Environmental protection faced an unprecedented challenge in China last year, as this country of 1.3 billion people worked to balance social economic development with its resource and environmental limitations. With international awareness a growing concern and Beijing readying itself to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, advancing a culture of conversation was advocated by the 17th National Conference of the Communist Party of China. China’s State Environmental Protection Administration and State Development & Reform Commission issued the 11th National Five-Year Plan for Environmental Protection (the Plan) on Nov. 22, 2007.

This is the first time that the State Council has required provincial- and ministerial-level governments to put greater emphasis on pollution control and contamination treatment, and required local governments to include environmental protection goals, task measures and demonstration projects in their local economic and social development plans. ...

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