Report of

The Third Non-governmental Organization Forum on International Environmental Cooperation in China

 

November 18-20, 2003

Beijing, China

 

Co-organized by:

 

Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

International Fund for China’s Environment, USA

Global Village of Beijing, China

 

Executive Organizer: Dept. of Agricultural Economics

Renmin University of China

 

Table of Contents

 

 

Executive Summary…………………………………………………3

 

Part I Summary of the Keynote Speech…………………………….5

 

Part II Summary of Panel Presentations and Discussions  …………7

 

    Part III Summary of Training Workshops and Capacity

Assessment……………………………………………….17

 

    Part IV Conclusions and Recommendations………………………19

 

    Part V Acknowledgement………………………………………….22

 

 

 

    Appendix

A.             List of Organizations Participated……………………….23

 

B.             List of Media Agencies and Sample Reports……………27

 

C.             Forum Photos …………………………………………...32

     

Executive Summary

 

 

The 3rd NGO Forum on International Environmental Cooperation in China was successfully held in Beijing from November 19-21, 2003. This was the largest gathering ever for environmental NGOs in China. There were a total of four hundred twenty-six attendees, representing one hundred eighty-four organizations, including thirty-five international organizations. Besides NGOs, the Forum attendees also included researchers, college students and governmental officials. Forty-five media outlets covered the event, including thirteen who were international.

 

The main theme of the Forum was ‘Building Partnerships for Sustainable Development.’ The first day of the Forum began with one-day training workshops on NGO management and capacity assessment. NGO management training workshops included ‘NGO’s Sustainability’ and ‘Successful Advocacy Communication’. The capacity assessment workshops were conducted for groups from southwestern China.

 

The Forum panel discussion focused on three themes:

 

1) Development environment of Chinese NGOs,

2) Public participation and partnership development, and

3) Rural development and environmental protection.

 

In the theme of the ‘Development environment of Chinese NGOs,’ panelists and the audience discussed issues related to the legal system, NGOs’ capacity building, and fundraising strategies. The current legal system for NGO administration is obviously behind the growth of NGOs in China, which needs to be altered urgently. In the theme of ‘Public participation and partnership development,’ the attendees addressed issues of education for women and children, sustainable consumption and the media’s role in environmental protection. Attendees believed that NGOs and media should work more closely to educate the public and children on environmental protection and conservation. In the theme ‘Rural development and environmental protection,’ impacts of globalization, policies of converting lands to woods, and problems in rural development and ecological restoration were the main topics. Experts pointed out that to ensure sustainable ecological restoration, it is vital to help farmers develop alternative income resources. Watershed management issues were discussed in a separate panel. A sub-Forum on college green groups was held. More than seventy student leaders from thirty-three universities around China participated. This was the first time the college students groups from different regions gathered together and discussed possible cooperation.

 

The keynote speech was given by Mr. Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, USA. He argued that if appropriate measures weren’t taken, global food shortage would become a severe problem. The cause would be due to the lower water table (water shortages worldwide) and the raising global temperature.

 

The Forum was jointly organized by the Renmin University of China, International Fund for China’s Environment and Global Village of Beijing. The executive organizing agency is the Department of Agricultural Economics of Renmin University. The Bureau of Ocean and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Department of State, USA, and the Critical Ecological Partnership Fund of Conservation International, USA, were the main sponsors.

 

This report provides a summary of the keynote speech, panel presentations and discussions, and workshops. Recommendations concerning NGO’s development in China are also provided. Other relevant information on the Forum is included in the appendixes. 

 

 

Ping He Ph.D.

Co-Chairman of the Forum

President of International Fund for China’s Environment

January 2004

Washington, DC
Part I Summary of the Keynote Speech

 

The keynote speech was delivered by Mr. Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, USA. Mr. Brown discussed issues of water shortage, climate changes and food prices in China, and suggested raising water, land and energy productivities are keys to the solutions.

 

The world is incurring a vast water deficit, especially in China. People over-pump aquifers as they struggle to satisfy their growing water needs, which causes water table to drop. In north China, as the deep aquifer is depleted, the region is losing its last water reserve. Severe water shortage has caused food production decline in all northern provinces in China. In Shangdong province crop loses in 1997 alone reached $1.7 billion. Based on data collected by NASA scientists, from 1977, the global temperature began to climb. During the 1980s the average global temperature was 0.26 degrees Celsius above the norm; during the 1990’s it averaged 0.40 degrees above the norm. Raising temperature has two direct impacts to food production. First, it would reduce the grain harvest in major food-producing regions such as in North China and the Corn Belt of the United States. Secondly, it would raise sea level and reduce cultivated lands. With 1 meter rise in sea level, the United States would lose 14,000 square miles of land and more than one third of Shanghai would be under water.

 

The falling water table, raising temperature and accelerated urbanization have had significantly adversely impact to grain production in China. Grain production has declined in recent years. Food prices also began to rise in 2003. Although the slack in China’s production may be picked up by other counties, with limits of capacity and technology, the output from those counties does not seem likely to increase to any significant degree. With the size of the population, China will face huge challenge in its grain supplies.

