local government in those areas to discuss how to solve the energy shortage in a comprehensive, coordinated manner based on the scientific development approach.

Sixth, the new “Environmental Impact Assessment Law” and the “Temporary Regulations on Public Hearing of Environmental Protection Administrative Approval” must be implemented in order to regulate hydropower projects currently under construction, to realize the public participation in approval of important projects, and to ensure the accountability of government officials.

Endorsed by Green Watershed of Yunnan, Wild China, Green Earth Volunteers, Friends of Nature, Brooks, China Rivers Network

Journalist Salon held on the current situation of China’s wind energy utilization

Held on October 13 th by Green Earth Volunteer, the journalist salon this month invited the vice president of China's Wind Energy Association Shi Pengfei, to introduce China's utilization of wind energy.

China now has 40 wind power stations that produce 567,000 kw. The biggest is Dabancheng power station located in Xinjiang Province. It is currently predicted that 1,000,000 kw electricity will be generated from wind power by 2005 and 20 million kw in 20 years. The government is hoping to change the current situation of transferring electricity from the west to the east by using wind power on the sea so that the backward western areas will benefit.

--Green Earth Volunteer

Challenge Bibendum looks forward to sustainable mobility

Sponsored by Michelin, Global Village of Beijing organized journalists from Beijing to participate in the World Class Symposium on Sustainable Mobility held by Challenge Bibendum, Michelin Shanghai.

Challenge Bibendum 2004 culminated with a high level symposium organized with the support of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and with the close cooperation of Total and the Ford Motor Company. Among the distinguished participants were world industry representatives, key policy makers and delegates from non-governmental organizations (NGO).

The Symposium consisted of plenary sessions, complemented by six technical workshops that provided experts and media an opportunity to exchange views and experience on topics concerning vehicles (advanced internal combustion engines and hybrid electric vehicles; advanced electric batteries and fuel cell vehicles; advanced systems for transportation and safety) and energy types (fossil fuels, biofuels, electricity and hydrogen).

Please see more information on: www.challengebibendum.com.cn

--Global Village of Beijing, Michelin

College Environmental Groups

Beijing universities hold the first University Environmental Week

In order to spread environmental awareness among college students, 12 Chinese universities formed a committee and organized the first University Environmental Week.

The environmental week includes various activities such as debates on environmental issues, exhibition of environmental photos, environmental movie show and so forth.

Community Information

The first forum on participatory community management held in Beijing

Supported by the Ford Foundation, the first forum on participatory community management was held by Beijing Canyushi Information Center on September 25 th and 26 th at Beijing Yuanshan Hotel.

During the forum, people from foundations, government departments dealing with community building and NGOs shared their knowledge and experiences in community capacity building. Ms. Song Qinghua, the head of Canyushi Information Center, introduced their community work in three areas: prevention of domestic violence, garbage separation and leadership building. The three areas however, have one common goal of promoting community participation.

Representatives attending the forum concluded that in order to more actively improve community participation, they will focus on promoting a more complete legal system, nursing and developing community organizations and cooperating with other organizations in project development.

--Beijing Canyushi Information Center

Conference of International Cooperation and Public Participation held in Beijing

October 15 th , the Conference of International Cooperation and Public Participation was held at the Beijing Sino-Swiss Hotel.

Representatives from NGOs, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs and from legal institutes discussed NGOs' function in international cooperation, NGO registration in China, NGOs' help in dealing with pollution cases and so forth. They came to the common understanding that public participation in some developing projects is a contribution to the society; people have the right to participate in decision making, implementation process and evaluation; public participation is beneficial to the participants because they will be able to improve their life quality by being part of the decision making process.

--CANGO

Norwegian organization “Future in Our Hands” visit Beijing Chunshuyuan community

October 13 th , 13 people from the “Future in Our Hands” organization in Norway visited Beijing Chunshuyuan community.

