At a building near the second ring road in downtown Beijing yesterday, a five-minute ceremony officially launched the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

The brevity of the event belied the gravity of the new ministry's main task - steering the country on the path of green development, now seen as a pre-condition to achieving its development goal of a well-off society.

"It's a moment all environmental protection personnel have been waiting for," said MEP Vice-Minister Pan Yue, before Minister Zhou Shengxian unveiled the nameplate of the new ministry.

Previously known as the State Environmental Protection Administration before it was elevated to ministry level, the MEP faces a daunting situation: Official statistics show that more than one-quarter of the country's surface water supplies have not met minimum quality standards, the air quality in one-third of Chinese cities remains poor and pollution is accelerating its spread to rural regions from urban areas.

Environmental accidents have also been recorded at an alarming rate.

Expectedly, more than anyone else, the MEP is well aware of the urgency of the situation.

Shortly after yesterday's brief formalities, Zhou and his senior staff rushed into a closed-door discussion of its work agenda.

While the ministry's new responsibilities have not yet been announced in detail, Zhou summed them up by saying that it was going "to deal with mounting environmental woes caused by previously rapid growth, and to try innovative means and tools to curb new problems".

The solution, Zhou said, lay in measures including law enforcement and market mechanisms.

In a conference earlier this week, Zhou vowed to use the strictest law enforcement against violations. The pledge was widely viewed as a response to public criticism that the old administration was "only in charge of pollution control and charging 'emissions' fees".

Giving top priority to law enforcement, Zhou said the MEP will have greater authority to crack down on environmental crimes by including the expansion of enforcement and monitoring teams.

The emphasis was seen as being in line with a more rigid legal system and stringent emission caps, such as the amended water pollution law adopted last month at the 11th National People's Congress.

Fines would be stiffer and punishment tougher under the new framework. According to the new Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law which will come into effect on June 1, enterprises will be responsible for 30 percent of the direct economic loss of any serious water pollution they cause, while incidents of medium consequences would incur 20 percent losses.

Heads of enterprises and others found to be directly responsible for causing severe water pollution incidents will also be fined up to half of their income of the previous year. Previously, corporate executives faced only disciplinary penalties.

"In the past, the low penalties for environmental violations resulted in frequent accidents, which have been a big headache for law enforcers," said Bie Tao, a senior official of MEP's policy, law and regulation department.

The new MEP has also said it will put the quality of drinking and waterway resources as one of its top priorities.

A new requirement for pollutants discharged into the Taihu Lake basin in Jiangsu province aimed at reducing and eliminating blue-green algae outbreaks in the region will be published soon, an MEP source said.

The move comes after a blue-green algae outbreak last year in the lakeside city of Wuxi saw half of the 2.3 million population suffering drinking water shortages.

The ministry is also working to rid itself of the friction from other ministries. The old administration, for example, reportedly faced such difficulties in water pollution control.

While several agencies, including the water resources, construction and agriculture ministries, had been involved in water management, the MEP is now expected to take full responsibility dealing with water pollution, sources close to the government reshuffle have said.

Similarly, the MEP's extended duties now include biodiversity management such as the approval and assessment of national ecological protection zones, the sources said.

At the China Development Forum held over the weekend, Zhou reiterated that a combination of legal, economic, technical and administrative measures is needed to stop overemphasizing economic growth and neglecting environmental protection.

The MEP has already begun implementing broad environmentally friendly economic steps, such as green credit, security and insurance policies to help enterprises carry out economic activities in a socially and environmentally responsible way, officials said.

Officials have also recognized that the MEP needs to improve professional expertise in handing supervisory activities with banks, securities and insurances regulatory bodies, even as most realize the battle for the environment has just started.

And as part of its broader strategy to ensure that the country attains a balance of economic growth and environmental protection, the MEP is setting out to have local leadership and the public discard the idea that "development is king" - widely viewed as the main contributor of environmental degradation and a shortage of resources following the 30 years of the country's rapid development.

"We are well-prepared for the challenges," Zhou said.

(China Daily 03/28/2008)