China's Ecological Civilization: The Capitalization of Natural Resource

Mr. Li Pengde of China presenting at the HLPF

New York, July 10, 2014

At the last day of the High Level Policy Forum on Sustainable Development, China was granted the floor to shed some light on their view on Sustainable Development. Mr. Li Penge, representing his Minister H.E. Mr. Wang Li, courageously dealt with the slides advancing much faster than the words on his paper. His presentation can be watched here, slides are copied below.

Representing a planned economy model it won't be a surprise that planning was a key-word. Mr. Li Pengde quoted his minister Wang LI who had already shared the existence of major challenges with the pollution of air, water and soils in China bringing sustainable development to the core of policy development in China. It was recognized that the UN data includes a large quantity of maps, but many were found out of date. Hence China's gift to the world through the UN, the GlobalLand 30 map, that offers geospatial information on 30x30 meter resolution.

China wants to 1) favour ecological progress over development progress which will need 2) a favourable policy environment expressed in 3) common but differentiated responsibilities with 4) due attention to social issues while 5) investing in innovation of thinking, models and methods. This summarizes China's 5 pillars for sustainable development. These pillars were already presented by Mr. Wang Li at the first HLPF

"The key is to respect the law of nature, follow nature's will, and foster a sound interaction between economic growth, social progress and environmental protection." 

H.E. Wang Li at 1st High-Level Policy Forum on Sustainable Development 

It is important to note the notion of ecological civilization that China aims at. It starts with natural resource capitalization. That China sees natural resource as 'capital' has already been demonstrated by its heavy investement in African economies that have abundant natural resources. In the absence of a global legal framework, the local political reality is taken as a given. However, also China realises that this carries a number of risks that could be averted by better legal systems that lead to improved governance and proper accounting, not unimportant for a planned economy. In this context it will be good to follow closely what the UN-China Trust Fund is aiming for.

At the first HLPF already Minister Wang Li himself pledged massive support to Small Island Countries and least developed countries, including a grant of US$ 500.000 towards the organization of the Third International Conference on Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States to be organized in Samoa this year and already frequently referenced by the President of ECOSOC and also featuring prominently on the agenda of the HLPF. China's priorities cannot be ingored and for China the Small Island Developing States are the nearest bridge towards the developing world.