China, People's Republic of : Improving the Institutional Framework for Environmental Statistics

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Agricultural policy, institutional and capacity development

The government requested ADB to provide a TA to help the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) in (i) designing the PRC's future environmental statistics system institutional framework, including a detailed action plan for reforming environmental statistics system; and (ii) preparing technical guidelines on accounting methods for livestock-related pollutants.

The expected TA impact will be enhanced institutional framework and capacity for monitoring and ensuring environmental sustainability in the PRC. The expected TA outcome will be MEP equipped with an improved technical and institutional framework for reform of environmental statistics system in the PRC.

The TA will produce the following outputs:

Output 1: A review of international experiences in environmental statistics systems and approaches prepared. The TA will review international experiences (with a focus on the United States and the Asian region, particularly Japan) in environmental statistics and reporting. The following suboutputs will be produced as part of this output: (i) a summary of international experience in data collection, reporting, verification, quality assurance control, data application and analysis, and institutional arrangements, including the supporting legal and policy framework; (ii) a summary of livestock-related pollutants' accounting methods from different Asian countries, with subsequent recommendations for the PRC's agricultural pollutants' accounting system; (iii) a review and synthesis of international environmental data analysis and application, and environmental statistics management from major Asian countries; resulting in recommendations for the PRC's environmental data analysis and application system; and (iv) a final report that incorporates suboutputs (i) (iii) and makes recommendations.

Output 2: A roadmap for an improved technical and institutional framework for the environmental statistics system for the PRC prepared. Based on development trends in international environmental statistics systems and the results of the pilot testing, the TA will propose the PRC's future environmental statistics system technical and institutional framework. The TA will also initiate and prepare a detailed action plan for reforming the environmental statistics system, and clarify short-term objectives and long-term tasks. The overall objective of this framework will be to outline the detailed procedures and steps for environmental statistics reform. The framework will also address in detail all the relevant technical standards, regulations, and provisions for each step of the full cycle of environmental statistics system (i.e., from the preparation to its application for environmental management).

Output 3: Technical guidelines on accounting methods for livestock-related pollutants prepared. Specific suboutputs related to the preparation of technical guidelines include (i) draft technical guidelines based on international and national experiences; (ii) detailed accounting methods for major livestock-related pollution parameters (i.e., chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and ammonia); (iii) detailed reports synthesizing results from the pilot studies; (iv) technical training sessions on livestock-related pollutants' accounting methods and environmental data analysis and applications, with target groups to include local environmental protection bureau staff; and owners of the livestock; and (v) finalized technical guidelines on accounting methods for livestock-related pollutants.

The TA will implement the pilot project in selected locations (MEP-recommended Ma'anshan, Anhui Province; Sanming, Fujian Province; and Zhumadian, Henan Province). Detailed criteria for the selection of pilot project sites are being developed by MEP. It is anticipated that the pilot projects will take approximately 6 months to be completed. The results of the pilot projects will form the basis for the development of the technical guidelines on accounting methods for livestock-related pollution. MEP will seek to establish partnerships with city-level expert institutions when implementing the pilot projects.

Environment statistics describe the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the state and changes of the environment and its interaction with human activities and natural events. Environment statistics are integrative; measure human activities and natural events that affect the environment; and monitor the impacts on the environment, and the social responses to environmental impacts. It is an emerging statistical field in official statistics in most countries and is indispensible for evidence-based policies and decision making to support sustainable development.

The PRC's environmental statistics system was established in 1980s and has evolved significantly. The system quantitatively summarizes the PRC's industrial and urban pollution protection and prevention, environmental management, and capacity development for environmental protection systems. The October 2011 State Council's opinions on strengthening priorities of environmental protection emphasized the need to (i) improve statistics for the emission reduction monitoring and evaluation system; (ii) encourage the implementation of the major regional pollutants' emission control; and (iii) establish an environmental information resource center that will enable environmental statistics and information works to meet higher standards. These statistics play a big role in management and environmental protection decision making in the PRC which contribute to sustainable development.

Pollution sources have changed markedly with social and economic development over the past decade. The PRC's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) indicates that (i) the current system for environmental statistics is unable to provide sufficient coverage of all pollution sources; and thus, does not satisfy the need for enhanced environmental protection and reduced pollutant discharges; and (ii) statistical techniques and methods for environmental management are still weak; and the 12th Five-Year Plan particularly emphasized that the support for agricultural pollutants and atmospheric heavy metal pollution control is still insufficient; and (iii) the application of environmental data and comprehensive analysis is quite weak, which makes it difficult to meet the needs of policy analysis.

The government's 12th Five-Year Plan emphasizes the need to continue building a resource-efficient and environment-friendly society. Natural resources and agricultural management remains the focus of ADB's CPS, 2011 2015 for the PRC, which supports environmental protection and capacity development to reinforce inclusive growth. This is reflected in the CPS results framework.

ADB provided a TA to the government in 2005 to help develop MEP's (then the State Environmental Protection Agency) regional supervision centers (RSCs). In 2009, ADB provided additional TA on Strengthening Enforcement of Environmental Laws and Regulations which aimed to improve the enforcement capacity of national, regional, and local environmental agencies. The main lesson was the timely assistance to the PRC being a critical factor contributing to success. The TA projects that progressed hand-in-hand with the government's institutional development mutually benefited each other. The TA workshops and seminars provided effective forum to discuss the mandates, functionality, and staffing of the RSCs, while these RSCs were being established through parallel government efforts. The proposed TA will build on the achievements of past ADB projects; and draw lessons from these TA projects to support MEP's efforts in improving the institutional framework required to (i) support the implementation of the environmental statistics system in the PRC from data collection to reporting, and (ii) ensure that it is effectively used for environmental management.

Output 1. A review of international experiences in environmental statistics systems and livestock-related pollution accounting approaches prepared.

Output 2. A roadmap for an improved technical and institutional framework for the environmental statistics system for the PRC prepared.

Output 3. Technical guidelines on accounting methods for livestock-related pollutants prepared.

The TA interim review mission was conducted in Jan 2014 and the final review in Nov 2014. Implementation progress as assessed during the final review mission along with a few other updates are presented below.

a. Output 1: A review of international experiences in environmental statistics systems and livestock-related pollution accounting approaches. Progress: Comprehensive reports have been completed both for international experience on environmental statistics and livestock-related pollution accounting approaches, which were included as Chapters 2 and 5 of the draft final report.

b. Output 2: A detailed report and implementation road map for an improved environmental statistics institutional framework in the PRC. Progress: A detailed report, including a roadmap for improved environmental statistics institutional framework in the PRC, has been completed and included as chapters 4 and 6 of the draft final report. It evaluates the current status and analyzes the future demands and development needs and improved institutional framework for environmental statistics in the PRC. The recommendations draws on both international and national experiences related to environmental statistics. The first draft of the policy brief for environmental statistics reform was submitted in August 2014.

c. Output 3: Technical guidelines on accounting methods for livestock-related pollutants. Progress: The technical guidelines on accounting methods for livestock-related pollutants have been completed and included as chapter 5 and Appendix 2 of the draft final report. Pilot studies were completed by September 2013.

Representatives from the following organizations/departments participated in the discussions/workshop during the final review mission:

The Department of Total Pollutants Control, MEP; National Statistics Bureau of the PRC; Foreign Economic Cooperation Office, MEP; Statistics Division, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Statistics Office, Chinese National Environmental Monitoring Center; South China Institute of Environmental Science, MEP; Agricultural Ecological and Resources Monitoring Center, MOA; Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture; Environmental Protection Bureaus in Changchun, Jilin, and Lin Yi; and the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning.