China official laments environmental destruction

"The trend of environmental deterioration has not been effectively contained," an unnamed senior official from the State Environmental Protection Administration said late on Sunday, according to the SEPA Web site (www.zhb.gov.cn).

The remarks were widely reported in state media on Monday, World Environment Day.

The office presented a litany of disturbing estimates -- about 60 percent of China's territory is considered to have a "fragile" ecology, 90 percent of natural grasslands suffer degradation and desertification that is feeding dust storms and natural wetlands are being squeezed by farming and industrial expansion.

Chinese state media devoted prominent coverage to environmental problems and outlined measures being taken to tackle the issue.

In Beijing, where 1,000 new vehicles a day are taking to the roads, a quarter of a million people had pledged to leave their cars at home on Monday and find other ways to get to work.

And in Shanghai, China's richest and most cosmopolitan city, companies which pollute will find it harder to get loans as their green credentials will be linked to their creditworthiness.

"The move will increase the cost for violations of environmental laws and enhance legal awareness among the city's enterprises," the Shanghai Daily quited city's environmental bureau as saying in a statement.

Amid rising public concern about pollution spills and chronic air pollution, China's Communist Party leadership has promised to balance economic development with environmental safeguards. And the environmental official highlighted government efforts to clean up the country's polluted skies, rivers and lands.

Between 2000 and 2004, the amount of water used to generate every 10,000 yuan ($1,200) of economic production fell by 34.6 percent, or 211 cubic metres (46,400 gallons), the official said.

But the official said China's enforcement of environmental protection commitments was still dogged by under-funding and a lack of enforcement means.

"Investment in ecological protection is inadequate," the official said. "We need to adopt more vigorous measures."