UNEP/GPA/2003

Workshop on Protecting Marine Environment from Land-based Activities in China

Summary of the National Report

Work Report on Protecting Marine Environment

from Land-based Activities in China

State Environmental Protection Administration

January 2004
 Compiler and Editor Group of the Work Report on Protecting Marine
Environment from Land-based Activities in China

Head: Chen Mingjian (Director of the Marine Environmental Protection Office of China
State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA))

Deputy Head: Meng Wei (President of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Science)

Members of the Technical Group:

Chen Mingjian Tong Yu Wu Xianfeng
Meng Wei Su Yibing Zheng Binghui Fu Guo
Li Wenpeng Sun Yao Zhan Xiuwen Lin Chao Xu Shiming
Huang Yaoming Wang Fuxiang Zheng Xingcan Zhang Jingqiu Zhou Fuyi

The Compiler Group:

The Marine Environmental Protection Office of SEPA:

Tong Yu Wu Xianfeng

The Department of International Cooperation of SEPA:

Yue Ruisheng Tu Ruihe Zhang Mengheng

The Chinese Academy of Environmental Science:

Zheng Binghui Su Yibing Fu Qiang Qin Yanwen
Lei Kun Tian Ziqiang Zhang Yuan Li Zicheng

Liaoning Provincial Environmental Protection Agency (EPB):

Liu Feng
Hebei Provincial EPB: Zhao Lankui
Tianjin EPB: Yu Anwei
Shandong Provincial EPB: Tian Guiquan
Jiangsu Provincial EPB: Zhang Suying
Zhejiang Provincial EPB: Liu Jianming
Shanghai EPB: Chen Wei
Fujian Provincial EPB: Li Yanfeng
Guangdong Provincial EPB: Yang Jing
Guangxi Provincial EPB: Lai Chunmiao
Hainan Provincial EPB: Fu Zhiqin
Content

Chapter I General Introduction

1.1. Background
1.2. Supports from GPA
1.3. Preparation of the Work Report
1.4. Main Content of the Report

Chapter II Basic Information on China’s Sea Areas

2.1. China’s Sea Areas
2.2. Natural Environment of Sea Areas
2.3. Environmental Functions and Targets of Sea Areas
2.4. Environmental State of Sea Areas
2.5. Oceanic Economy

Chapter III Land-based Pollution Source

3.1. Discharge of Key Pollutants
3.2. Pollutants Discharged into the Sea through Key Rivers
3.3. Coastal Outlets of Wastewater Directly Discharged into the Sea
3.4. Pollutants Discharged by Key Coastal Cities
3.5. Pollutants Discharged by Marine Traffic and Transportation
3.6. Pollution by Marine Aquaculture
3.7. Total Amount of Dredged Material, Wastes and Oil-polluted Wastewater from Offshore Oil
Wells in Marine Dumping Areas

Chapter IV Relevant Policies and Regulations

4.1. National Laws
4.2. Management Regulations and Measures
4.3. Environmental Standards

Chapter V Maior Actions to Control Marine Pollution

5.1. Control of Industrial Pollution Sources
5.2. Wastewater Treatment in Cities and Municipalities
5.3. Control of Mobile Pollution Sources
5.4. Key Points in Controlling Pollution from Aquaculture
5.5. Control of Pollution from Development of Ocean Oil and Gas Resources
5.6. Measures to Protect Coastal Wetlands
5.7. Protection of Coastal Tourism Resources
5.8. Specific Scientific Studies
5.9. Management Measures
5.10.Work Plan for Next Step

Chapter VI Progress in Implementing Pollution Control Plans in Key Rivers and Sea Areas
6.1. Plans for Pollution Abatement and Control in Key Rivers and Sea Areas
6.2. Progress in Water Pollution Abatement and Control in Key Rivers and Sea Areas
6.3. Major Measures Adopted in the Bohai Blue Sea Action Plan
6.4. Problems
6.5. Next Step Measures in the Bohai Blue Sea Action Plan
Chapter VII Relevant International Cooperation
7.1. General
7.2. Relevant International Environmental Conventions
7.3. Forms and Areas of International Cooperation
7.4. Key Cooperation Programs

Chapter VIII Suggestions for Control of Land-Based Pollution

8.1. Coordination for Strengthening Nationwide Blue Sea Activities
8.2. Policy Measures to Strengthen Environment Management
8.3. Total Volume Control System
8.4. Projects to Protect Marine Environment from Pollution
8.5. Public Education and Participation
 Chapter I General Introduction
1.1 Background
From mid 1990’s, when the Global Programme of Action for Marine Environmental Protection
from Land-based Activities (GPA) commenced, to the end of 2003, more than 160 coastal countries
have participated in the regional sea programmes and 17regional sea action plans have been developed
among which 12 action plans have received the support of concrete action from respective member
states.
China’s participation in the regional sea programmes involves two regional seas - the North-west
Pacific and the South China Sea. The North-west Pacific Action Plan(NOWPAP) has been in place for
the former, and the development of the action plan has been considered for the latter.
"The Bohai Blue Sea Action Plan” has been developed and put into implementation in 2001 after
the approval by the State Council. The blue sea action plans for other sea areas of China, i.e. the
Yellow Sea, the East Sea, and the South China Sea will be developed very soon. The coastal land
regions of eight provinces, municipalities and Autonomous Regions - Shandong, Zhejiang, Shanghai,
Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan will be involved in this process.

1.2 Supports from GPA

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) attaches great attention to China’s efforts
in developing the national action plan for the protection of marine environment. The following
common understanding has been reached between the State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA) of China and GPA secretariat administered by UNEP:
1) GPA secretariat will financially support a national workshop to initiate technical
assistance to China;
2) A country report on marine protection from land-based activities will be produced at
the workshop. This report will focus on the current status of China’s marine
environment;
3) Based on the country report, China’s national action plan will be developed with the
assistance of GPA experts;
4) Further steps will be taken to raise fund for the implementation of the demonstration
projects included in the national action plan.

1.3 Preparation of the Report

The Marine Office of SEPA is responsible for the organization and coordination of the
development of the report. The Department of International Cooperation of SEPA is responsible for
the organization of the workshop. The working group consisting of experts invited by SEPA from
relevant government departments (Ministry of Land Resources, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of
Communication, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, National Tourism
Administration, National Oceanic Administration, China’s Navy, and the Chinese Marine Petroleum
Corporation) is in charge of the actual writing of the report with the technical support of the Chinese
Academy of Environmental Sciences (CAES). Experts from each government departments prepare the
status quo report on the work related to marine environment of the respective ministry where he/she
belongs. SEPA also request the Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPB) of 11coastal
provinces/municipalities to prepare their provincial/municipal status quo and work reports. All these
reports mentioned above are the annexes to the Country Report.

1.4 Main Content of the Report

The country report will serve as a basic document for developing the national action plan. The
report contains the following main items:
1) the environmental state of sea areas and the impact of various land-based activities;
2) relevant national legislations and targets set for pollution control and environmental
protection;
3) status quo and plan of controlling pollution from land-based activities;
4) implementation of the plan of controlling pollution from land-based activities;
5) international cooperation in the field of marine environmental protection.
 Chapter II Basic Information on China’s Sea Areas
2.1 China’s Sea Areas
China’s offshore sea is divided into four sea areas - the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East Sea, and the
South China Sea. The Bohai Sea is an interior sea. Mainland China is adjacent to the Yellow Sea, East
Sea and South China Sea from the east coast to the south coast. The east coast of Taiwan province is
adjacent to the Pacific. China possesses a continental coast line of more than 18000 km and more than
6500 islands with an area of larger than 500m2 each. The total area of these islands is about 80000 km2
with a coastal line of more than 14000 km. China has more than 1500 rivers which flow into the sea.
There are more than 160 bays with an area of larger than 10 km2 each. In accordance with the
provisions of <The United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea> and <Law on the Exclusive
Economic Zone and Continental Shelf of the People’s Republic of China>, the total sea area under
China’s jurisdiction is about three million square kilometres, which approximately equal to one third
of China’s land area.
The following provinces/municipalities/autonomous regions possess coastal line (from the north
to the south): Liaoning province, Hebei province, Tianjin Municipality, Shandong province, Zhejiang
province, Shanghai municipality, Fujian province, Guangxi autonomous region, Guangdong province,
Hainan province, Taiwan province, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Macao Special
Administrative Region in which there are fifty three cities and one hundred and forty five counties.

2.2 Natural Environment of Sea Areas

2.2.1 Geography
The topography of China’s coastal area presents a terrace appearance with higher altitude in the
west and gradually declining from the land to the sea. In terms of topographical condition China’s
coast can be divided into five types: bed-rock coast, sand and gravel coast, mud coast, coral reef coast,
and mangrove forest coast.
The climate difference of China’s coastal area is obvious from the north to the south due to the
large span of latitude and the complex topography. The average annual temperature of the coast area
varies from 8.5oC in the north(Dandong) to 25.5oC in the south(Sanya). The multi-year average annual
total amount of precipitation in the coastal area is 60076 x 108m3 accounting for 35.8% of the total
amount of precipitation of the whole country. The total amount of inflow water to the sea is
about16000 x 108m3, of which 57% is from the Yangtze River and 14% from the Pearl River. The
inflow water from the five provinces in the north of Jiangsu province only accounts for 7.7% of the
total of which about 3% is from the Yellow River. The distribution of inflow water to different sea
areas is - the East Sea 70%; the South China Sea 25%; the Bohai Sea less than 5%; the Yellow Sea 3%.
The total amount of sand sediment transported to the sea is about 17.5 x 108 tones of which 61% and
26.8% is contributed by the Yellow River and the Yangtze River respectively.

2.2.2 Ecosystems of offshore sea areas

There are diverse ecosystems in China’s offshore sea areas including mainly estuary ecosystem,
coastal low land ecosystem, bay ecosystem, wetland ecosystem, mangrove ecosystem, island
ecosystem, coral reef ecosystem, and national marine nature reserve system. The characteristics of bay
ecosystem are greatly subject to their geographical location, geological and topographical conditions.
The Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bay, and Laizhou bay of the Bohai Sea, the Dalian Bay, Jiaozhou Bay and
Haizhou Bay of the Yellow Sea, the Hangzhou Bay of the East Sea and the North Bay of the South
China Sea have all formed bay ecosystems with their own unique characteristics.
The biomass volume in the low lands varies from coastal areas to coastal area: the wet weight of
biomass can be as high as 2199g/m2 in the Yellow Sea, whereas it is only 217g/m2 in the East Sea; the
density of biomass is 1013/m2 in the Bohai Sea while it is only 317/m2 in the South China Sea. The
biomass volume in the low lands is much higher than the benthos content in the shallow sea testifying
to the high productivity in the low lands.
China, lying at the north rim of the west pacific mangrove zone, has 26 varieties of authentic
mangrove accounting for 43% of the world total, 11varieties of semi-mangrove, and 19 associated
species. The existing mangrove forest area in China is 13000 - 15000 hectares, about one half of the
area recorded in history, which is intermittently distributed from Yulin of Hainan province up to
Fuding of Fujian province, and the northern part of Taiwan province.
There are 200 species of reef-building coral in China’s offshore seas accounting for one third of
the world total. A high percentage of the coral reefs are located in China's offshore sea areas. The
north margin of the coral reef distribution zone is Hainan island and Taiwan island (mainly shore reef).
The Dongsha, Xisha, and Nansha islands (including reefs and hidden shoal) are atoll formed by coral
reef. There is some distribution of reef-building coral in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, northern
Taiwan, and southern Fujian, but with no real reef formed or some poorly developed.
There are 20 national marine conservation regions in China of which 4 are under the
administration of SEPA, 9 under the State Oceanic Administration, 1 under the Ministry of Agriculture,
5 under the State Forestry Administration, and 1 under Guangdong province. The main protected
targets are species like birds, amphibians, fishes, mangrove, coral reef, as well as natural landscape.