The Norwegian guests introduced NGO work in Norway: Norway is a small country with only 4.5 million people, however, there are about 20,000 people working for NGOs. “Future in Our Hands” mainly helps with environmental publications and provides information on environmental protection. They also expressed their interest in knowing more about China's environmental protection at the community level.

Staff from Global Village of Beijing then introduced the “green community” concept in Beijing communities and Ms. Ge Lihua, the chair of the environmental board of Chunshuyuan community showed the guests their recycle center, green families and the community restaurant where single-use chopsticks are recycled.

The Norwegian guests were happy to learn how the Chinese public participates in environmental protection after China joined WTO and also tips on energy saving and water saving.

--Chunshuyuan community, Global Village of Beijing

Environment and Sustainable Development Education come into the First Primary School of Beilishilu

Global Village of Beijing started the first “Environment and Sustainable Development” class at the First Primary School of Beilishilu, to pass the idea of environmental protection to children.

During the class, GVB staff talked with students about the history of human development, depletion of natural resources, wars caused by unevenly distributed resources, poverty and starvation among other things. They also discussed the relationship of people and nature, which deepened the students' understanding of sustainable development.

“Green Bag” program implemented in Douban community

In order to better implement garbage separation and recycling, “Green Bag” program was started in Douban community in Dongsi, Beijing under supervision of Global Village of Beijing.

The “Green Bag” program was started by Global Village of Beijing and sponsored by Tetra Pak. It is a program that encourages people to separate kitchen waste into a biodegradable green bag so that recycling will be more efficient and easier. The program aims at achieving a garbage recycle rate of 60% and reuse rate of 30% by the year 2006.

Events and Information

Discover Mai Po Charity Walk
The 12th WWF Hong Kong "Discover Mai Po" Charity Walk is coming soon. This is a unique opportunity for the people of Hong Kong to experience the beauty of the Mai Po Nature Reserve, and at the same time help raise funds for WWF Hong Kong's work to conserve our threatened environment and promote environmental education.

Dates : 28 November 2004 ; 5 December 2004 ; 12 December 2004 (3 consecutive Sundays)

Venue : Mai Po Nature Reserve
Notes on participation
Category Donation
Individual : HK$400 or above per participant
Family : HK$1,200 or above per family (Two Adults and two children under 18 years old)
Student and those age under : 18HK$200 or above per participant (Please provide valid copies of student ID or HKID for reference.)
* Registration in advance is required
For more information, please visit our Discover Mai Po website at:
http://www.wwf.org.hk/dmp

Green Web promotes grassroots NGOs' Internet capacity building

Green Web has just initiated their new program to help grassroots NGOs build up their Internet systems. The program aims at promoting NGOs Internet capacity building so that information exchange will be easier and faster. The program will provide technological training on website design for 5 NGOs and related Internet training for 10 NGOs. Please view: http://www.green-web.org/project/itsupport/GW-CBFIT-04.doc for more information.

--Green Web

Warning and Pollution (Back To Top)

The secret dam: China begins huge project in World Heritage Site, displacing up to 100,000 people and devastating unique tribal societies

By Jasper Becker in Beijing and Daniel Howden
16 October 2004 UK Independent Newspaper

In the shadow of the Jade Dragon Snow Peak, deep inside the Tiger Leaping Gorge, Chinese developers are operating in secret to push through a massive dam project that will wash away the section of the Yangtze river valley thought to have been the real location for the fictional Shangri-La.

Local tribesmen have revealed that work is already under way on a massive project that would flood a U NESCO world heritage site, displace more than 100,000 people and destroy the way of life of the unique Naxi people, one of the world's only surviving matriarchal societies. It would also bring an abrupt end to the nascent tourism industry in the remote south-western Yunnan province.

The battle to save the gorge, one of the deepest in the world, has pitted a David-like alliance of green groups and local tribespeople against the Goliath of the Huaneng Group, China's biggest independent power producer, working with the Yunnan provincial government. The company is run by Li Xiaopeng, son of the former prime minister Li Peng. Mr Li was at the forefront of the controversial Three Gorges Dam project that was pushed through in the teeth of strident opposition from environmentalists and residents.

