Green economy

DALI — If P-Noy thinks he has problems, he should consider the challenges of feeding and giving decent shelter to over a billion people and eliminating poverty in such a country.

China was so focused on these urgent tasks that it overlooked other factors that could threaten development, including environmental destruction.

The Communist Party of China (CPC), which admitted many years ago that Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution was a mistake, now admits the errors in the country’s former development thrust.

“It is unsustainable,” Zhang Tianxin told us in the Yunnan capital of Kunming last Tuesday. Zhang is the publicity minister of the CPC’s provincial committee in Yunnan, and a member of its standing committee.

That “unsustainable” development did raise per capita GDP in China, allowing millions of Chinese to live in pricey condominium units and replace their bicycles with luxury vehicles. In Kunming I saw many BMWs, Mercedes Benzes, Audis and Prados.

But while development “is an overriding priority,” Zhang said, China has learned that it needs “scientific” planning and implementation, entailing the wise use of resources and with minimal cost to the environment.

And so China, Zhang said, is now “restructuring its economic mix.” This year marks the start of the 12th five-year economic plan whose new thrust includes the development of a “green economy.”

What this means is pushing the development of high-tech industries, which could in turn boost the efficiency of other sectors. What it also means is focusing on what in developing countries are considered as emerging industries, such as biotechnology.

I am pleased to note that even our policy makers have similar ideas in mind. The proposed Investments and Incentives Code of the Philippines sees the need to promote emerging industries that can enhance national competitiveness. Among the industries mentioned are renewable energy and agricultural technology.

A green economy of course entails the judicious use of natural resources. Yunnan is rich in minerals and hydropower, and southern China is currently being tapped for the water needs of the north.

Yunnan takes pride in its air quality – a refreshing contrast to the many polluted cities in China. One provincial official said they were determined to fight pollution “with an iron fist.”

In the autonomous prefecture of Dali, on my way to Lijiang in western Yunnan, I saw modern windmills perched at the top of the mountain, whose highest point from sea level, I was told, was about the same elevation as Tibet.

Cultural activities are also a focus of Yunnan’s green economy. Last year, Zhang said, the province earned billions from “cultural activities” – a category that includes movies, sports, recreational facilities and news dissemination. The provincial government is promoting cultural activities at the grassroots level.

“We know that culture is very powerful,” Zhang said. “It’s kind of a soft power.”

Another focus of the new development thrust is something that we should also be boosting: tourism. –Ana Marie Pamintuan (The Philippine Star)