2.3 Environmental Functions and Targets of Sea Areas

China’s offshore sea has been divided into different environmental function zones with different
main utilization objectives in accordance with the national economic and social development planning
and the requirement of environmental protection. There are four grades of offshore environmental
function zones:
1 First grade environmental function zone for marine fishery and marine conservation where
first class sea water quality is required;
2 Second grade environmental function zone for aquaculture, swimming, sea sports,
entertainment, and industrial use of water, which is directly related to human food consumption. The
sea water should meet the sea water quality standard of the second class or better;
3 Third grade environmental function zone for industrial use of water and seaside tourism
where third class or better sea water quality is required;
4 Fourth grade environmental function zone for harbor and ocean resources exploitation
where fourth class or better sea water quality is required.
619 environmental function zones have been demarcated in China's offshore sea areas, of which
88 fall in grade I, 266 grade II, 54 grade III, and 211 grade IV. The environmental function zoning
schemes of offshore sea areas have been approved by the people's governments of the respective
provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

2.4 Environmental Condition of Sea Areas

2.4.1 Water quality of offshore sea areas
According to the report on the state of the environment in China's offshore seas, offshore sea
water pollution has been alleviated to some extent - grade I and II sea water bodies accounted for
49.7%, 8.3% higher than that in 2001; grade IV and worse accounted for 35.9%,10.5% lower than that
in 2001 (Fig. 2-1)
 wor se t han
f our t h gr ade I
gr ade 21. 3%
27. 0%

gr ade I V gr ade I I
9. 0%
gr ade I I I 28. 4%
14. 4%

Fig. 2- 1 Water Quality of Offshore Sea Water Body

Water pollution of the offshore sea area in the East Sea is heavier than that of the Yellow Sea.
Some key offshore sea areas such as Yingkou, Panjin, the estuary of the Yangtze River, the Hangzhou
Bay, Sanmen Bay, Leqing Bay, Quanzhou Bay, and the estuary of the Jiulong River are heavily
polluted with sea water quality worse than grade IV. The sea water quality in Gourd Island, Rizhao,
the scenic spots in Qingdao, Yantai, Dandong, the Dalian Bay, Shaoan Bay, Dongsha Bay, Meizhou
Bay, Nantong, Sanya, Changdao Islands, and the offshore area of Changhai are relatively good.
In terms of the “National Standard on Seawater Quality”(GB3097-1997), in 2002, the main
pollutants in China’s offshore sea areas were inorganic nitrogen and activated phosphates. Petroleum,
lead and COD exceeded the standard in some areas. Copper, mercury and cadmium exceeded the
standard in very few areas.

2.4.2 Water quality of the four major sea areas

Bohai Sea: There was no major change of the seawater quality in 2002 as compared with that in
2001with grade I and II sea area accounting for 38.1% and grade IV or worse according for 43.4%.
Main pollutants were activated phosphates, inorganic nitrogen, COD, petroleum and lead.

Yellow Sea: The sea areas with seawater reaching quality standard grade I and II accounted for
78.2% of the total, 20.1% higher than that in 2001; grade IV or worse accounted 9.7%, 21.7% lower
than that in 2001. The major pollutants that influenced the water quality of the Yellow Sea were
inorganic nitrogen and activated phosphates. Lead usually exceeded the standard. COD, petroleum
and copper exceeded the standard in some sea areas.

East Sea: Sea areas with seawater meeting quality standard grade I and II accounted for 20.5% of
the total while grade IV and worse 65.6%. There was no major change in seawater quality as
compared with that in 2001. The rate of inorganic nitrogen and activated phosphate content
exceeding the standard was high, extensively polluting the seawater. Lead content usually exceeded
the standard. Part of the sea areas was polluted by copper, COD and petroleum.

South China Sea: Sea areas with seawater meeting quality standard grade I and II accounted for
64.4% of the total, 9.7% higher than that in 2001. Grade IV and worse accounted 20.4%, 9.8% lower
than that in 2001. Main pollutants were inorganic nitrogen and activated phosphates. COD,
petroleum and lead exceeded the standard in some areas.

2.4.3 Characteristics of offshore seawater pollution

 In 2002, the key pollutants that had impact on the offshore seawater quality were inorganic
nitrogen and activated phosphates. COD, lead and petroleum exceeded the standards in some areas.
Copper, mercury and cadmium exceeded the standard in very few areas.

Inorganic Nitrogen: In 2002, the monitored inorganic nitrogen concentration of the offshore
seawater was at the range of 0.009-3.101mg/l, with the sample’s standard-exceeding rate of 49.0%.
The average inorganic nitrogen concentration and the sample’s standard-exceeding rate decreased to
certain extent compared with that in 2001.

Activated Phosphates: In 2002, the monitored activated phosphates concentration of the offshore
seawater was at the range of undetectable -0.988mg/l with sample’s standard-exceeding rate of 49.2%.
The average activated phosphates concentration in the offshore seawater was basically the same as
that in 2001but the sample’s standard-exceeding rate decrease a little.

Petroleum: In 2002, the monitored petroleum content of the offshore seawater was at the range of
undetectable -0.970mg/l with sample’s standard-exceeding rate of 12.9%. Both the average
concentration and the sample’s standard-exceeding rate decreased to some extent.

COD: In 2002, the monitored COD concentration was at the range of 0.02-10.0mg/l with
sample’s standard-exceeding rate of 16.1%. Both the average COD concentration and the sample’s
standard-exceeding rate decreased a little as compared with that in 2001.

2.4.4 Major marine pollution accidents

According to the statistics, 63 marine fishery pollution accidents happened in 2002 with a
measurable economic loss of more than 232.006 million yuan. There were 10 marine fishery pollution
accidents with an economic loss of more than 1 million each, and 4 accidents with an economic loss of
more than 10 million yuan each. After the coordination of the fishery departments, the fisherman
received compensation in the amount of 27.12 million yuan.

2.5 Oceanic Economy

In 2001, China’s total production value of marine industry (excluding revenues from domestic
tourism, which applies to all of the following numbers) was 723.38 billion yuan with an added value
of 329.728 billion yuan accounting for 3.4% of the total GDP of the country. Of this, 637.087 billion
yuan was from direct marine industry accounting for 88.1% of the total while 86.293 billion was from
indirect marine industry accounting for 11.9% of the total. The economy in the 11 coastal provinces
heavily relying on the marine industry has been growing steadily with a total economic size of
6020.867 billion yuan accounting for 62.8% of the GDP of the whole country, 1% higher than the
previous year. The economy of the coastal municipalities and counties are also growing very well with
GDP of 3715.384 billion yuan accounting 61.7% of the GDP of the 11 coastal provinces’ total and
38.7% of GDP of the whole country, 1.6% higher than those of 2000. The Marine economy is making
more and more contribution to the economic development of the coastal areas and the whole nation.
In terms of industrial structure, the marine economic activities are in the process of transition
from resource exploitation to marine “service”. In 2001, the economic output of marine biological
resources exploitation and non-biological resources exploitation continued to grow, and at the same
period of time, service-based marine economy developed much faster. According to the adjusted
statistics, the ratio of first, secondary and tertiary marine industries is optimizing with the tertiary
industry accounting for 46% of the total (including domestic tourism revenue of 179.6 billion yuan).
With continued improvement of people’s living standard, domestic coastal tourism has been
developing very fast. With its revenue taking up the number one position among all marine industries,
domestic coastal tourism is becoming the dominant part of marine service industry.
 Chapter III Land-based Pollution Sources
3.1 Discharge of Key Pollutants
In 2002, China’s total industrial and domestic waste water discharge was 43.95 billion tones,
1.5% more than the previous year, of which 20.72 billion tones was industrial waste water, 2.3% more
than 2001;23.23 billion tones was domestic waste water, 0.9% more than 2001. The total Chemical
Oxygen Demand (COD) discharge in the waste water was 13.669 million tones, 2.7% less than the
previous year, of which COD discharge in industrial waste water was 5.84 million tones, 3.9% less
than 2001; COD discharge in domestic waste water was 7.829 million tones, 1.8% less than 2001.

In 2002, 88.3% of the total discharged industrial waste water met the national discharge standard,
2.7% higher than the previous year. 89.4% of the industrial waste water discharged by key enterprises
met the national standard, 2.5% higher than 2001; 80.3% of the industrial waste water discharged by
non-key enterprises met the national standard, 6.6% higher than 2001.

3.2 Pollutants Discharged into the Sea Through Key Rivers

The results of a survey on the influx of pollutants discharged into the sea through key rivers in
2002 indicated that the amount of pollutant discharged into the sea through the Yangtze River, Pearl
Rive and Liaohe River was still large, and environmental pollution at the estuary area were far from
being under effective control.
Inorganic nitrogen, phosphate, lead, mercury, COD and petroleum pollution was common at the
monitored river mouth areas, of which the estuary areas of the Yangtze River, Pearl River, Shuangtaizi
River, Minjiang River, Liaohe River and Yalujiang River were seriously polluted, imposing great
pressure on the marine environment. In 2002, these rivers discharged, in total, 3.96 million tones of
COD, 50,000 tones of phosphate, 2.24 million tones of inorganic nitrogen, 68,000 tones of petroleum
and 29,000 tones of heavy metal.

3.3 Coastal Outlets of Waste Water Directly Discharged into the Sea
The results of the survey on the coastal outlets of waste water directly discharged into the sea and
environmental management in 2001 shows that:
• There were 630 direct outlets of waste water discharge of which 57.6% met the discharge
standard;
• 58.9% of the outlets met the required standards with an online monitoring rate of 17.9%;
• Waste water and COD discharged through these outlets totaled 13.51 million tonnes/day (4.9
billion tonnes/year) and 1270 tonnes/day (4.63 million tonnes/year) respectively.

3.4 Pollutants Discharged by Coastal Cities

According to the technical statistics of 2002, the total population of 109 cities at prefectual
level and 185 cities at county level in the 11 coastal provinces, municipalities and autonomous
regions is 154.97 million, of which 128.39 million enjoy the municipal water supply, accounting
for 83% of the total population. The average per capita water use (including both domestic and
non-domestic use) is 506 Liters/person/day, almost equal to the national average (501.2 L/person.
day). The annual waste water discharge is 17.08 billion cubic meters. The amount of municipal
garbage generated annually is 56.65 million tones.

3.5 Pollutant Discharge Related to Marine Transportation

3.5.1 Pollutants discharge from ships
The main ship pollution sources are oil polluted water at the floor of the engine room, ballast
water of the oil tanker, cabin-washing water of the oil tanker, oil spillage caused by operational
mistakes; discharge of cabin-washing water and ballast water which contains toxic substances, and
ship wreckage. Domestic waste water at ships mainly from toilet, clinic on board and bath room. The
solid wastes are food residue, empty cans, wine bottles, drinking bottles, plastic bags and the liquid
wastes include used oil, dirty oil, and greasy mud.

3.5.2 Pollutants from docks and ship yards

There are more than 700 ship-repairing dockyards in China, which can not only meet the repair
demand of domestic ships including different types of transportation boats, engineering vessels, harbor
operation boats, military ships, and sea platforms, but also contract to repair more than a thousand
foreign vessels. There are 187 ship-dismantling enterprises in China. The annual amount of imported
used vessels is 1.70 million short tones.
The pollution generation in ship yards is mainly related to some production activities such as ship
dismantling, oil extraction at sea oil platforms, and floating oil storage tankers. The pollutants from
ship-dismantling are oil-containing cabine-washing water, residual oil, and wastes produced during
the dismantling operation.

3.5.3 Sea transportation accident

Oil spillage is one of the main pollution sources at sea. According to statistics, in the last decade
of 20th century, 14,900 sea transportation accidents had happed in China, causing 3107 ships to be
sunk, 6089 persons dead, and 1.9 billion Yuan direct economic loss. There had been 2353 oil spillage
accidents from 1976 to 2000, averagely one accident happened every three and half days, of which 53
were serious accident with spilled oil amount over 50 tons each, and total amount of spilled oil of
29,754 tons. These accidents brought about great damage to costal fishery, aquaculture, tourism and
marine ecological environment. In spite of the continued efforts in strengthening management for
maritime safety in China the oil spillage accident is still at the peak period.

3.6 Sea Aquaculture

There are two types of pollutants generated by aquaculture: One is the organic pollutants such as
excreta and residual fish feed from fish, shrimp and crab cultivation and excreta of the shell fish.
Another is fish medicine for improving aquaculture condition and disease control or hormone
medicine for accelerating the growth of cultivated organism. The average annual generation of organic
wastes by one kilogram fish, shrimp/crab and shell-fish (the weight of the shell included) is
approximately 1.0kg, 1.5kg and 1.7kg respectively. It was estimated that the total amount of organic
waste generated from China’s sea aquaculture in 2000 was about 16 million tons. Though the
pollution contribution of sea aquaculture is pretty low compared with land-based pollution, local
marine environmental degradation and its impact on the aquaculture ecosystem is quite serious,
becoming a bottle-neck constraining the sustainable development of China’s sea aquaculture because
most of China’s sea aquaculture is highly intensive cultivation, and mainly located at the coastal low
land areas or interior bay areas where water exchange capacity is very poor.

