China pollution ‘threat to growth’

飞雪寒冰

China’s environment minister has issued an unusually stern warning that pollution threatens to imperil growth, positioning it as a central theme of the next five-year plan to be launched at the annual National People’s Congress this weekend.
中国环境保护部部长周生贤发出了异常严厉的警告，称环境污染正危及中国的增长前景，将这个问题定位为本周末全国人大年会上将要出台的下一个五年计划的中心主题。

“Natural resources are shrinking, degenerating and drying up. Ecological and environmental decay has become a bottleneck and a serious obstacle to our economic and social development,” said Zhou Sheng­xian. “If our homeland is destroyed and we lose our health, then what good does development do?”
“资源的衰减、退化、枯竭，生态环境的恶化，成为我国经济社会发展的瓶颈制约和严重障碍，”周生贤表示。“家园毁了，健康没了，发展何益？”

飞雪寒冰

His comments echoed those of Wen Jiabao in a web chat on Sunday, in which China’s premier emphasised the need for slower, cleaner growth and announced a new, lower, gross domestic product growth target of 7 per cent.
他的这番讲话呼应了中国总理温Jiabao上周日在网上聊天时发表的言论——温Jiabao强调中国需要速度较慢但更加清洁的增长，并宣布了7%这一新的、较低的国内生产总值(GDP)增长目标。

“Environmental concerns will play a major role in massaging the way the economy is going to grow in the 12th five-year plan,” said Zhang Jianyu, head of China’s environmental defence fund.
“在第12个五年计划中，环境担忧将在引导中国经济增长方式方面扮演重大角色，”美国环保协会中国项目负责人张建宇表示。

飞雪寒冰

“The next five-year plan will be challenging because China is going to move from this export and investment-oriented approach into a more stable, balanced, sustainable approach.”
“下一个五年计划将具有挑战性，因为中国正打算从出口及投资导向型的经济增长模式，转向更为稳定、均衡、可持续的模式。”

The timing of the remarks hints at the political battles being waged behind the scenes by the fledgling ministry of environmental protection, which was formed only three years ago, as it jockeys with older ministries for the power to enforce environmental standards.
从周生贤发表言论的时机看，三年前才成立的中国环保部正在幕后投入政治角力，与老牌部委争夺执行环保标准的权力。

飞雪寒冰

The next five-year plan includes broader environmental goals than ever before. In addition to targets for reducing energy intensity and carbon dioxide intensity, it will focus on a wider range of pollutants, including nitrogen oxide, which is produced by cars, and ammonia nitrogen, a water pollutant.
下一个五年计划包含空前全面的环境目标。除了降低能源强度和二氧化碳排放强度的目标外，该计划将聚焦于更多污染物，包括氮氧化物（源自汽车的排放）和氨氮（一种水污染物）。

Mr Zhou’s statement included a comprehensive prescription for boosting environmental protection. He discussed the idea of a tax that would be levied on polluters, for example and a stricter standard of environmental approvals for industrial projects.
周生贤的声明包括一套加强环保的完整应对措施。比如，他探讨了对污染者征税以及收紧工业项目环保审批标准的构想。

飞雪寒冰

In a nod to the bureaucratic politics that have so far kept the environment ministry relatively toothless compared with its more established peers, he also called for greater co-operation from leaders of all departments.
面对官僚政治的现实（与老牌部委相比，中国环保部迄今相对缺乏实权），周生贤呼吁所有部委的领导加强合作。

Mr Zhou has become increasingly outspoken about the environmental costs of China’s breakneck growth. China is now the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels and human activities that scientists say are causing global warming. It is the world’s biggest polluter and biggest consumer of resources across other measures.
对于中国高速增长所付出的环境代价，周生贤越来越直言不讳。如今中国是全球最大的温室气体排放国。科学家们表示，源自化石燃料燃烧和人类活动的温室气体排放，正引起全球变暖。按其它标准衡量，中国是全球最大污染来源和最大的资源消费国。

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In 2009, nearly 20 per cent of the length of China’s monitored rivers and lakes had pollution worse than Grade 5, making the water unfit for even irrigating crops, according to government statistics.
根据政府统计数据，2009年中国受监测的河流和湖泊中，有近20%的长度污染度超过五级，意味着水质连灌溉农作物都不适合。

To double the size of the economy between 2000 and 2020 and keep environmental conditions at 2000 levels, China will have to improve its efficiency in using resources by four or five times compared with 2000 levels, said Zhou, citing findings of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
周生贤援引中国科学院专家进行的情景分析称，要实现人均GDP到2020年比2000年翻两番，并且在2020年保持2000年的环境质量，那么中国的资源利用效率就必须提高4至5倍。