"The stakes are extremely high. Chinese environmentalists have decided to make this their next major campaign," says Ma Jun, a consultant who was the first to produce a study on the dam's implications. "I'm optimistic they will succeed because this case is a touch-stone of all the big talks on balancing environmental preservation with development."

Opponents say the reservoir will devastate local cultures, robbing people of their farms and livelihood, and leave tens of thousands of mostly Tibetans, Miao, Yi, Bai, Lisu and Naxi minorities homeless. It would also condemn ancient villages with distinctive architectural styles. Concerns are mounting over the fate of the Naxi with their unusual matriarchal tradition, which has drawn an increasing number of visitors to the area.

The formerly nomadic people thought to have originated in Tibet, passes property to the youngest daughters and forces teenage boys to canvas door-to-door for partners in a system of "walk-in marriages". They are also the last ethnic group to use a form of hieroglyphics, a tradition which is passed down through tribal shaman, known as Dongbas.

Premier Wen Jiabao agreed this year to suspend plans for 13 dams on the Salween river in response to protests from Burma and Thailand and Chinese environmentalists. Construction was supposed to have been delayed while an environmental assessment was undertaken but this was brushed aside by the promise of a power facility capable of generating 30 per cent more electricity than the Three Gorges Dam.

Electricity shortages forced factories on the east coast to close down this summer and economic pressure has seen China's oil imports grow by more than 30 per cent this year. China already has more than 50,000 large and medium-sized dams and is running out of waterways to stem.

Nine NGOs, including Green Earth Volunteers and Friends of Nature, have petitioned Mr Wen hoping to persuade him to save an area recognised by UNESCO. "We call on the authorities to fulfil the vision of science-based development ... to balance the human interests against nature, in order to leave our precious world heritage like Tiger Leaping Gorge, the first bend of the Yangtze, to the world and to future generations", the petition said.

Legend has it that a tiger made the leap across the gorge at its narrowest point, where it is just 30 metres wide. Elsewhere the gorge is 60 to 80 metres wide, while the mountain peaks tower more than 3,000 metres above the surface of the river.

The province originally hoped to reserve the area around the historic town of Lijiang for tourism, but the state has designs for eight major dams along a 350-mile stretch of the upper Yangtze. Villagers, worried that they would lose their farmland, staged a rally in Lijiang in July to voice their objections. They are being supported by the state forestry bureau, the seismological bureau and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The dam is being pushed by the Yunnan government as a way of dealing with the consequences of earlier environmental disasters. Water from the reservoir is to be diverted to dilute the heavily polluted lake which supplies the provincial capital of Kunming.

The industrial centre of the province is being strangled by water shortages despite sitting next to one of the largest fresh-water lakes in Asia. Decades of mismanagement have shrunk the lake and the remaining water is too dirty to drink.

Yunnan's forests have all been chopped down in the past 50 years so not only has Dian Chi lake silted up but so have several reservoirs constructed to solve Kunming's water shortage. The danger posed by silt to the Three Gorges Dam has already forced Yunnan to dam the upper reaches of the Yangtze specifically designed to trap soil that would otherwise wash into the Three Gorges reservoir.

NGO Corner (Back To Top)

Comments from the survey

From the editor: In order to know more about what our readership demands from this newsletter, we designed a survey in both Chinese and English. Below are comments from mostly international readership, more comments from Chinese readership will be available in next issue, as well as results of the survey. Here I would like to thank you all for your help, to do a better job for China's civil society, your support is greatly appreciated!

1. Involving more active NGOs in the resource suppliers

2. We highly appreciate your efforts and initiative in advancing the activities of environmental NGOs in China, keep it up!

We'd like to know more about environmental concerns in China, specifically in the area of ocean and coastal management, thank you.

