《时代》周刊就中国环境问题采访何平博士

TIME magazine reporter Bryan Walsh interviewed Dr. Ping He last Thursday (Dec. 7) on issues concerning China’s environmental problems. Here are main points discussed:
上周四 （十二月七日），《时代》杂志记者布赖恩·沃尔什就中国的环境问题采访了何平博士。
下面是讨论的主要部分。

Q: What is the most compelling env. problem presently in China?
问：目前，中国最主要的环境问题是什么？

A: Water problems. Based on data from the Ministry of Water Resources, ninety percent of surface water in urban has been polluted. More than 300 million people in rural areas are drinking un-sanitary water. Water pollution incidents occurred every month in last couple of years. Diseases caused by polluted water increased significantly. These are cumulative effects. Some lakes and rivers are saturated with pollutants.
答：水问题。基于水利部的数据，目前90%的城市地表水被污染。在农村地区，超过3亿人在饮用不卫生的水。在最近的几年中，每个月都会发生水污染事件。由于水污染导致的疾病急剧增加。这里边有累积的影响。一些河流和湖泊充满污染物。

Q: What should Chinese gov. do to control pollution?
问：中国政府应该做些什么去控制污染？

A: They need to enhance the capacity of local EPAs. SEPA is setting a number of regional centers to get better control. But that is not enough. Presently, local EPAs lack of authority to stop polluted factories/projects. They need to directly report to upper level EPAs, instead of reporting to local gov. heads, because those polluted factories are revenue makers for local gov. This is so called vertical management。At least, all local (city and county) EPAs should be managed by provincial EPA directly.
答：政府应该提高地方环保局的地位和能力。国家环保局正在设立几个区域性中心，以便取得更有效的控制，但仅仅这样做是不够的。目前，地方环保局缺乏制止污染工厂或工程的权威。他们需要直接向上一级的环保局而不是向当地政府官员汇报，因为那些污染工厂是当地政府税收的主要来源。这就是所谓的“垂直管理”。至少，包括市级和县级在内的所有的地方环保局，应该归省级环保局直接管辖。
Another point should be made is to enhance the technical capacity at local level. They need more man-power and more advanced equipment to do their jobs.
另一点要做的是，提高地方一级的技术水平。他们需要更多的人力和先进的设备来开展他们的工作。

Q: Are citizens willing to pay more for better air and water quality?
问：市民愿意为干净的空气和水缴纳更多的费用吗？

A: Yes, esp. in coastal cities. A growing middle class in these cities is seeking for better life quality. But they also look for better and more effective gov. management. Sometimes, the gov. agencies increased fees, but little changed.
答：是的，尤其是在沿海城市。这些城市中正在成长的中产阶级正在追求更优质的生活。但是他们依然期待政府更有效的管理。有时候，政府增加了费用，环境却很少改变。

Q. There are some social unrests recently caused by pollution. What do you think?
问：最近有一些由污染引起的社会骚动。您怎么看？
That is true. There are increasing number of group unrest incidents occurred due to pollution. The pollution victims don’t have ways to stop the pollution. They had to stand up to protect their own rights. These are results of gov. inaction and corruptions. These are also tied with problems in legal systems. The legal systems are not independent. They can’t effectively protect the victims’ rights.
答：是的。由污染引起的骚动事件在增加。污染受害人没有制止污染的渠道。他们不得不站起来保护他们自己的权利。这就是政府腐败和无为的后果。这些也和法律系统中的问题紧密相关。因为法律系统并非独立的，它们不能有效地保护污染受害人的权利。

Q. What is the perspective of the env. problems in China? In 5-10 yrs, do you think the situation will be better or worse?
问：您对于中国的环境污染问题有什么看法？您觉得在未来的5到10年里，这种状况会变好还是变坏？
I hope it is better. Right now it is bad enough. I can’t image if it gets worse in next five yrs. All the progress and living improvements will be cancelled by the pollution. That is not worth. But the gov. has to take much tougher actions to reverse the trends.
我希望情况好转。现在已经够糟了。我难以想象，如果它在未来的5年里变得更糟。所有的发展和生活的改善都将被污染抹煞，那太不值得了。但是政府必须拿出强有力的措施去扭转局面。

IFCE报道 2006年12月11日