 

Raising water, land and energy productivities are crucial in preventing further decline in grain production and sustainable development in China. Adopting realistic prices to encourage efficiency is one method in raising water productivity. A 10-percent rise in the price of irrigation water reduces water use by 1-2 percent. For residential and industrial use, the drop is usually higher, ranging from 3-7 percent. China has raised water prices in most cities since 1997. Raising irrigation water production such as using plastic sheeting or concrete in water canals, developing overhead sprinkler systems and drip irrigation, etc. would reduce water loss in farming. Other methods include laser leveling of land and shifting to more water-efficient grains, such as from rice to wheat. There are also many ways and technologies to raise non-farm water productivity.

 

After climbing from 1.1 tons per hectare in 1950 to 2.8 tons in 2002, the world grain yield has reached a level where it is becoming more difficult to sustain a continuing rapid rise. We must find other alternatives to increase land productivities. Multiple cropping has been adopted in China and India for years, which help feed the two largest populations. Farmers in the United States should be able to do the same if agricultural research and farm policy were reoriented in support of such an initiative. More efficient protein production is another important way, since 37% of grain has been used to produce animal protein. Within the next decade or so, fast-growing aquaculture output may overtake beef production, since fish are highly efficient at converting feed into protein. To use crop residues (rice straw, wheat straw and corn stalks) to feed cattle, sheep and goats, etc. enables a second harvest for grain crops. India has been uniquely successful in using cattle and water buffalo to convert crop residues into milk. There is a large potential for China to follow India’s lead in using crop residues to raise protein productivity.

 

There is enormous potential for raising energy productivity to reduce new power plant construction, so to control carbon emissions. Some methods are quite simple, but highly effective, such as banning the use of non-refillable beverage containers, eliminating the use of incandescent light bulbs, doubling the fuel efficiency of automobiles and redesigning urban transportation systems. Alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, should be highly encouraged. From now on, if we can achieve doubling the wind and solar energy production every year, the capital cost of the electricity generated from wind and sunlight would be reduced dramatically. The evolution of the fuel cell is setting the stage for the evolution of a hydrogen-based economy. With advances in technologies and appropriate policies, cutting carbon emissions in half by 2015 is entirely within the range.

 


Part II Summary of the Panel Presentations and Discussion

 

 

Summary of Theme ‘The Chinese NGO’s Development Environment and Capacity Building’

 

The Theme ‘The Chinese NGO’s Development Environment and Capacity Building’ addressed three issues: 1) the legal framework of NGO development, 2) the capacity building and training for NGO, 3) funding sources and fundraising.

 

Experts long thought that China’s environmental NGOs sprang up in 1992, following the inception of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and the enactment of China’s Agenda 21. Before 1992, the Chinese government undertook almost all environmental public affairs and the public had little opportunity to participate. There were only a handful of environmental organizations and most of them were attached to the government, performing the function of environment management on behalf of the government. And their development lagged behind the economic growth. After more than ten years of development, Chinese public participation in environmental protection have improved continuously both in scale and level. But they are still confronted with many adverse factors: small quantity, small size, lacking of funds, limitation of actions, ineffective protection for organization rights, and serious institutional restrictions. Many NGOs have inherent problems, such as improper orientation, disordered management system, unstable organization, limited impacts, etc.

 

The development of environmental NGOs is held back by institutional restrictions.  This is demonstrated by:

 

1.      The examination and approval for establishing an NGO.  

          Environmental NGOs are examined as other social organizations, i.e. strictly  

          regulated by fund, members, site, facilities etc. Meanwhile, according to

         “Regulation on the Registration of Social Organizations” (State Council, 1998),

          registration for a social organization should be firstly examined and approved by

          its governing department and only then can an organizer can. Environmental

          NGOs are purely non-profit organizations and hence they should have relaxed

          requirements for qualification. Furthermore, the related government departments

          usually do not want to be the governing departments for environmental NGOs,

          which forces them to register as enterprises.

 

2.      From the aspect of operation, due to lack of support from the legal system,

     environmental NGOs have no definite legal status; their operation and

     management are restricted by government institutions; and their legitimate rights

     and interests are not safeguarded effectively. There is no efficacious mechanism

     for the communication, participation, feedback, and adjustment between  

     governments and NGOs. Environmental NGOs cannot fully communicate with

     governments on behalf of the public, furnish advice on environmental

     policymaking, monitor environmental behavior of enterprises and their 

     implementation of public environmental projects.

 

Under the current situation, Yanfang Li and Nanlin Wang pointed out that it is necessary to improve the legal environment for environmental NGOs. From the perspective of government, national lawmaking should create relaxed legal environment for the establishment and registration of environmental NGOs. Secondly, government should build up the feedback mechanism for the suggestions from environmental NGOs, clarify their legal status as soon as possible to protect their legitimate rights, and set up normative administration system. From the perspective of environmental NGOs,

 

   1. They should actively take part in national lawmaking processes. China's Law on Legislation prescribes “During the process of drafting administrative regulations, they should widely consider the suggestions from related organizations, governmental institutions and citizens. It may take various forms, such as symposium, colloquium, hearing and so on.” This prescription at least in principle provides the qualification for environmental NGOs to be involved in lawmaking processes.

 

   2. They should actively take part in the planning and impact statement review of environmental projects, and play a role in monitoring compliance by the administration. Through the process, they represent the public needs and guard public rights and interests, by employing their professional knowledge.

 

  3. They should actively take part in implementing environment management systems. Environmental NGOs should get involved into constituting and implementing environmental standard systems, cleaner production system, and environmental label system. Also they should negotiate and cooperate with enterprises in environmental issues on behalf of the public.

 

          4. They should actively take part in international environmental affairs. Although NGO will not be the principal part of international environmental law, they may actively promote the creation and implementation of the international environmental treaties.

 

The participating scholars also pointed out that, the public should give more understanding and support to NGO activities, besides government and NGOs’ efforts to improve the legal system.

 

Apart from the disadvantageous legal environment, many grassroots NGOs are confronted by insufficient organizational capacity: ambiguous organization objectives, unreasonable organization structure, disordered management system, unsound finance system, and lack of stability. All these problems severely threaten their operating efficiency and sustainable development. Some large international environmental foundations are developing training programs for them to improve their organization ability. Kathleen Shrucliff from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) put forward that if we want to train organizing ability, environmental NGOs should emphasis the training of local development trainers so as to optimize the fund efficiency and helping NGOs build their capability with self-development. Haoming Huang and Dorit Lehrack introduced the NGO training plan of CANGO. Xiaojun Li from TNC brought in their scheme for Chinese NGOs capacity training. Ms. Mei Ng from Friends of Nature (Hong Kong) systemically introduced environmental NGOs organization orientation, strategic management, organization management, project operation and so on. She believed that environmental NGOs should include at least the following elements: mission, direction, team, knowledge, talent, system, partner, and funds. Their basic roles can be divided into think tank, policy consultants, monitors, consciousness disseminator, trainer, lobbyists, consumers’ rights and interest protectors, and project demonstration administrators.

 

NGOs have to deal well with enterprises, government, media, other social organizations, scholars, and district residents, who have interests aligned with theirs. Among those, the most important is to handle relations with volunteers. As non-profit organizations, NGOs are not able to offer monetary stimuli for their volunteers. In order to attract volunteers, they must have good organizational environment and provide volunteers with opportunities for improving themselves, which include fostering volunteers’ research ability, IT operation capacity, speech power, project management skill, creativity, and self-improving spirits. Finally, Ng argued that the vitality of environmental NGOs lies in organization orientation, public trust, management capacity, talent, profession and fund. While digression, improper management, losing faith, insufficient originality, disordered financial system are death-wounds.

 

Funding sources and fundraising are the third core topic of this theme. As nonprofit organizations, NGOs may confront financial problems at any moment. This will affect their program operation, and has become the most difficult problem to most medium and small-sized NGOs. How to get sufficient financial support? Shan Sun from Conservation International introduced the Critical Ecological Partnership Fund’s development plan in southwest China, and emphasized their support for NGOs. Melinda Kramer from Pacific Environment said that they were planning to start ocean protection projects in China. And Arne Storronningen from Norway gave an address on how to raise funds. He stressed the importance of detailed and feasible project proposals and elaborated normal ways and procedures for applying for international environmental conservation fund. And he also introduced the fund and management methods of environmental NGOs in developed countries. After Arne’s address, Xiaoyi Liao expressed that grassroots NGOs should pay more attention to how to make good projects instead of fund. Mei Ng said even if threatened by lacking fund, NGOs should stick to their principles and not accept donation terms, which will compromise their public trust, such as donation from pollution corporations or covertly advertising for enterprises. Participants also talked over the feasibility of setting up a government special fund and employing tax remit measures in China for those enterprises endowing public affairs.

 

On the group summary speech, Dr. Rei Liu from the International Fund for China’s Environment pointed out that environmental protection correlates with interests of every member of the society. Environmental NGOs should and are able to develop into the leading part of environmental conservation and play the dominant role in environmental management: steering more public participation, coordinating government activities, and committing to environmental sustainable development. Two things should be met in order to achieve the goal: the society create sound institutional environment for environmental NGOs and NGOs continuously improve their own capacity.

 

  

Summary of Theme “Public Participation and Partnership Development”
 

Three topics were discussed ardently under this theme: 1) Women, children and the environmental education, 2) Public participation and sustainable consumption, and 3) Media’s role in environmental protection.

 

In the first topic “Women, Children and the Environmental Education”, speakers and audience discussed the present problems and the improved measures the women’s and children’s environmental education in China.

 

Dr. Jiajun Dale Wen of Overseas Chinese Education Foundation chiefly discussed the importance of NGO’s in educating the next generation. She believes, the most serious problem of China’s rural education is the serious school dropout rate.  The objectives of China’s rural education are inexplicit and the system still extends the abuse of the traditional imperial examinations education. She suggested that the education in China's countryside should be updated and teachers pay more attention to popularize the knowledge about community life, population mechanism and control, woman rights and interests, society fair, basic health care, environmental protection, environmental justice, etc. And she suggested learning the experience that international NGO’s have accomplished in rural education and popularizing it to China’s rural areas.

Prof. Lihong Wang of the Environment Science Department of Zhejiang University reported the study on Environmental Education for Students of Preschool Teacher Education College. She believes that the absence of environmental education in present preschool is a common fault. So, she proposed to strengthen the environmental educational legislation, and set up a professional teacher team engaged in environmental education as soon as possible, which would call upon the experts of environmental science and education to jointly devote the research to the exploration of environmental education. The topic of Dr Eva Sternfeld, Director of China Environment & Sustainable Development Reference and Research Center, was Profitable Environmental Management for Chinese Schools.  She pointed out that the model of the profitable environmental management is an excellent management model that can reduce the consumption of available resources. The model should be implemented widely in China’s schools. Elaine Zuckerman, Chairwoman of Gender Action, discussed the gendered impact of World Bank environment and infrastructure projects in China. She pointed out that Bank projects in China neglect critical gender impacts. Examples of gender impacts that Bank projects in China neglect include land ownership and resettlement issues arising during land appropriation from farmers; the need for women farmers to learn about preserving biodiversity as agriculture feminizes; and the harmful reproductive effects on female farmers who handle pesticides.  

Finally, the experts attending the panel discussed some other topics, such as environmental education to undergraduates, art environmental education for children, and how to develop civilized families.

 

 

The second topic is ‘Public Participation and Sustainable Consumption’. The first speaker was Mr. Yang Fangyi, from the Economics College of Yunnan University. He talked about the influence of “Green Marketing” the retail business.  He introduced three concepts with which to realize “Green Marketing”: reduce, recycle and reuse, and explained the great function of NGO in “Green Marketing”. He thought that NGOs can both supervise the producer, and can propagandize the idea of Green consumption to consumers.

Mei Ng, the general secretary of Hong Kong Friend of the Earth, gave a presentation on “A Case Study of Producer Productivity”. They launched a campaign to target resources wastes in moon cake manufactory in July and August, which was called the “Action of Goddess in the Moon”. Using large amount of data, she illustrated the serious conditions of resource waste and environmental pollution in moon cake market in China. Furthermore, she pointed out that the government and enterprises should play the leadership roles on the way of sustainable development and also the roles of NGO should be emphasized.

 

Ms. Bai Ying, a member of Beijing Olympic Games Greenness Movement Advocating Group, comes from China Agricultural University. In the discussion, she indicated that there are two serious problems with today’s food. One is that the food is contaminated; the other is that the nutrition in the food is decreasing. These are one of the major reasons for the climbing outbreak of a series of diseases. And then, she put forward the idea that to select uncontaminated food is of importance, but to know how to protect oneself is of vital. For example, one should adjust ones mood, have proper exercise and relax, boost up immune system, drink much water, eat some food full of cellulose and choose different types of grains.

 

The third topic was “Media’s Roles in Environmental Protection”. The participants in the discussion included NGOs and some principals of TV and Broadcasting media.  Panel speaker were Ms. Wang Yongchen, the general coordinator of Green Home Volunteers, also senior reporter of a Chinese Broadcasting Station; Mr. Yang Dongping from Hongkong Phoenix TV;  Mr. Zang Gongzhu, a director of Chinese Central TV; and Mr. Su Jingping, a senior reporter of Beijing’s  Renmin Broadcasting station. They focused on the following issues:

 

1.      They discussed the role of the media in environmental protection. Most of the

      participants considered that on the one hand we should put enough emphasis on

      the media in the environmental protection, but on the other hand, we cannot rely

      on it to solve the environmental problems.

 

2.      They discussed how the media takes action on environmental protection. Mr. Su

     Jingping said that the media not only should “dare to tell the truth” but also should

     “tell the truth sensibly” and make few distortions in reports. Some participants

     pointed out that information cannot be communicated adequately among the

     reporters.  Smooth communication channels and mechanisms should be

     established.

 

3.      They discussed the role of the NGO.  The participants pointed out that NGOs

      should cooperate with the media, be the bridge between people and the media,

      and forward the good opinions about the environmental problems to the media in

      a timely manner.

 

 

Summary of Theme “Rural Development and Environment Protection”

 

 The theme “Rural Development and Environment Protection” covered three topics 1) Globalization and environmental protection in rural areas, 2) Experience and lessons of ‘converting sloped lands to woods’ in western regions and 3) Models of sustainable development/Ecological conservation and poverty relief. Experts came from Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China and Agriculture University of China and some international organizations presented their papers and discussed these topics with the audience. The main contents of presentations and discussions include:

 

About the protection of ecological environment in rural areas, Professor Qi Ye from the Public Policy and Management College of Tsinghua University pointed out that ecological restoration of the environment in China benefits to not only Chinese citizens, but all of the world.  He also presented further analyses on how to evaluate the effect of ecological restoration on environment protection in China. Associate professor Zhou Li from the Agricultural Economics Department of Renmin University of China thought that the Chinese rural environment question is rooted in two misunderstanding: one is blind worship for economic increase; and the other is blind worship for turning loose market forces.  He pointed out that the ecological fragility in China has characteristics of unbalance among different geographical areas. As the western area is higher than the middle area and the middle area is higher than the eastern area, so governments, NGOs and scholars should take the responsibility for improving Chinese ecological environment and take practical actions accordingly.  Senior environmental engineer from the URS consulting firm, Mr. Maxwell, considered that the introduction of foreign capital have had good effects as well as bad effects on China, which have resulted in considerably increased pollution. This has polluted soil and groundwater of China and would generate negative impacts to the environment of other countries. Associate professor Zeng Yinchu from the Agricultural Economics Department of Renmin University of China analyzed the economic characteristics of illegally destroying the forest resources in China and put forward that the appropriate adjustment of the relevant forestry policies is very helpful for protecting and developing economy in the forest area.