3.7 Total Amount of Dredged Material, Wastes and Oil-Polluted Wastewater from Offshore
Oil Wells in Marine Dumping Areas
In 2002, coastal provinces and municipalities altogether dumped 107.21 million cubic meter
of dredged material and land wastes; 0.518 million tones of all kinds of waste material; 67.69
million tones of oil-polluted wastewater, 28,000 tones of mud from oil-drilling, 23,000 tones of
drilling scraps from 26 oil (gas) wells in four seas.
 Chapter IV Relevant Policies and Regulations
4.1 National laws
• Water Law of the People's Republic of China (2002-10-01)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on Occupational Safety (2002-11-01)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Cleaner Production
(2003-01-01)
• Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Management of Sea Areas Utilization
(2001-10-27)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on Environmental Impact Assessment (2000-10-28)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on Marine Environmental Protection (2000-04-01)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on the Exclusive Economic Zone and the
Continental Shelf (1998-06-26)
• Flood Control Law of the People's Republic of China (1997-08-29)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental
Pollution by Solid Waste (1995-10-30)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on Water and Soil Conservation (1991-06-29)
• Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China (1989-12-26)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife (1988-11-08)
• Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China (Revised in 1998)
(1986-06-25)
• Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised in 1996) (1986-03-19)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution
(1984-11-01)
• Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution
(Revised in 1996) (1984-11-01)

4.2 Management regulations and measures

• Amendment to Measures on Administrative Penalty for Environmental Protection
(2003-11-05)
• Provisions on Administration of Report and Registration of Pollutants Discharge
(2003-05-19)
• Provisions on Management of Scope Adjustment of National Nature Reserves and
Adjustment and Rename of Function Zones (2003-04-15)
• Measures on Management of Pollution Discharge Fee Collection Standards (2003-02-28)
• Interim Measures on the Administration of Key Water Pollutant Discharge Permit in Huai
River Basin and Tai Lake Basin (2001-07-02)
• Measures on Prevention and Control of Pollution by Livestock and Poultry Breeding
(2001-05-08)
• Implementing Rules of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution
(2000-07-01)
• Measures on the Management of Off-Shore Environmental Function Zone (1999-12-10)
• Lists of Wild Plants under Special State Protection---the First Batch (1999-08-04)
• Regulations on Environmental Protection of Construction Projects (1998-11-18)
• Measures on the Management of Nature Reserves of Aquatic Animals and Plants
(1997-10-17)
• Regulations on the Inspection and Treatment Procedure of the Pollution Accidents in
Fishery Water Areas (1997-03-26)
• Interim Regulation on the Prevention of Water Pollution in the Huai River Valley
(1995-08-08)
• Regulations on Nature Reserves of the People’s Republic of China (1994-12-01)
 • Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention of Marine Environmental
Pollution by Land-Based Pollutants (1990-08-01)
• Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention of Marine Environmental
Pollution by Coastal Construction Projects (1990-06-25)
• Administration Provisions for the Prevention and Control of Pollution in the Protected
Areas for Drinking Water Sources (1989-07-10)
• Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Environmental Protection from Ship
Dismantling (1988-05-18)
• Interim Measures on the Administration of Water Pollutant Discharge Permit (1988-03-20)
• Interim Measures on the Reporting of Environmental Pollution and Damage Accidents
(1987-09-10)
• Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Control over Dumping Waste into the
Sea Water (1985-03-06)
• Regulations of the People’s Republic of China Concerning Environmental Protection in
Offshore Oil Exploration and Exploitation (1983-12-29)
• Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Control and Prevention of Pollution
by Vessels in the Sea Waters (1983-12-29)
• Regulations on the Prevention of Pollution of Yangtze River from Vessels Disposal and
Riverside Solid Waste (1998-03-01)

4.3 Environmental standards

• Technical Guidelines for the Construction of Management and Control Infrastructure of
Nature Reserves (HJ/T 129-2003)
• Discharge Standards of Pollution of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants (GB
18918-2002)
• Discharge Standards of Pollutants for Livestock and Poultry Breeding (GB18596-2001)
• Technical Standards of Preventing Pollution for Livestock and Poultry Breeding
(HJ/T81-2001)
• Pollution Control Standard for Wastewater Disposal at Sea (GWKB4-2000)
• Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water (GB3838-2002)
• Sea Water Quality Standard (GB3097-1997)
• General Criteria for Wastewater Discharge (GB8978-1996)
• Quality Standard for Underground Water (GB/T14848-93)
• Classification Principles for Various Types and Levels of Nature Reserves (GB/T 14529-93)
• Standards for Irrigation Water Quality (GB5084-92)
• Water Quality Standard for Scenery and Recreation Area (GB12941-91)
• Criteria for Water Quality in Fishery (GB11607-89)
• Hygienic Standard for Drinking Water (GB5749-85)
• Discharge Standard for Oil-Containing Wastewater from Marine Oil Exploitation Industry
(GB4914-85)
• Discharge Standard for Ship Craft Pollutant (GB3552-83)
 Chapter VMajor Actions to Control Marine Pollution
5.1 Control of industrial pollution sources
China strengthened the control of industrial pollution sources by launching the comprehensive
registration of pollutant discharge, establishing dynamic data bases of the registration data and online
monitoring of major pollution sources and strengthening the supervision and review of key pollution
sources. China has also implemented the pollution discharge permit system in active yet steady steps.
The government is now conducting studies to define the environmental capacity of various
environmental function zones in key river basins, cities and offshore sea areas, then define emission
reduction plans and targets based on the environment capacity, and finally allocate pollution discharge
permits to major pollution sources to achieve emission reduction. China has implemented the Law on
the Promotion of Cleaner Production and auditing of cleaner production. Public involvement is
encouraged by making the environmental performance of enterprises public and establishing
mechanisms for public participation to supervise the pollution control efforts of enterprises. Relevant
departments and agencies cooperate in making favorable policies for encouraging waste recycling and
the export of products from environment-friendly enterprises. ISO14000 certification for
environmental management will be advanced to raise the management level and competitiveness of
industrial zones and enterprises.

5.2 Sewage treatment in cities and municipalities

According to data and statistics, by the end of 2001, 11 coastal provinces, cities and autonomous
regions have built 197 first or second level sewage treatment plants, with a daily treatment capacity of
12.2 million m3 and an annual capacity of 4.577 billion m3. The conveyance pipeline networks had a
total length of 93,376 km. 399 waste disposal plants have been built with a treatment capacity of
120,000 ton per day and 39.29 million ton per year.

5.3 Control of mobile pollution sources

5.3.1 Control of pollution from oil materials
All coastal ports are required to install equipments such as oil-polluted water recycling boats.
Discharge of oil-polluted water is prohibited within ports. Oil-polluted water from the bottom of
engine rooms, water used to wash and clean oil tankers, as well as oil-contaminated ballast water all
have to be discharged into the receptive devices at ports. Starting from June 1st, 2003, all kinds of
boats and ships that have sailed, anchored or operated within the Bohai Sea area for longer than a
month (excluding military and fishing boats and ships) are prohibited from discharging oil-polluted
water directly into water bodies within the Bohai Sea area. All pollution discharge facilities have to be
sealed with lead.

5.3.2 Control of toxic liquid pollution

China is implementing and constantly improving emergency response plans for overflow and
leaking of toxic liquids. Discharge of ballast water and cleaning water that were contaminated by toxic
liquids or their remnants and mixture is strictly prohibited in offshore marine areas. Ports with wharfs
of toxic liquids in bulk must complete construction of facilities for receiving ballast and cleaning
water that contains toxic liquids.

5.3.3 Measures for the prevention and control of pollution by municipal wastewater
from boats and ships
All boats and ships that satisfy the conditions must install municipal wastewater treatment
facilities that have been approved by the responsible departments to ensure that municipal wastewater
discharged from the boats and ships meet the standard. More input is needed in the construction of
monitoring and supervision facilities to monitor and control the discharge of municipal wastewater
from boats and ships.
 5.3.4 Measures for the prevention and control of wastes from boats and ships
All boats and ships that satisfy the conditions must make their own Plans for the Management
of Wastes from Boats and Ships as approved by the responsible departments and must manage and
dispose of wastes in strict observance of the Plans. Ports and wharfs are required to have facilities for
receiving and disposing of wastes from boats and ships and purchase or build waste recycling cars or
boats so that all wastes from boats and ships will be collected and transported to the waste sanitary
disposal systems within cities.

5.3.5 Construction of special navigation area

According to requirements in the International Convention on the Prevention and Control of
Pollution by Boats and Ships (MARPOL73/78), marine areas that are qualified for specific regulations
should apply even stricter requirements for controlling discharge. All parties are required to abide by
the rules. Therefore, studies are necessary on classifying Bohai Sea and other areas as MARPOL73/78
special areas as well as submitting other marine areas that meets the conditions to the International
Maritime Organization for approval as MARPOL73/78 special areas. The plan of zero pollutant
discharge in closed and semi-closed marine areas like the Bohai Sea will be turned into reality in
gradual steps.

5.4 Key points in controlling pollution from aquaculture

To control pollution caused by aquaculture, we have formed the following key points:

To strengthen the quality supervision and inspection system of fishery environment and
aquatic products; to enhance the capacity for monitoring fishery environment and quality of
aquatic products and for diagnosing, appraising and investigating fishery accidents so as to
ensure sustained and healthy development of fishery;

To research and establish various clean water aquaculture modes, lower the volume of
pollutants generated, and reduce pollution of its own as well as the surrounding environment
by aquaculture;

To improve aquaculture environments that have been or are being polluted through all kinds
of ecological restoration and demonstration projects;

To control the safety and quality of aquatic products through organic aquaculture projects and
demonstrations;

To protect natural fishery resources by implementing the rule of no fishing during the hottest
days of the year.

5.5 Control of pollution from development of ocean oil and gas resources
To counter pollution generated during the development of ocean oil and gas resources, we will
focus on adopting methods of centralized management and treatment on lands. For example:

To set up treatment facilities on lands in order to treat industrial wastewater and dispose of
solid wastes as well as mud from ocean work;

Ocean facilities maintenance and service departments will be responsible for collecting their
own oil-contaminated wastewater before passing it onto specialized agencies for treatment
and recycling;

Municipal wastewater from drilling platforms as well as wastewater from deck cleaning
should be treated at the wastewater treatment facilities on the platforms until they meet the
standard before being discharged into the sea;

Wastewater generated from the oil and gas separation process as well as municipal
wastewater from the production platforms should be treated at the wastewater treatment
facilities on the platforms until they meet the standard before discharged into the sea;

Oil-contaminated wastewater generated from maintenance activities (such as facility
maintenance, well maintenance etc.) as well as other wastewater from the production
platforms should be collected and then transported back to the land for recycling and
treatment;

Engine room wastewater and municipal wastewater from boats and ships should be
 collected and stored at the same place before being transported to those treatment facilities
as approved by the Maritime Bureaus for recycling and treatment;

Hospital wastewater should be treated at independent hospital wastewater treatment
facilities established by the hospital services;

Municipal wastewater generated on land should be treated using the municipal wastewater
treatment facility and pipeline network or using its own separate sewage treatment facilities;

Municipal wastes generated on land should be handed to the localities for disposal along
with other wastes.

5.6 Measures to protect coastal wetlands

Our government attaches great importance to the protection of wetland biodiversity. To prevent
and control water pollution both in the sea and in inland water bodies, the government has actively
implemented various management regulations and measures in gradual steps to the effect that our
water pollution control and prevention efforts are becoming more and more effective. Many
explorative work have been done in strictly controlling the emission of wastewater, waste gas and
solid wastes from industrial enterprises, in reducing the pollution of wetlands by pesticides and
fertilizers, in preventing damage to wetlands by geological and oceanic disasters as well as in
preventing and controlling pollution by wastes from boats and ships.

