China must integrate environmental conservation into its development plans as pollution across the country gets worse.

The comments were made yesterday as the United Nations marked International Biodiversity Day with the signing of five joint grant agreements with the European Union and the Chinese government.

"We should firmly forbid those projects which damage the environment or cause pollution in the construction process," said Wu Xiaoqing, vice-minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

"Biodiversity should be regarded as a key performance indicator," he said.

The five biodiversity agreements are part of the EU-China Biodiversity Programme (ECBP), a $70 million joint initiative established by the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP), EU and the Chinese government.

The five projects will pool funds of $13 million to be used in Central and Southwest China, where biological resources are rich. A further 14 agreements will be signed later this year.

"China will consider climate change and biodiversity protection in its development planning," Wu said at the signing ceremony.

"The country wants to mitigate the influences on climate change and biodiversity caused by excessive exploitation of natural resources."

The projects under ECBP are designed to run in places with unique ecosystems and involves not only the governmental departments, but also the non-governmental organizations (NGO).

The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a US-based environmental NGO, will partner with the Provincial Policy Research Office and the management authorities of Meili Snow Mountain and Laojun Mountain in Yunnan Province to develop and test a new model for protected areas which combines biodiversity conservation with local social and economic development.

And in Sichuan Province, UNDP and EU will work with a local government agency and two international NGOs, to undertake strategic environmental assessments of the tourism industry and mining development projects.

Agencies contributed to the story

(China Daily 05/23/2007 page3)