 

About converting sloped lands to woods in western regions, Vice-chief of the Forest Restoration Office of Forestry Bureau, Wu Chuanying, systematically introduced the background of forest restoration policy, main policy measures and its accomplishments. She also addressed two key problems “how to realize ecological objectives” and “how to subsidize farmers” in the implementation process of ongoing forest restoration policy.

 

Eco-tourism and community development. President of International Crane Foundation James Harris analyzed the impacts of eco-tourism on biological protection and pointed out that eco-tourism should have the effects of improving locality ecological environment and benefit local residents.  Dr. Li Yuhui of Agriculture Economics Department of Renmin University put forward that co-management (or participatory management) is a new management model for natural resources that would promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable development of the rural economy.

 

Food safety and green food.  Associate professor Wang Zhigang from the Agricultural Economics Department of Renmin University pointed out that food safety has great impacts to China’s agriculture and Chinese government should pay a lot of attention to it. He introduced the accepted theory that is used to explain the agriculture product quality policy and discussed the relationship between the acceptability theory and justice orders. Mrs. Bai Ying of Agriculture University of China analyzed the abuse of the modern agriculture to pursue high productivity with the sacrifice of the environment and encouraged the production of green foods.  Dr. Xin Yi from Agricultural Economics Department of Renmin University explained the relationship between the agricultural environment and international competitiveness for agricultural products and pointed out that the low quality of agriculture products is the most important cause of sluggish exports.  He put forward that only by improving the management of the agricultural environment and paying more attention to food quality, will Chinese agricultural products win in the international market.

 

About models of rural development in China, Dr. Ma Jiujie, an associate professor in Agricultural Economics Department of Renmin University, briefly summarized the risks faced by farmers, risk coping strategies of farm households, social risk management, the behavior of farmers facing with risk and development of Chinese agricultural and rural insurance. Dr. Zhu Xinkai from Agricultural Economics Department of Renmin University thought that the most important way to enlarge the internal demand is by developing China’s rural market.  He pointed out that timing of the policy implementation in promoting consumption market in countryside is very important. He constructed the pyramid-shaped model and made designs for the best temporal order to the policy coupling.  Dr. Chen Weiping probed into the transfer of farmer’s contract lands. In his opinion, we do not possess the economic condition to carry on the transfer of the farmer’s contract lands. He thought that we should develop the transfer system consistent with the market economy, change the functions of government and regulate the transfer of the farmer’s contract lands.

 

 

Summary of the Panel “Water and Watershed Management”

 

There were three speakers in this panel, Dr. Mu Xianqing, from Zhejiang University, Mr. Samuel Sage, the vice president of the International Fund for China’s Environment, and Mr. Huang Mingjie, the director of the International Cooperation Center of Environment Protection in Guizhou Province.  Actually, their presentations were mainly concerned with the environmental protection and social development around Cao Hai, a national reserve in Guizhou Province. This topic was explored from different angles and various suggestions were provided. They all recognized that it is the poverty of the residents around Cao Hai that imposed enormous pressure on the environment there. Thus, to protect the environment and meanwhile to develop economic, measures must be taken to build up the local farmers and assist them in coming out of poverty.

 

Dr. Mu provided an institutional analysis of the environmental protection and social development in Cao Hai.  At first, Dr Mu gave an introduction on the general situation of Cao Hai, the historical flux of the relationship between the ecology environment and the social development, and some co-operational programs in Cao Hai.  Before 1980’s exploitation of Cao Hai by draining was carried out under the leadership of the local government, which led to an ecologic disaster in Cao Hai.  Since the 1980’s, the local government has taken measures to restor and protect measures the area.  But it conflicts with the living needs of the local community. Nowadays, there are series of factors constraining environmental protection of Cao Hai, such as the poverty of the residents around Cao Hai, the great pressure imposed on the environment by the low living standards, lagging accumulation of human capital, and the disorder and weakness of the resources management system. Therefore, Dr Mu suggested developing proper governance structure involving local governments, farmers and the Management Office of the Cao Hai Natural Protection Region. In the opinion of Dr. Mu, the first and most of the governance structure is the arrangement of the decision-making rights based on the transparent resources property system. This system should include a body of rights, such as water property consisting of water getting right and emission right, fishing right, farming right and the right to exploit and run the sightseeing sites. Certainly, these properties need to be established and to be protected by law. According to Dr Mu’s report, many different measures need to be taken. First, macro institutional circumstances should be developed and the laws regarding resources property and the natural protection region should be established.  Second, the accumulation of the capital and human capital of the local farmers should be accelerated.  Third, balanced decision-making mechanisms should be constructed among community, government and market, with other concerned societies widely involved.  Fourth, there is need to normalize the behaviors of local farmers and government, to modulate the market, and to entitle some rights to people. Thus, it can be expected that the farmer’s abilities of making living and making fortune are build up, alleviating the pressure imposed on natural resources and environment. The win-win relationship can also be expected to occur between the environment protection and the social development.

 

Using many pictures, Mr. Samuel Sage exhibited the current situation of Cao Hai and difficulties in protecting its environment. The poverty of residents and their need for a sustainable food and income sources clash with the ecological well being of the area. Serious soil erosion led to deposition in the lake. Harm was also done to the environment by water pollution resulted from improper wastewater disposal and sewage, the air pollution from zinc smelting, and over fishing. Thus the biodiversity in Cao Hai was harmed and the population diversity of species decreased. To resolve these problems, Mr. Samuel Sage proposed to develop a comprehensive watershed management plan for Cao Hai. This plan aimed at making scientific research on Cao Hai, including baseline inventory and ecological monitoring.  Another objective of this plan is to promote the reasonable exploitation of the natural resources in Cao Hai and to increase non-consumptive uses of them. The plan may be applied by making natural resources inventory, reassessing and updating the existing data on natural resources, convoking stakeholders meeting, and developing pilot projects, etc.

  

Mr. Huang provided a lot of detailed data from Cao Hai. Huang’s report focused on the efforts and achievements made by government in protecting the wetland ecology system in Cao Hai. This doesn’t mean that the problems in management have been taken care of. According to his report, the Cao Hai Natural Protection Region is under the common leadership of the Management Office of the Cao Hai Natural Protection Region, the Environmental Protection Bureau of Guizhou Province, and the government of Weining County. Governments have exerted great efforts in environmental protection. For example, they closed the small zinc and lead smelting plants, made arrangement to develop the program for management of the whole watershed of Cao Hai, and tried to perfect the laws and the regulations concerned.  Particularly, the government of Weining has stipulated regulations in this respect to mobilize everybody of the county to protect environment.  However, there are still some problems to be resolved. The management sector and the administrative region are not consistent with each other in some objectives and interests. Furthermore, systematic and scientific research is lacking in developing environmental protection programs. Mr. Huang hoped that lessons be learned from past, the voices of stakeholders be heard, and the downward management and upward governance be combined.

 

 The participants in this session discussed then and provided some proposals on the environment protection and social development in Cao Hai region. Mr. Samuel Sage summarized the discussion.  He said that the scope should be widened in respect to the local economic development rather than be constrained by planting.  Fishing and sightseeing should also be developed in Cao Hai region, but only if it will not harm the environment.   

 

 

Summary of Sub-Forum for College Green Groups

 

A special sub-Forum on issues concerning college green groups was held during the Forum. More than 70 delegates from 33 universities in 15 provinces all over China gathered to discuss college students’ participation in environmental affairs. The sub-Forum was initiated by College Student Green Camp in Xi’an City and gained strong support from the student group of Renmin University of China. 

During the sub-Forum, delegates from all over China shared their successful experiences of student environmental organizations. They agreed that successful environmental organizations should have democratic institutions, spirit of teamwork, and definite goals (both short term and long term). Further, the groups should offer ample opportunities for their group members to participate in management, planning and implementation of their projects. Organizations, especially those in the same region, should enhance their networking and work together to develop some significant and influential environmental activities.

Delegates also talked over environmental education, capacity building, sustainable development, and other issues. Furthermore, they reached an initial agreement on building up a countrywide network for resource sharing and cooperation. Although they had not much time to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Beijing, every delegate went back with contemplation and determination for future actions: enhancing the role of young students in environmental protection and sustainable development.

This Forum is the largest nationwide activity spontaneously organized by college students in China since 1996, when the college student environmental movement was initiated by the College Student Green Camp. It was a milestone in the history of China student environmental movement. In addition, this forum laid the groundwork for the establishment of communication and a platform of cooperation for Chinese college student environmental organizations. The green seeds that were planted today will root, sprout and grow with luxuriant foliage and spreading branches in the land of China, and will turn into the hard core of promoting sustainable development in China.

 


Part III Summaries of Training Workshops and NGO Capacity Assessment

 

A. Workshop on NGO Development and Sustainability

 

This workshop was organized by Dr. Nancy Tian, Senior Advisor, Center for Development and Population Activities.

 

The workshop explored the various meanings of “sustainability” and invited the audience to think about exactly what they are trying to sustain. Examples were given of organizations that have been successful in enhancing their sustainability, and the elements and activities critical to this success were highlighted. Pillars of sustainability built on several best practices for sustainability were discussed. The workshop also introduced the concept of “social enterprise” and linked this vision of operation to achieving an organization’s social mission in a sustainable manner.

 

The workshop introduced many different kinds of actions and measures that organizations can take when working toward sustainability. Those related to institutional sustainability include: redefining mission, vision and values, practicing good governance, and developing strategic communication, etc. Those related to the programmatic sustainability include: improving quality, enhancing marketing, and expanding community participation, etc.

