Managing and environment in China

Right from the time it came into existence, it has been UNEP's view that programmes and measures of environmental protection and improvement, on the one hand, and those of economic and social development, on the other, have to be formulated and implemented in harmony with each other in order to ensure a sustainable enhancement of human well-being.
China has always been, and I am sure will continue to be, among the avant-garde in advocating and implementing these concepts.
When environmental problems first came to be discussed inter nationally some ten years ago they were prone to be quickly identified, in popular perception, with the problems of pollution control, conservation of wildlife and aesthetically motivated pro tection of nature. Certain misgivings were expressed by developing countries: they considered that concern about their environment was unnecessary and would jeopardize their efforts to industrialize rapidly and to diversify and modernize their economies. More recently, misgivings have been expressed in certain developed countries as well. The use of increasingly significant proportions of national expenditure for environmental protection and improve ment is seen by them to induce adverse implications in terms of inflation, unemployment and economic growth.