5.6.1 Protection action relevant to offshore and coastal wetlands

To strengthen the protection and management of wetlands, relevant departments within the
government have promulgated a series of policies and measures in order to achieve sustainable
development of wetland resources and environment:
In 1994, the State Environmental Protection Administration and relevant departments in the
forestry sector compiled the China Biodiversity Protection Action Plan. The Plan serves as a
programmatic document guiding the nationwide efforts to protect biodiversity. It puts forward targets
and action plans for the protection of all kinds of biological resources including wetland biological
resources.
In 1996, the State Council approved the Trans-Century Green Engineering Plan, which includes a
large number of national and local wastewater treatment and ecological environmental protection
projects.
In 1998, the State Council formally promulgated the National Ecological Environment
Construction Plan, which comprehensively planned ecological environment construction within the
country by the middle of this century.
In 2000, the State Forestry Bureau and 16 other Ministries (Commissions and Bureaus) jointly
promulgated the China Wetland Protection Action Plan. This Action Plan will serve as a guide to
action for all departments and governments at all levels in protecting wetlands. It is a programmatic
document guiding the protection and reasonable use of wetlands in the future.
In 2000, the State Council printed and distributed the National Ecological Environmental
Protection Guideline, which requires that rescue protection are necessary for key ecological
functioning zones that play a specially important role in ensuring national ecological environmental
safety. It also requires that mandatory protection will be enforced to protect the ecological
environment in key resource development areas.
In 2001, the State Forestry Bureau promulgated and implemented the Overall Plan for the
Protection of Wild Flora and Fauna and the Construction of Nature Reserves. The monitoring and
restoration of wetlands are important components of this Plan.
In 2003, the State Council approved the National Wetland Protection Plan that was compiled by
the State Forestry Bureau, the State Development and Reform Commission and 7other ministries and
commissions. Coastal wetland protection and restoration is an important component of this Plan. It
includes a comprehensive survey and assessment of China’s mangrove resources and condition;
gradual recovery of mangrove resources; the protection and appropriate use of mangrove resources in
different regions through setting up demonstration bases; assessment of the potential impacts and
threats of oil drilling, salt field and agricultural activities on wetlands in Liaohe River, Yellow River,
Yangtze River and Pearl River delta areas; increased protection of rare and endangered wild fauna and
their habitats in the region; establishment of migratory bird research bases in water fowl concentrated
areas; strengthened protection of important wetland ecosystems in urban, industrialized and seriously
polluted rim-Bohai Sea coastal wetlands; establishment of demonstration areas for wetland use and
development with a benign cycle and increased ecological and economic value; comprehensive
recovery and improvement of degraded coastal wetland eco-systems based on ecological engineering
as technological support.

5.6.2 Establishment of wetland nature reserves

Starting from the 1970s, China has started to establish coastal mangrove and wetland nature
reserves for migratory birds. By December 2001, the number of coastal wetland nature reserves
reached 82, with a total area of 3.965 million hectare. Among these 82 nature reserves, 17 are at the
national level with a total area of 0.983 million hectare, 26 are at the provincial level with a total area
of 2.806 million hectare, and 39 are at the municipal and county level with a total area of 0.175
million hectare. 9 coastal nature reserves have been included in the list of internationally important
wetlands under the Wetland Convention. They are the spotted seal reserve in Dalian city of Liaoning,
Yancheng city of Jiangsu Province, the David’s deer reserve in Dafeng, Chongming Dongtan in
Shanghai, Mipu-Houhaiwan in Hong Kong, Huidong port in Guangdong Province, the Mangrove
reserve in Zhanjiang city, Dongzhai port in Hainan Island and the Mangrove reserve in Shankou of
Guangxi Autonomous Region. 5 offshore and coastal nature reserves have been included in the Man
and Biosphere Network, East Asia - Australia Wading Waterfowl Protection Network and East Asia
Goose and Duck Protection Network.

5.6.3 Phase II of the national coastal protection forest belt project

In 1988, in order to achieve the coordinated development of economy and environmental
protection and to improve and protect the coastal ecological environment, the State Development
Planning Commission approved the National Plan for the Construction of Coastal Protection Forest
Belt as document [1988] 174. By the end of 2000, after a decade of efforts, phase I of the national
coastal protection forest belt project was completed, registering tremendous achievement in the
construction work. However, forestry eco-systems in coastal areas are still at a low standard and the
costal ecological environment is still very fragile and a far cry from meeting the demand of economic
development in the coastal areas. In 2000, the State Forestry Bureau headed the compilation of the
National Plan for the Phase II of the Coastal Protection Forest Belt Project.

5.7 Protection of resources for coastal tourism

China has strengthened the development and protection of tourism resources in coastal regions
and built costal tourism projects with local characteristics. In this process, China has endeavored to
promote the sustainable use of coastal tourism resources and regional economic development to the
effect that marine tourism resources have been effectively protected and coastal tourism is now on
road towards sustainable development. In order to raise public awareness of using marine resources
based on laws, the marine department has launched monthly campaigns to educate the public about
the Law on Marine Areas through activities in various forms. China has implemented the “user pays”
principle by issuing user permits, charging user fees and has adopted laws, regulations and various
systems as effective guarantees for marine management. These measures have contributed to the
effective protection of natural scenery and ecological environment in tourism areas and promoted
tourism development. Mangrove, coral reefs and other tourism resources in Guangxi have been put
under protection through scientific, reasonable and effective marine management, which laid a good
foundation for large-scale development of coastal tourism.

5.8 Specific scientific studies

The Ministry of Science and Technology of China and other relevant ministries and departments
have conducted a series of scientific studies on the protection of the marine environment. They
include:

National “Ninth Five-Year” project “Key Technological Study on the Sustainable Use of
Coastal Environment and Resources”;

National “Tenth Five-Year” project “Aquaculture Capacity and Environmental Optimization
Technology in Bay Systems”;

13 national “973” projects;

8 national “863” plan projects;

6 basic work projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

6 specific science and technology projects of the State Development Planning Commission;

5 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation;

National public-interest study on “Measures for protecting the environment of key fishery
water areas and restoring the ecosystem”;

Key fund project of the China Aquaculture Science Research Institute-“Study on the
technology for restoring the ecological environment in shellfish aquaculture areas on shores
and beaches;

Agriculture Leapfrog Plan Project-“Shellfish healthy production technology system
demonstration”;

Guangdong Province “Tenth Five Year” key science and technology project-“Study on the
capacity for aquaculture in netted cases in shallow seas and the biological technology for
environmental restoration;

Science and Technology Committee of the Shandong Province-“the restoration, adjustment
and control of the degradation of shores and beaches caused by shellfish aquaculture”.

5.9 Management measures

Since 1998, the State Environmental Protection Administration has taken a series of measures to
protect the marine environment, which has yielded tangible results. The main management measures
are as follows:
1. To strengthen marine protection from land-based pollution and advance the implementation
of Bohai Blue Sea Action Plan
The State Environmental Protection Administration has organized the compilation of the Bohai
Blue Sea Action Plan and started the implementation after it being approved by the State Council. The
Action Plan is included in the 33211 key projects of the National Tenth Five Year Plan for
environmental protection. Under the supervision and guidance of the State Environmental Protection
Administration, environmental degradation in Bohai sea has been brought under preliminary control
thanks to efforts in building municipal sewage treatment plants, garbage disposal plants, coastal
ecol-agriculture, eco-forestry, pollution control in small river basins, oil pollution prevention and
control at ports and wharfs, emergency response to oil spillage on the sea and the prohibition of
phosphorous. The years after 2002 has never seen one incidence of large-scale red tide. The
prohibition of the use of phosphorous has shown progress. All these played a significant role in
promoting the sustained, rapid and healthy development of the rim-Bohai sea area.

2. To actively carry out the zoning of offshore areas based on environmental functions to
provide a scientific base for offshore costal environmental management
Thanks to a decade of persistent efforts, the zoning of offshore areas based on environmental
functions has been completed by 11 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions under the
organization of the State Environmental Protection Administration. Zoning reports have been
published. So was a Management Ordinance on the Zoning of Offshore Areas based on Environmental
Functions, as signed by the Minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration, which
provided a scientific base for realizing the goals of the responsibility system in China’s coastal areas.

3. To guide local governments in coastal regions in establishing good working mechanisms to

ensure sound coastal environment
According to the targets of the tenth fiver year plan for national environmental protection, China
has organized 7 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central
government in compiling and initiating the Blue Sea Action Plan. The goal is to form a national plan
for marine environmental protection based on the principle of coordinating the protection of rivers,
seas and oceans from land-based pollution. Local governments are responsible for organizing the
implementation of the projects. The environmental department is responsible for heading the
coordination. General departments provide active support. Ocean-related departments are responsible
for the working mechanisms so as to maintain the present conservation of China’s offshore coastal
ecological environment.

4. To promote capacity building for China’s environmental protection and management

Environmental protection and management uses modern environmental monitoring technology
as means. Data from environmental monitoring as well as the scientific analysis of the data provide
basis for decision-making and management. Capacity building for monitoring is of special
significance for marine environmental protection. As required by the leaders of the State
Environmental Protection Administration, 7 more offshore environmental monitoring stations have
been established in addition to the monitoring network already existing in China’s 4 sea areas,
forming an all-round, multi-element environmental monitoring system that meets the demands of
marine environmental protection in a new age. The State Environmental Protection Administration
also uses funds from international projects on marine environment to support studies and purchase and
upgrade equipments for marine environmental monitoring, analysis and experiments to the effect that
the environmental monitoring capacity of the State Environmental Protection Administration has been
strengthened.

5. To improve the legal system of marine environmental laws to standardize the administration
and management of marine environmental protection
According to the stipulations of the Marine Environmental Law, the State Environmental
Protection Administration has actively organized relevant institutions and legal experts to revise the
two articles on “prevention and control of pollution damage to marine environment by land-based
pollutants” and “prevention and control of pollution damage to marine environment by coastal
construction projects”. The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has also included
environment function zones in coastal cities as one of the indicators for assessment of municipalities,
cities competing for the title of model cities, and ecological demonstration areas. SEPA has also
adjusted the position of monitoring stations based on the overall plan for environmental monitoring in
offshore sea areas. The Report on the Environmental Quality of China’ Offshore Marine Areas and the
Weekly Report on the Water Quality of Bathing Beaches in Key Cities have been compiled and
published.

6. To provide key technological support for China’s marine ecological environmental

protection through international marine environmental projects
Thanks to hard efforts, the South China Sea project has received 2 million USD and 14.8 million
RMB from GEF and the Ministry of Finance. The projects include researches on the protection of seas,
mangrove, wetlands and sea grass from land-based pollution, which helped to find out the present
condition of marine ecological environment and resources in the three coastal provinces in Southern
China. Policy recommendations have been raised based on the analysis of this baseline investigation,
which played a significant guiding role in the making of regional marine and coastal ecological
environmental protection plan. As of today, a national database of projects has been established and
national action plans have been adopted. Thanks to all these solid work and data as well as clear
concepts, 4 projects won first prize for demonstration zones at the Technical Working Group Meeting
of 7 South China Sea Projects. They are the prevention and control of pollution of Lingding Sea by
land-based pollution in Guangdong, wetland protection in Pearl river mouth, protection of mangrove
in Qinglan port in Hainan, protection of sea grass in Hepu of Guangxi Autonomous Region. These
four projects will enter into construction phase next year. In addition, the northwest Pacific project,
the Sino-Korean environmental survey project of the Yellow sea, the East Asia sea project and the
GPA project have all yielded evident progress.
5.10 Work Plan for Next Phase
Future marine environmental protection will be people-centered and scientific by adhering to the
principle of coordinating rivers, seas and land and environmental plans. It will be done in combination
with the adjustment of economic structure, controlling pollution emission, strengthening
environmental treatment in key regions and actively conducting ecological conservation.
1. Further strengthen environmental management and strictly control the total emission of
pollutants
To advance economic structural adjustment and control the total emission of major pollutants.
The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) should make use of the opportunity of
economic structural adjustment and phase out and close down resource-consuming, heavy-polluting
outdated technologies, equipments and enterprises. The Law on the Promotion of Cleaner Production
and the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment should be carried out in full earnestness to promote
technological advances of enterprises, lower energy and resource consumption and reduce pollution
emission. SEPA will also implement the pollution discharge permit system and greatly promote
cleaner production in order to effectively reduce the total emission of industrial pollutants.
Environmental supervision of enterprises will also be strengthened through requiring all
pollutant-discharging enterprises to meet the standards and control the total load of emission. SEPA
will also effectively control pollution from sea-going river basins and reduce the total amount of
land-based pollutants entering seas and oceans. More than 80% of the pollution of offshore sea areas
is land-based. Therefore the control and treatment of pollution of river basins is of vital significance to
the protection of marine environment.

2. Speed up the construction of pollution treatment facilities in cities and towns and raise the
comprehensive level of urban environmental management
SEPA will speed up the pace in constructing urban sewage treatment plants and garbage disposal
plants through market mechanisms like BOT and TOT. New urban sewage treatment plants are
required to install de-sulfurizing and de-phosphorizing facilities to ensure effective reduction of
nitrogen and phosphorous. Garbage will be sorted while being collected and recycled to minimize the
amount of garbage generated and recycle in an environment-friendly manner.

3. Further strengthen non-point source pollution control and environmental protection in rural
areas
SEPA will advance the construction of ecological demonstration areas while adhering to the
relevant indicator system; encourage the scientific and appropriate use of pesticides and fertilizers and
promote soil conservation and pollution control in small river basins; consolidate the ban on the use of
phosphorous; explore building demonstration areas of comprehensive environmental management in
coastal regions; promote environmental protection in small cities and townships; strictly carry out
environmental impact assessment of the planning of small cities and townships; increase the support
for and guidance of building environmentally beautiful small cities and townships and give full play to
their demonstrating role for the countryside; strengthen environmental management of livestock
farming and costal aquaculture; standardize the environmental management and treatment of livestock
farming and ensure that emissions meet standards; adjust the structure and layout of aquaculture in
coastal areas and optimize the density and area of aquaculture; promote industrialized aquaculture and
eco-aquaculture; encourage the production of green food by building eco-agriculture and eco-forestry.

4. Strengthen the management of environmental functions in offshore sea areas and marine
pollution control and prevention
SEPA will increasingly strengthen the management of environmental function zones in order to
realize the targets in the Tenth Five Year plan for water quality in offshore sea areas; strengthen the
prevention and control of marine pollution by increasing the supervision and management of pollution
receiving and disposal facilities at ports and on docks; establish systems for monitoring pollutant
discharge from in- and out-bounding ships and boats; set up systems for managing the discharge of
ballast water from ships and boats; initiate the zero emission plan for oil-contaminated pollutants from
ships and boats; start sealing pollution outlets on ships and boats with lead; strengthen the prevention
and control of pollution from fishing boats and fishing ports by requiring all large fishing ports to
establish recycling and treatment facilities of waste water, waste oil and wastes; require medium- and
large-size fishing boats to complete installing facilities for separating oil from water; require
small-size fishing boats to collect oil-contaminated waste water for treatment at a centralized location;
strengthen the supervision and management of marine projects like offshore oil exploration and
development and ocean dumping; encourage new ocean oil development projects to achieve zero
emission of pollutants; intensify the supervision and monitoring of dumping operations; control the
total amount of wastes dumped at the sea based on zoning; adopt measures to prevent major marine
environmental pollution accidents; actively advance the implementation of the Emergency Response
Plan to Major Oil Spillages from Ships and Boats; improve the construction of oil-spillage emergency
response system; supervise and guide relevant institutions in making and implementing emergency
response plans to pollution accidents.

5. Strengthen departmental cooperation and supervision and establish coordinated and

effective working mechanisms
SEPA will endeavor to coordinate between governmental departments of planning, trade and
commerce, finance, science and technology, construction, transportation, water conservancy,
agriculture, forestry, oceanography and others; ensure law enforcement and implementation of
functions; increase input in law enforcement and raising management capacities. The State
Environmental Protection Administration will work jointly with relevant departments in inspecting the
implementation of plans at all localities and report the results to the State Council while publicizing
them to the public when necessary.

6. Strengthen ecological conservation and promote the harmonious co-existence of man and
nature
SEPA will complete national zoning of ecological functions and make national plans for
ecological conservation; organize demonstrations of building national key ecological function zones
and nature reserves; strengthen the protection of biological diversity and key ecological systems;
increase the supervision of ecological conservation in the development of mineral resources and
tourism resources; keep up with the ecological conservation of national key development and
construction projects; conduct the environmental monitoring of soil in key regions; prevent and
control agricultural non point source pollution and pollution by livestock farming; protect the rural
environment.

7. Advance the development of circular economy and endeavor to achieve the win-win
situation of economy, society and environment
SEPA will continue building pilot demonstrations for ecological provinces, zones, industrial
parks and circular economy; actively create national model cities of environmental protection,
environmentally beautiful villages and townships, green communities, green schools and national
environment-friendly enterprises; guide the making of environmental planning for the Eleventh Five
Year Plan based on science and the concepts of people-centered and circular economy.

8. Adhere to administering based on laws and cracking down on environmental illegal conduct
SEPA will continue the environmental campaign to clean up illegal and polluting enterprises for
guaranteeing public health; solve environmental issues that affect the general public; cooperate with
legal departments in establishing joint law enforcement systems and mechanisms; promote the study,
education and implementation of the Administrative Permit Law.

9. Strengthen international environmental exchange and cooperation

SEPA will strengthen international exchange and cooperation based on key domestic agenda and
taking into account local actual conditions; import advanced environmental concepts, management
experience, technology and funds; implement international environmental conventions and public
environmental education; enhance communication and understanding; build up the international image
of being responsible for the global environment; create a favorable environment for economic
development; make active contribution towards national sustainable development.
 Chapter VI Implementation of the Pollution Control Plans of Key
River Basins and Marine Areas
The pollution control projects for the three rivers (the Huaihe River, the Haihe River, and the
Liaohe River), three lakes (the Taihu Lake, the Caohu Lake, and the Dianchi Lake), and the Bohai Sea
are key river basin and marine area pollution control projects developed during the Ninth Five Year
Plan period and approved by the State Council. The implementation of these projects has played an
important role in preventing further degradation of marine environment and in restoring and
improving the marine ecosystem. These projects are: Water Pollution Control Plans of the Huaihe
River Basin, the Haihe River Basin, the Liaohe River Basin, the Taihu Lake, the Caohu Lake and the
Dianchi Lake for the Period of the Tenth Five Year Plan, and the Blue Sea Action Plan for the Bohai
Sea. At present, the Three Gorges reservoir area and the area along the south-north water diversion
lines are also defined as key areas of water pollution control.
All the above-mentioned water pollution control plans that contribute to protecting marine
environment form land-based activities are being implemented smoothly. The water quality of rivers is
comparatively stable. The worsening trend of water quality has been basically held up.

6.1 Huaihe River Basin

6.1.1. More than half of the planned pollution control projects have been in the process of
implementation.
There are 482 planned projects of which 129 have been completed accounting for 26.4% of the
total; 118 are under construction, accounting for 24.2% of the total; 235 have not been started,
accounting for 48.4% of the total. The total planned investment is 23.94 billion yuan of which 8.33
billion have been spent on the projects with state investment accounting for 15%.

6.1.2. Two thirds of key polluting enterprises have met the wastewater discharge standard
The results of the on-site monitoring of the total discharge amount of COD and ammonia
nitrogen in 531 industrial pollution sources and waste water treatment plants which account for 80%
of the total industrial pollution load showed that 334 met the discharge standard accounting for 37.1%
of the total. The ratio of standard-meeting of the key pollution sources in four provinces – Shandong,
Jiangsu, Henan, and Anhui- is 84%, 75%, 64.9%, and 42.1% respectively. The main
standard-exceeding enterprises are concentrated on paper, chemical and tanning industries accounting
for 90% of the total standard-exceeding enterprises. They are mainly located in Zhengzhou, Kaifeng,
and Luohe of Henan province and along some tributaries of the Huaihe River (Neiwo River, Huihe
River, and Tuohe River) within the jurisdiction of Bengbu municipality and Suzhou municipality of
Anhui province accounting for 50% of the total standard-exceeding enterprises. The incremental value
of industrial production in Huaihe River basin maintained a high growth rate of 20% or above in the
period between January and November, 2003. Some illegal enterprises driven by profit-pursuing
frequently discharged their pollutants exceeding the standard. At the same time, some new pollution
sources were added. As a result, the total industrial pollution load in Bengbu city has seen an increase,
instead of decreasing.

6.1.3. The total discharge amount of pollutants declined, and half of the river sections met
the standard
In 2003,the total amount of COD and ammonia nitrogen discharged into the Huaihe River was
600,000 tons and 100,000 tons respectively (the Tenth Five Year Plan target is 466,200 tons/year and
91,400 tons/year respectively). 60% of the total amount reduction target was realized. There were 29
rivers out of 58 key rivers whose total amount of inflow COD and ammonia nitrogen exceeded the
standard.
There are 111 water quality control cross-sections along the Huaihe River specified by the “Plan”,
of which 60 have met the requirement of planned water quality target accounting for 54.1% of the
total; 51 have not met the target requirement accounting for 45.9% of the total. There are 25
trans-provincial boundary sections, of which 16 reached the requirement of the planned target
accounting for 64% of the total; 9 have not met the target requirement accounting for 36% of the total.
Since 2000, 70% of the water quality control sections in the Huaihe River basin have shown a
declining trend of COD concentration while 30% have been stable or had minor increase. There is no
tangible change of ammonia nitrogen concentration.

6.2 Haihe River Basin

186 waste water treatment plants have been planned to be constructed, of which 18 have been
constructed accounting for 9.7% of the total; 57 are under construction accounting for 30.6% of the
total; 75 are in the process of project preparation accounting for 40.3% of the total; 36 have not been
initiated accounting for 19.4% of the total. Table 6–1 shows the implementation status of the projects
in Haihe River basin.

6.3 Liaohe River Basin

There are 65 planned waste water treatment plants, of which 9 have been completed accounting
for 13.9% of the total; 21 are under construction accounting for 32.3% of the total; 27 are in the
process of preparation accounting for 41.5% of the total; 8 have not been started accounting for 12.3%
of the total. Table 6–2 shows the implementation status of the projects in Liaohe River basin.

Table 6-1 Projects implementation status in the Haihe River basin

Projects Projects under Projects in Projects not

Total planned completed construction preparation been started
City or projects
Provinces
% amount
amount % Amount % amount %

Beijing 15 4 26.7 8 53.3 2 13.3 1 6.7

Tianjing 17 2 11.8 8 47.0 7 41.2

Shanxi 25 2 8.0 9 36.0 11 44.0 3 12.0

Shandong 20 5 25.0 9 45.0 2 10.0 4 20.0

Henan 24 3 12.5 2 8.3 7 29.2 12 50.0

Hebei 85 2 2.4 21 24.7 46 54.1 16 18.8

Table 6-2 Project implementation status in Liaohe River basin
Projects Projects under Projects in Projects not been
Total completed construction preparation initiated
Provinces planned
amount amount amount
projects % % % amount %