3. I would think that the VOG is going to be a good platform for NGO communication and NGO promotion if you could improve your strategy, newsletter design as well as its presentation. High quality information and more information from grass root should be inclusive.

VOG is basically not a policy research intervention orientated NGO, but public awareness promotion and civil society networking. To add a column for tools and approaches on public participation, communication and mobilization should be useful for junior people who are interested in public awareness promotion. A guide to other information source could be also attractive.

To get a number of selected professionals who are working in sustainable development and civil society some professional from Intl NGO indigenous NGO, bilateral and multilateral, GO to have brainstorm for a clear vision of VOG. Of course, a participatory specialist, not your guys, should facilitate it.

4. Government policies on specific issues should always be first stated and then whether the NGO is working under such policies or trying to fight against/ improve such policies should be included.

It would be good to have more condensed writing under an informative headline. As it stands, VOG Bulletin is not easy to read and absorb

We would like to know more about Rural eco-rehabilitation, socio-economic achievements on rural environmental rehabilitation, the overall energy plan for China and how it shall be carried out, a balanced assessment on development vs. conservation and how they may co-exist, public input in the decision making of environmental issues

Policy Watch (Back To Top)

Possible Changes on NGO Registration

Written by: Amanda CUI & Adam Jung
Proofread and revised by: Kathleen Buckingham

Chinese NGOs might soon be able to walk out of the “gray area” of registration they have occupied for so many years. The vice director of the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs Qiao Shenqian was quoted during the Forum of International Cooperation and Public Participation as saying “the current NGO registration system is very likely to be revised soon, so that NGOs will not need to be attached to an officially registered body”.

The name NGO—Non-Governmental Organization, only became known world wide in the past one or two decades. Its official existence in China has been even shorter. Only about 10 years ago, some Chinese pioneers started to explore the road for NGO development in China. During these 10 years NGOs have spread rapidly throughout China, despite the fact that NGO status (as registered organizations) has never been clearly defined under Chinese law. In recent years, although the permissive attitude the government has taken toward civil society has facilitated the rapid growth of environmental groups, democratic groups and civil rights groups, NGOs are still lacking an accurate formal registration status. Some are registered as Non-Corporate Organizations, Companies, or GONGOs (Government Organized NGO, required to be registered with a Chinese, in many cases governmental, work unit). Most are required to pay taxes.

All this legal ambiguity may soon be remedied. NGOs may soon receive their own legal registration classification. This represents a significant step in the development of Chinese civil society. It demonstrates that the Chinese government recognizes the legitimacy of these organizations and their useful contribution to Chinese society.

Today, there are 230,000 registered NGOs in China, of which 130,000 are GONGOs and 100,000 are Non-Corporate Organizations. In fact, the government considers this as only a small part of the civil society groups; the real number must be much greater.

Mr. Qiao also disclosed that the Ministry of Civil Affairs is now actively working on an evaluation system of Chinese NGOs, as well as social welfare of NGO staff to regulate NGO development.

Women, Youth and Environment(Back To Top)

WSSD(Back To Top)

Partnership(Back To Top)

Nujiang Green Aid

Translated by Amanda CUI, proofread and revised by Kathleen Buckingham

Gongshan County is located at the far northern tip of Nujiang State in Yunnan Province. The province borders Tibet to the north and Myanmar to the west. It has abundant rainfall, special geographic features and rich biodiversity. It is one of the most critical hotspots in China and an important part of the world natural heritage—“Three Parallel Rivers”.

In contrast to its rich natural resources, some of the other features of Gongshan County include poverty, poor transportation, inadequate education and a lack of media development . The population of the county is formed mostly of minority ethnic groups. Most of the 40,000 population live in the mountains where transportation is extremely inconvenient.

Due to its remote location and lack of communication with the outside world, Gongshan County is one of the poorest areas in China. According to a study conducted in 2003, most of the farmers earn less than 600 RMB ($80) annually, and are living under poor conditions.