 

 

B. Workshop on Successful Advocacy Communication

 

This workshop was organized by Melinda Kramer, Program Specialist, Pacific

Environment.

 

The goal of non-profits is to get people to “buy” our ideas. Research results are useless if they aren’t communicated. The workshop introduced nine laws for successful advocacy communication. They are:

 

1. Clearly define goals and measurable progress

 

2. Identify your audience

 

3. Develop clear, simple, and concise Messages

 

4. Plan- think strategy before moving to tactics and find your niche

5. Specify what people should do, how to do it, and why

6. Make the case: Action Needed Now

7. Match strategy and tactics to target audience

8. Budget realistically and strategically and combine resources with other allies

 

9. Bring in the experts and rely on people who have the competency to do communications really well

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is important to get people’s attention. Effective communications is a key component of a successful social change campaign.

C. Capacity Assessment Workshop for NGOs in Southwestern China

A Capacity Assessment Workshop for NGOs in Southwestern China was conducted at the Forum. This activity is specially sponsored by Conservation International. An on-site questionnaire/survey was distributed, followed by a group discussion. The following are preliminary findings:

1. 24 NGOs from the Southwest region participated in the workshop. In addition, there were 6 NGOs from other regions that joined in the workshop. Among these 30 participants, 19 (63%) have never received training before this event. 11 (37%) have had training in the past from Oxfam (Participation), Winrock (Gender), Ford Foundation and WWF.

2. For 24 the NGOs from the Southwest region, 30 % of them had operating bu\dgets under 10,000 RMB (app. $1200), 30% are between 10,000 RMB to 50,000 RMB (app. $6000), 25% of them between 50,000 RMB to 100,000 RMB (app. $12,000) annually and only 15% works with a budget over 100,000 RMB. 54% of NGOs don’t have official registration and 37% of them don’t have an office and annual financial statement.

3. On the program side, most of them – 15 out of 24 – focused their projects on education and raising the awareness for environment protection. Eleven reported to have some components of micro-credit in their programs with one organization heavily involved in micro-credits. Thirteen reported that their works related to prevention of water pollution. Fourteen organizations work with youth as their target audiences. Twelve of them work with women and eleven work with men (not mutually exclusive).

4. 85% of the organizations feel that they are formulating a strategy and planning for the activities, capable of leading and working with target audiences. About 40% of them feel that they need to enhance fundraising, public recognition, financial management and transparency. For the partnership and networking, over 70% of them have been already working with local NGOs, schools and local governments; while around 30% have not worked with partners yet.

5. In terms of training needs, fundraising, project management and organizational development are among the top priorities.


Part IV Conclusions and Recommendations

 

This Forum provided training workshops, assessed capacity of NGOs in southwest region, discussed issues in development environment for NGOs, public participation, watershed management, and rural development and environmental protection. A sub-Forum for college green groups was also held to address issues concerning this newly emerging force in environmental NGOs. The Forum provided a platform for NGOs to share information, to exchange experience and to develop partnerships. The exchanges and interactions are multiple-fold: Chinese and international, naive and experienced NGOs, NGOs and academics, NGOs and governments. Most attendees considered this was a rare opportunity of sharing and learning. The dialogues initiated at the Forum will last much longer than the Forum itself.

 

The rational legal framework for NGO’s administration hasn’t yet been developed in China. Substantial numbers of NGOs are without legal status due to difficulties in registration. The government will need to adjust the current regulations for NGO’s registration and administration if China is moving toward a true civil society. Insufficient capacity is another factor that limits the impact of NGOs. From the assessment results of NGOS in southwestern China, most NGOs lack of training in project management, fundraising skills and organizational development strategies. Sixty percent of NGOs operate under an annual budget less than RMB50K (app. $6k). Corporation donation, a key funding source for NGOs in western countries, is few due to lack of tax incentives from government.

 

Public participation is the key to sustainable development. Environmental professionals should work with teachers to develop proper methods to introduce environmental concepts into classrooms. Women are victims of the deteriorating environment, but they could become the strong advocators for environmental protection if they are educated and organized properly. The government should adjust policy to promote sustainable consumption, rather than encouraging luxury consumption. NGO can also play an important role in guiding consumers. In recent years, media coverage of environmental issues declined due to economic reasons. The media has been a friend of environmental protection and NGOs for years. NGOs should provide the true picture of the environmental problems to the media to gain stronger voices.

 

The majority of people in China still live in rural areas. Restoration of the ecological system and protecting water and soil in these areas are even harder tasks due to lack of funds and techniques. Implementation of the policy to convert sloped lands to woods and grasses has yielded significant ecological benefits. The real challenge is how to keep the farmers off the lands once the government subsidiaries end. Eco-tourism is beneficial to economic development in the poor regions. It should be also beneficial to improving local eco-systems. After China gained access to WTO, food quality and security became an issue. Not until the food quality is improved, can the farm products compete in the world market.

 

Watershed management discussion focused on Cao Hai nature reserve management. Most nature reserves are facing pressure from surrounding population. It is important that during the management planning, the benefits of local people are considered. Alternatives of incoming generation should be suggested in order to sustain the conservation efforts.