Jilin 10 4 40 4 40 2 20

Inner
18 2 11.1 4 22.2 8 44.5 4 22.2
Mongolia

Liaonong 37 3 8.1 13 35.1 17 46.0 4 10.8

6.4 Taihu Lake Basin

6.4.1 Implementation status of the planned projects

255 projects have been listed in the “Plan”, of which 137 have been completed accounting for
53.6% of the total; 93 are under construction accounting for 36.5% of the total; 25 have not been
initiated accounting for 9.8% of the total. The planned investment in these projects is 21.955 billion
yuan of which 13.22 billion yuan have been spent on the projects accounting for 60.2% of the total.
(1) wastewater treatment projects
Out of the 93 planned wastewater treatment plants, 37 have been completed accounting for 39.8%
of the planned total; 40 are under construction accounting for 43.0% of the total; 15 are in the initial
stage of implementation accounting for 16.1%; one project has been canceled. 6.46 billion yuan has
been invested in projects accounting for 60.2% of the total planned investment. The established
wastewater treatment capacity is 1.76 million tons per day accomplishing 55.0% of the planned
capacity.
(2) solid waste treatment and disposal projects
There are 13 planned solid waste disposal facilities of which 6 have been constructed accounting
for 46.2% of the planned total; 3 are under construction accounting for 23.1% of the total; 4 have not
been started accounting for 30.8% of the total. Accomplished investment is 540 million yuan
accounting for 42.5% of the total planned investment. Disposal capacity of 2160 tons/day has been
established accomplishing 42.6% of the planned disposal capacity.
(3) industrial pollution control projects
Among the 87 planned industrial pollution control projects, 74 have been completed accounting
for 85.1% of the planned total; 11 are under construction accounting for 12.6% of the total; two
projects have not been started accounting for 2.3% of the total. The accomplished investment is 63.67
million yuan accounting for 74.2% of the total planned investment.
(4) dredging projects
Out of 7 planned projects, 1 has been completed accounting for 14.3% of the total; six are under
construction accounting for 85.7% of the total. The accomplished investment reached 1.67 billion
yuan accounting for 42.0% of the total planned investment.
(5) non-point pollution source control projects
There are 14 planned projects of which 6 have been completed accounting for 42.9% of the total;
eight are under construction accounting for 57.1% of the total with accomplished investment of 3.78
billion yuan accounting for 65.0% of the total planned investment.
(6) drinking water projects
Out of the 12 planned projects 6 have been completed accounting for 50% of the total; 3 are under
construction accounting for 25%; 2 have not been initiated accounting for 17%; 1 has been canceled
accounting for 8%. Total accomplished investment was 476 million yuan accounting for 20.7% of
the total planned investment.
(7) ecological restoration projects
All 4 planned projects are under construction with accomplished investment of 150 million yuan
accounting for 33.8% of the total planned investment.
(8) projects in some special line industries
There are 8 planned pollution control projects for some special industrial sectors, all of which are
under construction. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the out-of-date ships are being phased out and
ships navigating in the Taihu Lake are requested to install oil-water separation equipment and
wastewater and solid waste collection facilities in accordance with the requirements specified in the
“Plan”. The accomplished investment in the projects is 28.272 million yuan accounting for 45.6% of
the total planned investment.
(9) management and capacity-building projects
There are 17 planned projects in this aspect of which 5 have been completed accounting for
29.4% of the planned total;10 are under construction accounting for 58.8% of the total; 2 projects have
not been started. The accomplished investment is 49.185 million yuan accounting for 84.8% of the
total planned investment.

6.4.2. The total discharge amount of key pollutants

The average reduction rate of COD, TP, and TN is 50.7% (COD reduction – 46,500 tons,
accomplishing 41% of the Tenth Five Year Plan target requirement; TP reduction – 1,800 tons
accomplishing 90% of the target requirement; TN reduction – 6,600 tons accomplishing 21% of the
target requirement). The main reason for the dramatic reduction of the total phosphorus (TP) is that in
the past two years Jiangsu province has made great efforts in controlling pollution from poultry and
cattle husbandry resulting in the reduction of TP by 136%. The reduction amount of TP by poultry and
cattle husbandry accounted for 83% of the total TP reduction. According to the available statistics, the
construction of municipal sewage treatment plants has made the largest contribution to the reduction
of COD, ammonia nitrogen, and TP, and followed by the pollution control of poultry and cattle
husbandry.

6.5 Bohai Sea Area

6.5.1. General progress
Since the approval of “the Bohai Sea Plan” by the State Council two years ago, provinces and
cities around the Bohai Sea and relevant departments of the State Council has intensified efforts
through active coordination, creative approaches, and synergy in accelerating the construction of
municipal wastewater treatment plants and solid waste disposal facilities, adjusting industrial structure,
controlling industrial pollution, promoting clean production, “ban on phosphorus”, protecting
wetlands, coastal reforestation, and comprehensive controlling of non-point pollution sources. As a
result, the implementation of the Bohai Sea Plan has yielded tangible progress.
There are 273 planned projects for the Tenth Five Year Plan period. Up to now in the thirteen
cities surrounding the Bohai Sea, 60 projects in the “Plan” have been completed, 106 are under
construction and 107 not being started accounting for 21.98% and 38.83% and 39.2% of the planned
total respectively. The worsening trend of water quality in the inshore sea area has been preliminarily
curbed, and the frequency and scope of the red tide breakout has been apparently declining due to the
implementation of the Bohai Sea Plan.
Table 6-3 Project Implementation Status in Bohai Sea Area
Total Projects in
Planned Projects On-going preparation or
City or province projects Completed projects Not being
started

Shandong 105 29 38 38

Liaoning 56 7 26 23

Tianjin 75 8 26 41

Hebei 37 16 14 7

Total 273 60 106 107

The construction of 78 wastewater treatment plants in four cities and provinces has been included
in the Bohai Sea Plan. At present, 28 projects are in the process of preparation – 7 in Shandong
province, 9 in Liaoning province, 10 in Tianjin municipality, and two in Hebei province. There are 32
planned solid waste disposal facilities for the four cities/provinces of which 10 are under preparation
or not started – seven in Shandong, 2 in Liaoning, 1 in Hebei. With regard to the non-point source
pollution control projects, 63 out of the 148 planned projects in the four cities/province are still in the
stage of preparation or not being started accounting for 42.56% of the total.

6.5.2. Status of project implementation and investment

(1) Municipal sewage treatment plant
Up to now, in the 13 cities surrounding the Bohai Sea, 16 sewage treatment plants have been
constructed, accounting for 20.5% of the planned total and 3 more than that in 2002; 34 are under
construction, accounting for 43.6% of the total, 9 more than that in 2002.
(2) Municipal solid waste disposal facilities
12 facilities have been constructed, accounting for 37.4% of the planned total and 10 more than
that in 2002; 10 are under construction, accounting for 31.25% of the total and 1 more than that in
2002.
(3) Non-point source pollution comprehensive control project related to eco-agriculture and
eco-husbandry
In the 13 rim-Bohai Sea cities, 26 non-point source pollution control projects have been completed
accounting for 17.57% of the planned total, 5 more than that in 2002; 59 are under construction
accounting for 39.86% of the total, 11 more than that in 2002. 4 cities in Shandong province have
finished 11 non-point source pollution comprehensive control projects of different types related to
eco-agriculture and eco-husbandry while 21 projects are under construction. In 5 cities in Liaoning
province, 9 projects have been completed while 15 projects are under construction accomplishing
investment of 496 million yuan. In Tianjin municipality, 16 projects have been completed while 6 are
under construction accomplishing investment of 4.085 billion yuan. Upon the completion of these
projects the annual reduction of COD, inorganic nitrogen, and inorganic phosphorus discharge will be
12,409 tons, 2,032 tons, and 470 tons respectively. Three cities in Hebei province have completed 7
projects with 9 projects still under construction.
With regard to the protected area project, Tianjin has finished 3 projects with 2 under
construction. Liaoning province completed 4 with 1 under construction..
 In addition, 4 provinces/cities, in accordance with the plan, have completed 6 projects of ship
pollution control and oil spillage emergency response, 4 more than that in 2002.

6.5.3. The change of the environmental quality

The sea water quality of Bohai Sea’s inshore area has seen some improvement after the
unremitting efforts made in the past few years. According to the report on the environmental quality of
China’s inshore areas, in 2002, Class I and Class II sea water in inshore area of the Bohai Sea
accounted for 38.1%, basically the same as that in 2001; Class IV and worse was 43.4%, 1.5% less
than that in 2001. In 2002, the total discharge amount of COD to the Bohai Sea from the four
provinces/cities was 161,362 tons, 39,937 tons less than the amount of 201,299 of 2001. The
biological species and population showed an increase in the sea area adjacent to the estuary area in
Panjin and Yingkou.
Monitoring results showed that, in the first half year of 2003, sea water in 63.8% of the inshore
area of the Bohai Sea was in Class III or better, 36.2% in Class IV or worse. Some time, the pollutant
concentration in sea water was even dozens of times higher than the standard. Heavy metal pollution
is quite serious in some areas.

6.6 Blue Sea Action Plan

China’s Blue Sea Action Plan was first developed and implemented for the Bohai Sea, which
covers part of land areas and all sea areas within the jurisdiction of Liaoning province, Tianjin
municipality, Hebei province, and Shandong province. The coastal provinces/cities of the Yellow Sea,
East Sea, and South Sea are in the process of developing their Blue Sea Action Plans.

6.6.1 The Blue Sea Action Plan of the Bohai Seat

The main actions in the plan:
- institutional arrangement with clear division of responsibility;
- making great efforts in promoting the concept of cycle economy and sustainable development;
strengthening the adjustment of industrial structure;
- strengthening management, monitoring, and supervision.

The main problems in the implementation of the Plan:

- conflict between economic growth and population, resource, and environment;
- uneven progress of project implementation;
- lack of project funding with limited funding sources;
- weak in capacity-building.

The main measures to be taken in next stage:

- further strengthen environmental management, strictly control the total amount of pollutant
discharge;
- speed up the construction of municipal pollution control facilities; carry out comprehensive
environmental management in urban areas;
- intensify non-point source pollution control; promote the environmental protection efforts in rural
areas;
- enhance the management of environmental functioning zones of inshore areas and marine
pollution control;
- strengthen the leadership with clear responsibility to make sure that every component of the plan
be implemented;
- enhance the sectoral coordination; intensify inspection and guidance, establish harmonized,
effective working mechanism.

6.6.2 Other Blue Sea Action Plans

The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has worked out a terms of reference
to guide coastal provinces/cities in other sea areas in developing Blue Sea Action Plans.
 The guiding principles of the terms of reference are:
Pursue a coordinated development of environmental protection and economic growth; Aim at
enhancing the staying power for the social and economic development of the coastal areas; Be based
on the restoration and improvement of water quality and ecological environment of the inshore areas;
Promote the shift of production and consumption patterns and economic growth mode; Integrate the
environmental management of inshore sea area, coastal land area, and rivers that flows into sea;
Emphasize on land-based pollution control and comprehensive environmental management of coastal
areas; Enhance legislation; Rely on science and technology; Intensify supervision; Implement in
phases; Pay special attention to the sea areas adjacent to heavily polluted cities, estuary areas, and bay
areas; Hold up the worsening trend of marine environment; Improve the marine environment; Enhance
the service function of marine ecosystem; Ensure the sustainable social and economic development of
coastal areas.

The targets of the Plan:

(1) Short-term target (2001 – 2005)

Marine environmental pollution will be preliminarily under control; the trend of ecological
damage will be mitigated to some extent; environmental quality will be improved in part of the marine
area.

The water pollution control plans of key river basins should be implemented seriously; the
achievements in industrial pollution control and the establishment of urban water functioning zones
should be maintained; promote clean production; construct & retrofit a number of municipal waste
water treatment plants; effectively reduce the total amount of pollutants discharged into sea. By the
year of 2005, land-based COD discharged into sea will be 10% less than that in 2000; phosphate,
inorganic nitrogen, and oil will be 15% less than 2000. Study on and develop pilot projects of
non-point source pollution control, eco-husbandry, and coastal environmental protected areas. Perfect
the monitoring system of ship pollutants discharge and the regulations on ballast water discharge;
Construct collection and treatment facilities for ship water pollutants at harbors; Establish the
emergency response system for oil spillage at sea; Preliminarily complete the construction pf coastal
environmental monitoring network.

(2) Medium-term target

Marine environmental quality will see preliminary improvement; Ecological damage will be
effectively under control.
By the year of 2010 land-based COD discharged into sea will be 10% less than in 2005; Phosphate
and inorganic nitrogen 15% less than 2005; oil 20% less than 2005 with emphasis on non-point source
pollution control. The water quality of inshore sea area will meet the requirements of environmental
functioning zones; promote ecological aquaculture; establish a number of demonstration areas of
coastal comprehensive environmental management; further perfect the construction of coastal
ecological buffering zones; preliminarily complete the construction of ship solid waste collection and
disposal facilities at harbors; monitor the status of ballast water discharge and its treatment; establish
monitoring and early warning system for environmental pollution and red-tide disaster.

(3) Long-term target

There will be a tangible improvement of marine environmental quality; Marine ecosystem sees
preliminary improvement.
Aim at fulfilling the requirements of environmental functioning zone in inshore sea areas;
preliminarily establish a sustainable ecosystem; the service function of the ecosystem will be
improved; the comprehensive environmental pollution control in a number of key marine areas will be
realized; marine aquaculture has basically shifted to eco-aquaculture; all mobile pollution source and
relevant activities will be under monitoring, inspection, and management.
 Chapter VII Relevant International Cooperation
7.1 General
One successful experience in China’s environment protection is to proceed from the situation of
our country, learn from the useful experience and techniques of other countries, and seek for
development and renovation all the time. The Chinese government has always been actively involved
in the protection of the global environment, strengthened international exchange and cooperation,
improved China’s capacity in solving environment problems, and played an active role in the
international cooperation of environment and development.

