China's Environmental Problems and Resources for the Future

China's Environmental Problems and Resources for the Future

中国的环境问题与将来资源研究机构



China is quickly becoming a dominant economic force worldwide in the 21st century. Rapid industrialization and social change have raised the standard of living for millions of its people, mainly in the East and Southeastern coastal provinces, who can now afford to buy washing machines, televisions, and, increasingly, cars.		中国在21 世纪正迅速地成为世界经济的一支主要力量。快速的工业化和社会变革已经使其数百万人民的生活水平得到了提升，尤其在东部和东南沿海省份，他们现已有能力购买洗衣机和电视机，而且私人汽车的数量也与日俱增。

But this success comes at great environmental cost. China has followed a pattern similar to many other countries of both the developed and developing world. The process of industrialization is often linked to deteriorating environmental quality and rarely turned around until a country has increased its standard of living.		但是，这种成功却是以沉重的环境代价换来的。中国至今所走的模式和许多其它已发展和发展中国家相类似。工业化的过程往往伴随着环境质量的恶化，并且在一个国家的生活水平提升之前几乎无法改善此种状态。

Increasingly severe problems associated with industrial growth threaten the health of Chinese households. Sixteen of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China, the result of burning brown coal, the dirtiest kind available, and the growing numbers of cars on the road. In many parts of the country, water is so polluted from manufacturing waste that it is unsafe to drink. Deforestation has intensified annual summer dust storms, and the sands of the Gobi desert have come within 200 miles of Beijing.		工业发展带来的问题日益严峻，对中国百姓的健康构成巨大威胁。全世界污染最严重的20 个城市中有16 个在中国，这是燃烧褐煤（最脏的煤）和汽车上路数量增多所造成的后果。在中国的许多地区，水源也因制造业废弃物之污染而无法安全饮用。采伐森林加剧了每年夏季的沙尘暴，戈壁滩的沙漠已逼近至距离北京不到200 英里的地方。

Severe air and water pollution throughout the country has triggered significant medical problems that the state health system is struggling to address, including rising rates of cancer and respiratory disease. These broad problems will take decades to solve but current government efforts are addressing smaller, more specific issues; for example, work is now underway to control air pollution in Beijing.		全国境内严重的空气和水源污染已引发了使得国家卫生系统疲于应付的医疗问题，包括不断升高的癌症和呼吸系统疾病发病率。这些大范围的问题将需要几十年才能解决，但是政府的当务之急是解决较小、较具体的问题，例如，正在进行之中之北京空气污染的治理工作。

Fortunately, the Chinese government has made pollution control an official goal and has recognized that lessons from the United States and other nations can be useful in China to stem further ecological degradation. One of these lessons is the need to contain the costs of necessary environmental quality reforms, given other competing priorities for scarce financial resources. This has increased the appeal of regulatory approaches that can improve environmental quality at a low cost. For this reason, Chinese environmental authorities have become very interested in U.S. programs that use market-based approaches to achieve the objectives of federal air quality standards at a lower cost than traditional regulatory methods.		幸运的是，中国政府已将污染治理列为其正式目标，并已认识到，美国和其它国家的经验教训将有助于中国防止进一步的生态恶化。其中教训之一是要限制有必要的环境质量改革成本，将紧缺的财政资源用于其它更重要的地方。这使人们更注意去采取能够以低成本改善环境质量的管理措施。因此，中国环保部门对美国的做法很感兴趣？即是采取以市场为基础，且成本低于传统管理方式的手段来实现联邦空气质量标准。