 

It is amazing to see college green groups emerge in recent years. The sub-Forum for college green groups provided an opportunity for them to communicate with each other and to develop a national/regional cooperative mechanism. The importance of this group is that it not only helps environmental education for all college students, but also provides a training ground for future NGO leaders. We expect this group will play a more active role in China’s environmental protection in the future.

 

To sustain growth of the environmental NGOs and to enhance the functions of this sector in the environmental protection in China, a number of actions should be taken from Chinese government and international community.

 

  1. Relax registration requirements and provide tax incentives for corporation donation to environmental NGOs.

 

The current regulations for NGO registration require NGO identifying a government department as ‘mother’ and obtaining its permission. Most government departments, including the environmental bureaus, are not willing to become NGO’s ‘mother’. So it is very difficult for NGOs to gain permission. Therefore, the government should eliminate such a requirement for enabling NGOs to operate under a proper legal framework.

 

According to the current regulations, only corporations which donate to the specially defined charitable groups can obtain tax relief. The environmental NGO should be defined as a charitable NGO, since the environment is a public domain. The environmental NGO are working for public interests. The improvement of the environment not only benefits to people living now, but also to future generations. Without proper funding sources, the environmental NGOs wouldn’t be able to achieve their goals and objectives.

 

‘Small government and big society’ is a strategy being adopting in China. It is also a trend of the social development in this new century. Without appropriate changes in the legal and financial systems, this strategy can’t be accomplished.

 

 

  1. Develop training programs to enhance capacity of NGOs

 

According to the data gathered in the capacity assessment for NGOs in southwest regions, most NGOs are lack of experience in project management, fundraising and organizational development. Therefore, it is imperative to develop a set of training programs to help NGOs grow. The training programs should be designed to meet the requirements of different levels of development, since some NGOs are advanced and some may need basic methods and knowledge. Another approach is to “train-the-trainer’, which is to provide extensive training for potential trainers and let the trainers to provide further training. These training programs may be jointly developed with Chinese universities, since they could provide adequate logistical support.

 

  1. Develop a small grant program to provide funds to support natural conservation and environmental protection projects and NGOs capacity building.

 

As discussed above, lack of funding channels is one of major obstacles for advancing environmental NGOs. In a survey conducted for NGO directory compiling, each NGO at he Forum provided three project ideas they intend to develop in the next year. Some are excellent. But most of these wonderful ideas can’t be implemented without proper funds. Actually, the funding requirements are quite small for most NGOs. A small grant program to support projects with a budget range $5k to $10k can help them significantly. The projects could be any type of conservation and protection activities, but should contribute to their own capacity building as well. The grant managers/officers should not only select projects, but provide support to NGOs for developing proposals, implementing and managing projects, and writing reports and papers, etc.

 

 


Part V Acknowledgements

 

Main Forum Sponsors:

 

Bureau of Ocean and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Department of State, USA,

 

Critical Ecological Partnership Fund, Conservation International, USA

 

Co-sponsors:

 

Ford Foundation

International Crane Foundation

Pacific Environment

 

Steering Committee:

 

Li Ban, Deputy CEO of Shannxi Association of Mother Environmental Volunteers

Marc Brody, President of US China Environmental Fund

Lister Cheung, CEO of the Conservancy Association, Hong Kong

Dr. Jun Feng, Vice-president of Renmin University of China
Richard Ferris, Attorney of Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.

Catriona Glazebrook, Executive Director, Pacific Environment
James Harris, President of International Crane Foundation

James Harkness. Chief Representative, WWF/China
Dr. Ping He, President of International Fund for China’s Environment

Baocheng Ji, President of Renmin University of China

Dorit Lehrack, International Advisor of China Association fro NGO Cooperation
Congjie Liang, Chairman of Friends of Nature
Sheri Liao, President of Global Village of Beijing

Dr Lailai Li, President of Institute for Environmental and Development

Dr. Xiaojun Li, Director of Capacity Building, China program, The Nature Conservancy

Dr. Rei Liu, Board Chairman of International Fund for China’s Environment

Dr. Zhi Lu, Director of China program, Conservational International

Mei Ng, CEO of Friends of EARTH-Hong Kong 

Samuel Sage, Vice-president of International Fund for China’s Environment

Dr. Eva Sternfeld, Director of China Env. and Sustainable Dev. Reference and Research Center

Yongcheng Wang, Co-leader of Green Earth Volunteers

Dr Jentai Yang, Sr. Program Manager of US Environmental Protection Administration

 

Special thanks to all student volunteers in the Dept. of Agricultural Economics of Renmin University of China, Xi’an Green Camp and in the International Fund for China’s Environment for their excellent services.

 

 


Appendix A  List of Organizations Participated

 

China (total 149)

 

College Green Groups

 

1.Beijing College of Materials/Clean Stream Enviro.Assoc

2.Beijing Forestry University/SENOL Assoc.              

3.Beijing Normal University/Enviro. Group               

4.Changan university/Green Island Enviro. Assoc.           

5.Chengdu university/Enviro.&Develo. Assoc.             

6.Chinese Agri. University/En