7.2 International conventions

As a member of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP),
China supports and has actively participated in the environmental affairs and activities of the United
Nations (UN) system and conducted fruitful cooperation with the UNEP.
As of now, China is a party to and has joined more than 50 international environmental
conventions. The ones related to marine environmental protection are:
• The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
• The 1969 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage
• The 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and
Other Matter
• The 73/78 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Shipping
• The 1990 International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and
Cooperation
• Convention on Biological Diversity
• Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based
Activities (GPA)
• The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat

Besides, China has signed over 20 bilateral environment agreement and memorandums with the
United States, the People’s Republic of Korea, Canada, India, the People’s Democratic Republic of
Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, Germany, Australia, Ukraine, Finland, Norway, Denmark, the
Netherlands, etc. China also maintains close relations with UN ESCAP and other organizations.
Through the mechanism of Northeast Asia Regional Environment Cooperation, Northwest Pacific
Action Plan, COBSEA, China has made is contribution to the environment and development of Asian
and Pacific region.
For all the time, the Chinese government endeavors to execute all the bilateral and multilateral
marine environment agreements in full earnestness, and strengthen regional marine environmental
cooperation with neighboring countries along the coastline.

7.3 Forms and areas for international cooperation

7.3.1 Forms of international cooperation
International cooperation focusing on the prevention of pollution from land-based activities:
• Bilateral and multilateral cooperation with governments of neighboring or other coastal
countries.
• Regional cooperation under the structure of Northwest Pacific Action Plan, East Asia Marine
Action Plan Coordinator, Northeast Asia Regional Environment Cooperation.
• Cooperation with international organizations like the United Nation Environment Program,
International Maritime Organization, etc.
• Cooperation with international financial organizations like the World Bank, Asian
Development Bank, etc.
• Cooperation with marine research institutes and university in varied ways.
 After China’s entry to the World Trade Organization, investors around the world are more and
more interested in the Chinese market and investment environment. New ways of international
cooperation are emerging, which normally involve NGOs or the commercial activities of private
enterprises and institutions. In these circumstances, their partners of marine protection in China also
has gradually changed from mainly governments previously to domestic enterprises and investors in
some costal townships through consolidate activities.

7.3.2 Areas for international cooperation

China’s international cooperation on prevention of pollution from land-based activities can be
carried out in a wide range of areas, which mainly includes:
• Policy and legislation for regional marine environment management.
• Science and technology for marine pollution prevention and ecological protection.
• Technique and equipment in cleaner production and urban sewage treatment.
• Advancement of national action plans on river basin water environment.

7.4 Key cooperation programs

7.4.1 UNEP/GEF South China Sea Program
Under the framework of COBSEA, the UNEP/GEF project of “Reversing Environmental
Degradation in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand” is a large-scale regional cooperation
project on marine environment that involves seven coastal countries (China, Vietnam, Cambodia,
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines). The project’s feasibility study report has been
revised after dozens of rounds of discussion between Chinese and UNEP experts and now meets the
needs of the Chinese side. Project implementation was started in 2002 and the duration will be 5 years.

The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) is responsible for organizing the
implementation of the UNEP/GEF South China Sea Program with the participation and coordination
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance and 7 other ministries as well as the people’s
governments of 3 coastal provinces on the coastline of South China Sea. Apart from GEF funding, the
program is also co-financed domestically by the Ministry of Finance, which makes it the first
co-financed GEF project in China. SEPA has selected four Chinese institutions to carry out the task
based on their technical strength and past achievements. They are the South China Institute of
Environmental Science, the South China Marine Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the
Zhongshan University, and the Guangxi Mangrove Research Center. In the 6 topics of the project,
China participates in the 4 areas of Mangrove, Seaweed, Wetland and Prevention of land-based
pollution. China’s participation in the areas of mangrove, seaweed and wetland mark the first time for
SEPA to conduct large-scale marine cooperation projects. The prevention of land-based pollution is
also in keeping with China’s priority and key areas of work and will therefore advance China’s
implementation of the blue sea action plans.

In the one year since the implementation of the South China Sea Program, China has achieved
significant phase progress. The national technical working group, after review, agreed that China has
achieved major progress in implementing the South China Sea Program in 2002 and the investigation
has yielded major findings in the three coastal provinces around the South China Sea. The seaweed
working group found, for the first time, more than 2000 hectares of seaweed field in the shallow sea
areas of Hainan Province, Guangdong Province and Guangxi Autonomous Region. The mangrove
working group has done a systematic survey of the coastal mangrove forests and found the most intact
and original wild ginkgo population, mangrove coastal dunes vegetation, semi-mangrove vegetation
transition population. The wetland working group preliminarily established the Chinese South China
Sea Wetland Geo-information System and has completed mapping coastal wetlands based on their
types and measuring the size of wetland areas. The working group on the prevention of land-based
pollution has preliminarily completed the survey and analysis of land-based pollution in South China
Sea and key investigation of the Pearl River Mouth and 3 hot areas (Beihai city, the catchments area of
Nanliujiang and Dayawan) and has preliminarily established an information system on land-based
pollution in South China Sea.

7.4.2 Northwest Pacific Action Plan

The Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP) is one of the 14 regional sea actions plans
organized by UNEP for marine environment protection. The objective of NOWPAP is to promote
regional cooperation among coastal countries along northwest pacific region for the protection of
marine environment and promote marine environment protection work in each member countries.
China, Japan, Korean and Russia participated in NOWPAP as formal member countries while North
Korea participated as informal member countries. NOWPAP holds regular inter-governmental
meetings in which all member countries took part. The main tasks of the meetings are to deliberate the
scope and organization structure of NOWPAP, review its progress, work plan and financial budget,
and raise funds for NOWPAP. In order to organize the implementation of NOWPAP, it set up a trust
fund.

The 7 priority sub-projects of NOWPAP are:

• Comprehensive database and management information system (NOWPAP/1);
• National environmental policies, laws and strategies in the region (NOWPAP/2);
• Environmental monitoring and assessment of offshore and coastal environment and related
freshwater environment (NOWPAP/3);
• Preparation for and emergency response to marine pollution by oil spillage (NOWPAP/4);
• Establishment of an action plan coordination division (NOWPAP/5);
• Public communication and education of marine environmental protection (NOWPAP/6);
• Protection of marine environment from land-based pollution (NOWPAP/7).

The Chinese government has approved the action plan. To carry out the tasks is the concrete
action that the Chinese government takes to implement international commitments and Agenda
21. Through project implementation, China will manifest its fundamental policies on marine
environment, safeguard national interests and rights and the good image of the government, and
protect the marine environment.

7.4.3 Cooperation between China and CIDA

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Economic and Trade and Canadian International Development
Agency collaborate on 9 projects, including support to the China Council for International
Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), capacity building, biodiversity protection
and community development, etc.

7.4.4 Sino-Germany project on environment policy consulting service and environment

management
The Sino-Germany Development and Cooperation Joint Committee approved the captioned
project in May 2002. The duration of the project is 3 years with a grant of total of 3.5 million Euros.
The project was started on Jan. 1st, 2003. There are 4 subprojects, including: a) Environment policy
consulting; b) Business environment management; c) capacity building in the environmental
protection sector; d) national capacity building for ISO 14001. The Foreign Economic Cooperation
Office (FECO) of SEPA and the Tianjin Municipal EPB are responsible for the implementation of the
above projects. FECO and GTZ work jointly in establishing the project management office and are
responsible for the daily operation and management of the projects.

7.4.5 Sino-Netherlands Taihu lake pollution prevention master plan

In 1999, Grontmij from the Netherlands signed the agreement with FECO of SEPA to jointly
implement “Taihu lake pollution prevention master plan project”. The project carried out overall
assessment on Taihu lake basin’s social economic activities, water quality, ecological condition of the
lake, pollution status, management of the water resources in the basin, etc.; compiled “The Outline for
Pollution Prevention Master Plan ”. This would provide methodological suggestions and references
for domestic pollution control, as well as for the Netherlands government and enterprises for their
involvement in Taihu lake pollution control activities. The project received grant from the Netherlands
in the amount of 582,500 US dollars.

7.4.6 Sino-Korean Joint Committee cooperation

There are 16 cooperation projects under the Sino-Korean Joint Committee. Projects involve
research in the technology of non-point source water pollution control, acid rain, joint investigation on
Yellow Sea environment, waste compost, research in the technology for collecting and treating high
concentration organic wastewater, joint research on sand storm, etc.

7.4.7 Cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Environment

The present cooperation between China SEPA and the Italian Ministry of Environment covers 11
areas including biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, ozone layer protection, sustainable energy, etc.

7.4.8 Cooperation with the US EPA

There are 8 cooperation projects with the US EPA, 6 projects with the US Trade and
Development Agency (TDA) through the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Economic and Trade, and 1
project with the US East Asia and Pacific Environment Promotion Fund. The cooperation mainly
involves environment monitoring, health impact of environment pollution, green building, legislative
training, etc.

7.4.9 Cooperation with the Australian Embassy

There is one joint project with the Australian Embassy, namely “Policy Study on the
Development of Chinese Environmental industry”.

7.4.10 Sino-Japan Joint Committee cooperation

There are 6 projects with Japan through the channels of the Chinese Ministry of Science and
Techniques, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Economic and Trade. Another 30 projects are
through Sino-Japan Joint Committee. These projects are mainly in the areas of capacity building,
information system and technology research, etc.

7.4.11 Cooperation with the Swedish International Development Agency

The Swedish International Development Agency funds one project: “Sino-Swedish
Environmental Impact Assessment Training”.

7.4.12 China-ASEAN environment cooperation

In November 2002, China and ASEAN Countries Summit Meeting was held in Phnom Penh
of Cambodian. Two parties signed the agreement of “China and ASEAN Economic Cooperation
Framework Agreement”. It lays out clear and specific objectives, scales, means and timetable for the
establishment of the world largest free trade zone in 2010, which will hold the population of 1.7
billion people. China and ASEAN agreed to have environment protection as one area of bilateral
cooperation.

The rapid economic growth that China and ASEAN countries are experiencing, in particular with
the increasingly closer political, economic and trade, agricultural and forestry ties and cooperation
between ASEAN and China, Japan and Korea (10+3) and between ASEAN and China (10+1), the
region is also faced with mounting environmental pressure. As a key component of regional
cooperation, the signing of the framework agreement signifies not only the initiation of the
China-ASEAN free trade zone, but also more extensive cooperation between China and the ten
countries in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, the Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam)
 7.4.13 Northeast Asia Environment Cooperation Meeting
Northeast Asia Environment Cooperation Meeting is a policy dialogue mechanism for
environment authorities among China, Japan, Korea, Russia and Mongolia. It commenced in 1992
with a regular meeting every year. In the past 11 years, the five countries of Northeast Asia
Environment Cooperation have carried out dialogues and regional cooperation in the areas of
controlling regional sand storms, cross-boundary nature reserves of China, Russia and Mongolia,
industrial acid rain, Northwest Pacific marine pollution, Yellow Sea protection and development, etc.
The Northeast Asia Environment Cooperation Meeting increased mutual understanding, exchanged
experience and promoted cooperation. It is now one of the most important dialogue channels among
the five countries’ government environment authorities.
 Chapter VIII Suggestions for the Control of Land-Based Pollution
8.1 Coordination for nationwide blue sea activities
It is important to advance the compilation of the national blue sea action plan, and to strengthen
coordination, guidance, inspection and supervision. It is proposed that based on the joint meeting
mechanism of each blue sea activities, a trans-region, cross-sector blue sea activity coordination
leading entity be established, as mandated and approved by the State Council, with SEPA as the
leading agency and cooperating with other ministries and coastal provincial (city and autonomous
region) governments. Under this coordination leading entity, there will be a blue sea activity office,
which will be responsible for daily management, information exchange, liaison and coordination, etc.