Due to the implementation of a law which requires children to attend 9 years of compulsory education, most parents now allow their children to go to school. However, due to all kinds of limitations, teaching resources are inadequate; students have no opportunities to expand their learning beyond their textbooks. Education, therefore, is greatly restricted.

Background:

Kuowa primary school is one of the poorest schools in the area. It is 10 km away from the county, which requires students to have to walk for approximately 2 hours down the hill to reach the school, and 5 hours on the return climb. There are three classes with 14 students. The conditions of the school are very poor, one teacher teaches the whole school. Environmental awareness in these places is few and far between; garbage is burnt or dumped into rivers; forests are illegally cut and cultivated, wild animals are killed and traded……

Therefore, we believe that raising environmental awareness amongst these students and teachers is of paramount importance to the villagers. These future residents of Gongshan County will be taught environmental protection, will have the legal weapons to guard their rights and will have a relatively wider view of the outside world.

Through our continuing efforts, we have received a kind donation from Mr. Huang (American), which is being used to build a classroom building and buy environmental books for Shuang Lawa primary school. Considering that it is a common phenomenon that most of the primary schools and middle schools in Gongshan County face poor conditions, we started a campaign to buy these schools magazines and books. $25 or 200 rmb, can buy one school three magazines and one newspaper for a whole year! Your donation could do the children a big favor and give them a chance to have an environmental education.

This February, more than 10 journalists went on a research trip to Nujiang area. You can visit our website to view and buy the pictures: http://www.nujiang.ngo.cn/Photos/Gallery/01 , All the funds collected from the sale of these pictures will be donated to the schools libraries. You can visit http://www.nujiang.ngo.cn/Chinese/Sales/ to see the amount of money that has been donated. Volunteers of Green Earth and China River Network will be responsible for delivering the books to the schools. Your participation will be paid back though clean air, clean water and blossoming flowers……

Upcoming Conferences (Back To Top)

IWA Internet. Conference on Water Conservation and Management in Coastal Areas

Date: Nov. 9-11, 2004

Location: Qingdao and Jinan

Organizers: Ocean University of China, Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society, Chinese Society of Oceanography, Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, National Science Foundation of China, Hanseo University, Korea, Jinan Municipal Government

Sponsors: Hong Kong Water Supplies Department, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley

National Laboratory, Administrative Center for China's Agenda 21, Qingdao Municipal Government, UNESCO Chinese Center of Marine Biotechnology and others.

Contact: Dr. Zhengyan Li, College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, Tel.: +865322032823, Fax: +865322031755, Email: zhengyan@ouc.edu.cn

Global Food Safety Forum

Date: Nov. 18-19, 2004 (to be confirmed)

Venue: Friendship Hotel, Beijing

Organizers: Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC), Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST)

Sponsors: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), World Health Organization (WHO), World Band (WB), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), German Development Cooperation (GTZ). As a global issue, food safety is not only directly related to public health but also has significant effects on international trade. Currently, the hidden danger of food safety is widespread in developed countries and developing countries alike, raising concerns within various governments and international organizations. This forum is intended to advance the exchange between government agencies and experts of various countries to share experiences about food safety strategies, promoting global cooperation in this area.

Contact: Dr. Horst Betz, GTZ China, Horst.Betz@gtz.de

Better Air Quality (BAQ) 2004

Date: Dec. 6-8, 2004

Location: Agra, India

Organizer: Jointly hosted by India's Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) and the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia). In the past, the series of the BAQ conference (an annual event of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities) attracted a great number of Chinese participants. The BAQ 2004 again can be of a great interest to those working on air quality management issues in China. BAQ 2004 will give representatives from national and local governments, civil society, academe, and the private sector the unique opportunity to interact with other stakeholders and share their experiences on better air quality management in the Asian region.

Objectives: general - discuss air quality management and control techniques in Asia and how stakeholders can benefit from worldwide experiences; technical - expose participants to new technological developments in air quality monitoring, and discuss recommendations on appropriate technical solutions for different countries; policy - share innovative and effective examples of air quality management, and adopt a strategic framework for air quality management and control in Asia.

