-Legislation and enforcement. Strengthen legislation on sustainable development and improve the legal system. Draft and improve laws and regulations on population, resources, ecological environment, prevention and alleviation of natural disasters and information sharing and utilization, based on the principle of sustainable development. Revise relevant laws and regulations in line with market rules and the WTO rules. Establish and improve a law enforcement mechanism to ensure that laws are enforced.

-Indicator system, monitoring and evaluation. Build an indicator system and monitoring/evaluation system in line with China's conditions to measure sustainable development. Monitor and evaluate sustainable development at both national and regional levels and regularly publish relevant reports.

-Information sharing. Build up databases on basic public data, population, socioeconomics, resources, ecology, environment and disasters to allow information sharing based on high-speed networking; and make information publicly available and enable the databases to process and analyze data. Build up an information-sharing network that meets the government's needs for decision-making.

Part IV: Safeguard Measures

Adopt administrative, economic, scientific and technological and legal measures to realize the goals set forth in this Program against the backdrop of the current international and domestic environment. Steps include better inter-agency coordination, expanded funding channels, bolstered support for science, technology and education and improved laws and regulations. Implement the sustainable development strategy with a heightened sense of responsibility and mission, in compliance with the requirements of the "Three Represents" theory (the Chinese Communist Party represents the development trend of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China).

1. Employ Administrative Means to Improve Decision-Making

-Strengthen leadership. Governments at all levels should carry out the sustainable development strategy conscientiously, incorporating the tasks listed in the Program on population, resources and environment into their routine work agendas. The policy of holding the chief executive responsible for population, resources and environmental work should be continued and faithfully executed. Responsibilities should be divided clearly between governments at different levels. Governments should be responsible for coordinating different departments in decision-making, ensuring that responsibilities, measures and funding fall into the right places. The government should make continuous efforts to improve its ability to plan, coordinate and standardize management.

-Reinforce supervision. Develop a standardized and rational performance review and award system for public servants to motivate leading government officials at all levels to pay great attention to sustainable development of population, resources and environment. Governments at all levels should ensure that the idea of sustainable development be incorporated into relevant strategies, programs and plans and be integrated into the entire process of implementation. Over time, government officials should be evaluated chiefly by their performance in implementing sustainable development, as measured by the outcome of the evaluation and final inspection mission.

-Balanced development. Build up and improve a coordinating mechanism for balanced development of population, resources and environment with social and economic development, as well as an incentive mechanism for integrated decision-making. Develop an indicator system favorable to measuring the level of sustainable development in targeted areas and enterprises and incorporate, on a trial basis, the cost of resources and the environment into the statistical system of the national economy. Introduce, on a trial basis, the system of assessing the impact on sustainable development for major projects and decisions. Create ways for public participation in decision-making and improve public services for promoting sustainable development.

2. Create an Investment Regime That Favors Sustainable Development Through Economic Leverages

-Build a fund-raising mechanism conducive to sustainable development. Gradually increase spending by governments at all levels in sustainable development, guide non-state sector capital or even foreign capital to go into sustainable development, drastically improve the security and stability of funding for sustainable development, and improve management and efficiency of funding.

-Establish a more reasonable pricing mechanism that encourages all stakeholders to participate in sustainable development. Use pricing regulation to encourage all stakeholders to strengthen conservation of resources, strictly protect the ecological environment in both urban and rural areas, and give full play to the role of pricing in regulating resources supply and demand and sustainable utilization.

3. Provide Strong Support for Promotion of Sustainable Development Through Scientific Advances and Advocacy.

-Deepening the reform of the system for science and technology. Establish a science and technology regime that meets market requirements while conforming to development of science and technology. Rationalize the allocation of resources; further boost research and development and services for sustainable development; motivate scientists and technicians to engage in research and development and commercialization of sustainable development; and promote the sustainable development of population, resources and environment.

-Development and application of environment-friendly technologies. Pool resources to develop a number of key technologies that are crucial to sustainable development and raise the technical level and capacity. Promote clean production in the course of business restructuring. Accelerate the transition at all types of enterprises from end-control to whole process control by combining clean production with technical advancement, energy conservation, resources recycling and management improvement. Step up the establishment of an integrated industrial pollution control model focusing on clean production. Encourage and support enterprises to adopt high and new technologies, new types of energy and clean production techniques with less consumption of energy and materials and less pollution. Select qualified regions or enterprises and support the establishment of a number of ecological and environmental research and development centers. Pool resources to tackle key problems in technological and equipment development, so as to boost China's capacity to manufacture complete and serialized sets of equipment.

-Developing education at all levels and enhancing public awareness of sustainable development. Reinforce human resources development and improve the public's capacities to participate in sustainable development. Add sustainable development to the textbooks used in elementary and higher education; introduce "science" courses in primary and middle schools; build a number of model parks (zones) at selected colleges; and increase spending in publicity, promotion and application of sustainable development. Open research institutes to the public and use mass media to disseminate knowledge on sustainable development. Train a large number of researchers, public servants and volunteers who are well-versed in quality childbirth and child rearing, environmental protection, resources conservation and environment-friendly consumption. Actively encourage and support social organizations and non-governmental organizations to participate in activities promoting sustainable development.

4. Improve Legislation on Sustainable Development

-Continue to improve legislation. Study and draft a number of new laws and rules; step up revision of existing laws and regulations; and form a legal framework for sustainable development. Draft local regulations in line with national laws and regulations and local conditions in order to promote sustainable development on a local level.

-Supporting institutions and standard-development. Build up and improve rules and procedures for sustainable development, including existing ones on environmental management, management of ownership rights for natural resources, compensation rights, transfer of use (property) rights and management of migrant population. Establish an institutional framework for the management of population, resources and environment with Chinese characteristics.

-Public supervision. Improve governance by law, strengthen law enforcement personnel and step up law enforcement. Allow the mass media and social organizations to play their due role in supervision and ensure that governments and law enforcement departments at different levels exercise their duties in accordance with law. Pay attention to the publicity, promotion and education on laws and regulations on sustainable development to enhance public awareness of those laws and regulations.

5. Select Key Regions and Fields as Model Projects

Improve pilot work for sustainable development, summarize experience and gradually promote the implementation of the sustainable development strategy. Build up a number of bases of sustainable development through modeling that integrates technology with management, policy and institutionalization. Conduct policy and strategic studies and key technology research and development centering on key issues in sustainable development. Solve problems faced universally by local governments such as how to utilize resources, how to preserve the ecological environment and how to restructure the economy toward efficiency-based growth. Develop different models and apply those models in neighboring regions.

6. Strengthen International Cooperation to Create a Sound External Environment for Sustainable Development at Home

Actively participate in global cooperation in environmental protection and develop strategies for participating in various environmental treaties and conventions. Implement in earnest all the international treaties that China has acceded to and carry out resolutions and decisions reached at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development and other international meetings. Pay great attention to and actively participate in bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Capitalize on all occasions to promote environmental protection at home and safeguard China's national interests. Create a sound international environment for sustainable development. Meet the requirements of globalization and China's accession to the WTO. Establish and improve an investment and trade policy framework spearheaded by "green" products, technology and services, in light of economic globalization and China's accession to the WTO. Make full use of both domestic and international resources and markets to advance the cause of sustainable development in China.

(Source: http://en.ndrc.gov.cn)