8.1.1 Administrative responsibilities for carry through sea environment protection

(1) In line with each blue sea action plan objectives and tasks approved by the State, local
governments at coastal region should compile detailed implementation plan annually, in light
of the environment quality of specific region; include control of the total load of pollutants
discharged into thesea, targets and measures for improving inshore environment quality into
government working plan and economic & social development program. Furthermore, assign
relevant departments to carry out.
(2) Governments at both upstream and coastal region should all set down relevant environment
targets according to related blue sea action plans. And jointly define total emission load
control target for each region and water quality standard at the border, on the basis of
promulgated water quality standard at the firth and total volume of nitrogen, phosphorous
discharging into the sea. Provinces (cities) will be responsible for coordinating cross-region
(city) sea-going rivers. The central government will be responsible for coordinating
cross-province sea-going rivers and including it in the water pollution prevention and control
plan of the river basin.
(3) Local governments at coastal region should, in line with responsibilities for marine
environment protection, improve marine environment protection institution, strengthen law
enforcement personnel for marine protection at grass roots level, and enhance the overall law
enforcement capacity. Environment protection sectors at provincial and municipal levels in
coastal regions should set up marine environment management institutions. Those at county
levels in coastal regions should have specific personnel responsible for marine environmental
management. Other sectors like marine, maritime, fishery, etc, should strengthen marine
environment capacities according to their own responsibilities. They should work towards
reversing the situation of lack of measures for marine environment management, upgrading
monitoring, supervision level and equipment, gradually modernizing marine environmental
management, so that the supervision and management level can meet the requirement of blue
sea activities.
(4) The local governments at different levels in coastal region should play a strong leadership in
the blue sea activities; bring into full play all the concerned sectors and entities; gradually
improve the inshore environment quality; protect the public health; carry out constructions
that benefit marine ecological environment. Make active efforts to solve inshore marine
environment pollution and ecological degradation, so that gradually achieve coordinated
development of marine environment, economic and social development.

8.1.2 Strengthen legislative work

Strengthen legislative work. Establish and improve regional marine environment protection
legislation system.
(1) Formulate environment management regulation in each marine region. Provide fundamental
legislative criterion for carrying out blue sea activities.
(2) Further improve marine environment related standards system. Establish “Fishing boat
wastewater discharge standards ”, “Sea and pond aquaculture discharge standards”, “Marine
sediment pollution assessment standards”, “Marine organism pollutants assessment
 standards”, etc. thus fill in the vacancy in the marine environment standards system.
(3) Speed up the formulation of regulations on ship discharge pollutants management in each
marine region, regulations on coastal sand mining management, regulations on fishery
resources protection, regulations on ecological environment protection in fishery water area,
administrative rules on prohibition of manufacturing, sale and utilization of detergent
contains phosphorous in the coastal region, rules on bring in biological species from overseas,
rules on compiling emergency response plan for pollution accident of key enterprises in
coastal region, etc.
(4) Coastal provinces (city and autonomous region) and the municipalities, who have the
legislative authorities according to the “Legislation Law”, should strengthen local legislative
work on marine environment protection, in accordance with national marine environment
and recourses protection laws and regulations, as well as the specific inshore environment
quality status in each region. So that guarantee the blue sea activities are carried out under
the guidance of relevant laws and regulations.

8.2 Policies measures to strengthen environment management

In order to strengthen the environment management in coastal region, protect the ecological
environment in each sea area, following key policy measures are proposed to be part of the action
plan:
(1) When compiling marine industry development program and plans, the first industry should
just have a properly development, focus should be played on the development of second and
third industry.
(2) Coastal provinces (city and autonomous region) should promote non-phosphorous detergent
at full scale, and prohibit sale and use of detergent that contain phosphorous.
(3) Issue the list of key counties and districts for the control of pesticide and chemical fertilizer
in coastal provinces (city and autonomous region); set down control indicators and control
tasks; promulgate relevant rules and regulations. Carry out demonstrations on regional
comprehensive prevention for the non-point pollution that in connection with chemical
fertilizer, pesticide, animal husbandry, etc.
(4) The intensified livestock farms in coastal provinces (city and autonomous region) should in
comply with the discharge standards set for animal husbandry industry.
(5) New urban sewage plants should adopt more advanced denitrifying and dephosphorization
process. Sewage plants in existence should make improvement and promote efficiency.
(6) Coastal provinces (city and autonomous region) should base on local situation to define
marine ecological protection belt or ecological conservation zone along the seashore. In the
protection belt or conservation zone, prohibit all the activities like sand mining, aquaculture,
cultivation, destroy plants, etc.; not allowed to carry out new constructions and tourism
facilities; already cultivated land will be returned to nature; constructions and tourism
facilities in existence must all have the effluent meet the standards; for those who cannot
observe, will apply “close, stop, merge, and convert” within a deadline.
(7) In accordance with the State “Regulations on the management of ecological tourism”,
organize ecological tourism demonstration; promote the sound development of ecological
tourism in coastal region. Strengthen environment management over tourism, strictly control
tourism facilities construction in the tourist sites, improve sewage and garbage treatment
ratio in tourism areas. So that to achieve the phenomenon that tourism developed, tourists
increased, but pollution didn’t get worse at the same time. Part of the tourism income should
go to ecological recovery, ecological construction and pollution treatment facilities.
(8) In coastal provinces (city and autonomous region), according to the State issued
“Environment protection program guidance for small township construction ”, promote
township industry zone and centralized pollution control; strengthen environmental
infrastructure; protect key water body and species habitat, increase the coverage rate for
forest and grassland, construct garden community, so that set the models for township
environment protection and construction.
 (9) The effluent from sea petrol platform that contaminated by oil must meet the standards for
discharging.
(10) Strictly control any new waste dump zone in each sea areas. Carry out clean and evaluation
works for existing waste dump areas. For those have clear impact on marine ecological
system, will be closed within deadline. For new dump areas that have to be established, will
have rigorous review and adopt strong supervision.
(11) Control a reasonable area and density of aquaculture. Gradually prohibit direct fertilize to the
inshore water body. Carry out environmental impact assessment when have a new
aquaculture area.
(12) All the seaports should have the plan to construct collection and treatment facilities for
oil-contaminated water.
(13) Compile and promulgate “Rules on management of ballast water discharging from ships”.
(14) Equip oil and water separator in large and medium fishing boat, so that to have the discharge
of wastewater meet standards.
(15) Strengthen the management of garbage from the ships. Construct garbage- collecting
facilities in key ports.

8.3 Total volume control system

8.3.1 Establish supervision and inspection system
(1) The China State Environmental Protection Administration should carry out, jointly with
other concerned ministries, inspections on the implementation of blue sea action plans.
Governments at different levels of coastal provinces (city and autonomous region) should
include the progress of implementation of blue sea action plans in their Government Work
Report and report to the People’s Congress at same level or upper level.
(2) Environment protection departments at different levels in coastal provinces (city and
autonomous region) should conduct strict supervision on the treatment projects listed in the
Plans. Especially supervise the enterprises have been closed or stopped for production, so
that prevent making pollution by these enterprises again. Meanwhile, strengthen the analysis
and appraisal on the result of monitoring, find out reasons for abnormal situations; so that
provide basis for environment decision-making, and facilitate the smooth implementation of
the blue sea action plans.

8.3.2 Total Volume Control and other environment management systems

(1) Pollutants causing marine pollution are from different sources, like industrial wastewater,
domestic wastewater, agricultural non-point pollution, livestock husbandry, aquaculture,
transportation, aerial settlement, etc. Therefore, we can only realize protecting marine by
adopting comprehensive treatment of total volume control. Thus, on the basis of “one control,
two meeting standard”, according to “Marine Environment Protection Law” and blue sea
action plans, it is important to implement total volume control system for preventing
land-based pollution. The system of total volume control on pollutants discharge into sea can
started with source pollution control, gradually expand to non-point pollution control; based
on control of COD, expand to the control of nitrogen, phosphorous; start from target volume
control, convert to loading capacity control when time is ready.
(2) Actively promote cleaner production. For enterprises whose effluent can meet the standard
for discharging but exceed the permitted total volume, through cleaner production and
ecological construction to further reduce their pollution.
(3) Strict the enforcement of all the environment management systems. Especially strengthen the
implementation of systems like ”Environment Impact Assessment”, “Three Simultaneous”,
control within designated time, legal liability for violating environment law.
(4) Strictly observe the inshore environment functional program. Conducting shipping, survey,
development, production, tourism, scientific research and other activities along inshore, as
well as any entities or individuals whose action may have impact on inshore environment,
they all need to fully comply with inshore environment functional program for that region.
 All the local governments should strengthen the management for programmed environment
function zone; prohibit any juggle with the functional program by any entities or individuals;
adopt effective measures to protect the inshore environment quality.

8.4 Projects for the protection of marine environment against pollution

8.4.1 Projects of controlling industrial pollution sources
It is suggested that the state should support enterprises in terms of policy and technology in
their adjustment of industrial structure, technological innovation, and cleaner production.

8.4.2 Projects of urban sewage treatment

It is suggested that the state should further increase input in urban infrastructure facilities,
upgrade the sewer network and build centralized sewage treatment plants. It is also
suggested that the state should raise funds from multiple sources and explore for new ways
of operating sewage treatment plants so as to ensure the sound construction, management
and operation of sewage treatment plants.

8.4.3 Projects of constructing environmental facilities on ships and at ports

It is suggested that relevant governmental departments, based on the stipulations of the Law
on the Protection of Marine Environment, adopt regulations on controlling pollution from
ships and boats and constructing environmental facilities at ports. Ports in coastal regions
and boats anchored at seas should all invest in building environmental facilities on ships and
at ports as stipulated by relevant laws and rules. The government should support them in
technology screening and project demonstration when deemed necessary.

8.4.4 Projects of pollution control at oil drilling platforms

It is suggested that relevant governmental departments should further improve the system of
laws, regulations, rules and standards in strengthening the environmental management of
offshore oil platforms. Oil platforms should strengthen environmental management as
required and ensure the discharge of pollutants meet the standard.

8.4.5 Projects of non-point source pollution control

It is suggested that relevant governmental departments prioritize projects of shelter-forests
and soil conservation in the making of relevant plans and initiate project demonstration as
soon as possible in light of the actual situations of the rim-Bohai Sea area. They should give
full play to the role of local governments in eco-agriculture and eco-demonstration zone
projects and provide necessary guidance and support in policy and funding. The plan of
eco-demonstration zone should be submitted by local governments to the national
administrative authority for approval and will be supported by special funds.

8.4.6 Projects of controlling pollution by aquaculture

Aquaculture is a major factor in influencing the environmental quality of sea areas. The
action plan requires increasing the proportion of eco-aquaculture in order to reduce pollution.
It is suggested that relevant governmental departments should formulate technical standards
and guidelines for eco-aquaculture at their earliest convenience as well as implementation
plans for raising the share of eco-aquaculture.

8.4.7 Projects of engineering emergency response to marine pollution

Relevant governmental departments should make the overall plan and implementation plans
for projects of emergency response to marine pollution and fund the construction of these
projects together with local governments as they deem necessary.

8.4.8 Technical support system

Technical support system for plan implementation include capacity for environmental
 monitoring, system for marine environmental management, scientific and technological
research, and improvement of laws, standards

8.5 Public education and involvement

8.5.1 Public education for blue sea action plans
(1) Bring into full play of the influence of press media. Especially for disseminating the
importance of implementing the Plan.
(2) Carry out more regularized propaganda work for marine environment protection through all
the possible opportunities and different forms. Promote the whole society’s awareness on
marine environment protection, as well as relevant legal awareness and public involvement
awareness.
(3) Conduct different types of training classes on marine environment protection. Carry out
on-job training and assignment training to the management personnel at local environment
authorities in the coastal region. Improve the political and professional qualities of the
environment law enforcement staff. So that to maintain a group of professional staff with
marine environment supervision capacities.

8.5.2 Encourage public involvement for blue sea activities

(1) Carry out marine environment protection science and technology consultation activities.
(2) In the coastal provinces (cities and autonomous region), add marine environment quality
status report to their regular public report of environment quality and pollution information.
Provide information channels and feedback mechanism to public and civil communities, so
that to facilitate their involvement and supervision on marine environment protection work.
(3) Volunteer campaign organized by relevant State and local authorities from the coastal
provinces (cities and autonomous region).