Contact: Glynda Bathan (BAQ 2004 Secretariat): gbathan@adb.org

Website: www.baq2004.org

International Conference on Education for a Sustainable Future (ESF)

Date: Jan. 18-20, 2005

Location: Ahmedabad, India

Venue: Centre for Environmental Education

Background: ESF is planned as a forum that will showcase the rich experiences made throughout Asia, and building on worldwide experiences. The conference will help focus much needed attention on the integral role of education and communication for the success of any strategy towards attaining a sustainable future. It will work towards making the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) truly effective in leveraging support for education and communication and its strategic use, taking stock of experiences in this area. Moreover, a concrete plan of action for governments, educators, NGOs, and other stakeholders towards a sustainable future will be discussed. The conference will consist of the following thematic workshops: education to enhance livelihood security, information servicing for cleaner solutions, education and communication for biodiversity conservation, strengthening participation for natural resource management, education and communication for water and sanitation, education and communication to support sustainable habitats, communication to support MEAs (Multilateral Environmental Agreements), capacity building for waste management, energy education, education for ocean conservation, fragile ecosystems, formal education, capacity building for ESD, enabling mechanisms, information and communication technologies, media and communication, youth and ESD.

Website: http://www.ceeindia.org/esf

NGO Capacity (Back To Top)

What do small and medium size local NGOs need from foundations?

Written by: Amanda CUI & Adam Jung

A few days ago, Dr. Katherine Morton paid us a visit at the office of Global Village of Beijing and discussed with us the issue of cooperation among NGOs in China. Dr. Morton has spent several years working together with local NGOs in Yunnan province and is very aware of their weaknesses and strengths, as well as their needs and demands. She's also keen to promote collaboration between big, relatively mature urban NGOs and smaller rural NGOs, and increase communication and transparency.

At the discussion, we talked about problems small local NGOs often have and how big city NGOs and foundations could help them overcome these problems. Today in this article, I would like to summarize difficulties small local NGOs have with regards to funding.

First of all, many small local organizations are not legally registered and do not have a strict governing structure. Most foundations require at least annual reports and financial reports to show credibility of the organization, some require all documents in English, which makes it even more difficult for small organizations that are lacking resources and capacity.

Secondly, there are many local organizations that are deeply engaged with their beneficiaries; working closely with local residents, farmers and minority groups. Their effort is enormous; however, the process is slow and few concrete results can be seen in a short time. In order to satisfy their donors, foundations often require seasonal progress reports, but small NGOs very often fail to meet this requirement. Sometimes, foundations stop funding their projects after a year and they have to either end a program in progress or struggle through the whole process of finding funding from another foundation.

Thirdly, foundations have their own standard operating procedures, which demand systematic management and demonstrated capacity. These sometimes “guide” local organizations to a wrong or unsuitable direction and damage their vitality. Also, local NGOs know how to deal with local people and understand the most effective methods. Therefore, adopting practices required by a foundation sometimes limits the effectiveness of the NGOs work and fail to promote the capacity of the local community.

In addition to the three problems mentioned above, what hurts small local NGOs most is to “work for foundations”. In many cases, because small organizations can not get funding for their own projects and operating expenses, they are forced to undertake projects foundations (or donors, companies) want them to do, even though it is not their strength and focus. In that case, the NGO is driven by foundations (donors) and loses their own vision and goals. This is extremely harmful for development of Chinese civil society. It undermines the vitality and essence of grassroots organizations.

To conclude, I would like to say that foundations, especially international foundations, need to be able to adjust themselves while sponsoring small local NGOs. I am very happy to see that many foundations now give small grants to local organizations to help them develop their own projects, which is a very effective way to give real support. Although there's lack of continuation for most such small grants, they support programs developed by local residents, targeted specifically for the local community, and help build the capacity of local NGOs.

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