Law, Policy and Dryland Ecosystems in the People's Republic of China

Abstract

The People's Republic of China (PRC)-Global Environment Facility (GEF) Partnership on Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems (hereafter the PRC-GEF Partnership Program) was established to alleviate poverty, control land degradation (LD), and develop ways to rehabilitate dryland ecosystems in Western PRC. Land degradation is a serious problem in the PRC, affecting mostly the northern and western provinces and autonomous regions. As many vulnerable communities are dependent on arid land resources for their livelihood, LD is closely linked to poverty across these provinces and regions. In total, the drylands occupy 40 percent of the PRC. The PRC-GEF Partnership Program is a commitment by the two partners to develop and implement a prioritized programme to address LD by using integrated ecosystem management (IEM) as an approach to combating LD. In July 2004, with the support from GEF and under the guidance of the PRC Ministry of Finance, the PRC-GEF Partnership Program officially commenced as a joint effort between relevant government departments, ADB and the six western provinces and autonomous regions.4 Overall, the PRC-GEF Partnership Program planned to invest US$1.5 billion over 10 years in an effort to control severe LD in Western PRC. This was the first time that the PRC Government and GEF joined forces to introduce an IEM approach to combat LD in the PRC's western region as a long-term planning objective. The main purpose of the PRC-GEF Partnership Programme was to create a sustainable cross-sectoral, inter-regional and cross-cutting framework for integrated natural resources management. At this time, the PRC's existing LD control projects in the western region involved the participation of numerous departments, such as the National People's Congress Legislative Affairs Commission, the State Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, State Environment Protection Administration (Ministry of Environmental Protection since 2008), the State Forestry Bureau, the State Council Legislative Affairs Office, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.