Foreign news

Environmental Protection And The Road To 2035

Published

4 years ago

March 8, 2021

I’m Robert Lawrence Kuhn and here’s what I’m watching:

The critical importance of environmental protection in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan and in the country’s long-range, 15-year roadmap to 2035, when China intends to become, basically, a fully modernized, socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, cultural, advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

But a country cannot claim to be “beautiful” if its air, water and soil is severely polluted.

No amount of economic development is worth the cost of environmental degradation. Sustainable development is an absolute requirement for China to achieve its national goals.

In a recent meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform, the Party’s most important policy-setting authority, CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping set as one of the four reform priorities for 2021, “promoting the shift to green development.”

In the past, the Chinese government always lauded the ideals of a clean environment, but when actual enterprises polluted, there were obstacles in making them stop: local officials were more concerned about GDP growth rates to bolster their careers, and corruption and bribery could divert or halt the enforcement.

Moreover, when enterprises were caught polluting, even when egregious, the fines were extremely low, a small fraction of what it would cost to stop the polluting. In fact, the fines were so tiny that they were, in essence, a financial incentive to continue to pollute!

No longer.

Officials at all levels, along with enterprise executives, now know that the new costs of polluting far outweigh the old benefits: financial fines will be punitive and painful, and careers can be put in immediate jeopardy.

It takes only a few expensive examples for everyone to get the message. Credit President Xi for making the cost prohibitive and the message unambiguous.

One lens through which to view China’s environmental protection is that of the New Development Concepts, which drives the 14th Five-year Plan. Of the five Concepts, “green development”, at number three, is right in the middle.

Government directives call for breakthroughs.

By 2025, a marked rise in green industries, a continued drop in major pollutants, and a slashed carbon emission intensity; the industrial, energy, and transportation structures significantly optimized; the proportion of green industries increased significantly; and the quality of green infrastructure enhanced.By 2035, energy and resource utilization efficiency in key industries and for key products reaching world-class standards.

The directives also include:

promoting wind and solar power, and natural gas infrastructure; limiting new coal power capacity; mandatory clean production audits; controlling highly polluting and energy-intensive products; local subsidies to stimulate green consumption; reducing food waste; and improved waste classification. But specific targets are not yet specified. They need to be – and I expect they will be.

I’m keeping watch. I’m Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

Scriptwriter: Robert Lawrence Kuhn

Cameraman: Morgan Compagnon

Video editor: Tao Chenwei

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Foreign news

NTAC Hails Tinubu; Volunteers Ready to Positively Impact Nigerians

Published

3 days ago

June 4, 2025

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) has commended President Bola Tinubu for funding the Technical Aid Corps (TAC) Scheme.

The Director General (DG) of NTAC , Dr Yusuf Yakub, made the commendation during a ceremony to receive five returning TAC volunteers from Zanzibar, Tanzania on Tuesday in Abuja.
The returning volunteers also expressed readiness to impact knowledge gained from participating in the programme on Nigerians.

TAC is a mechanism for Nigeria’s foreign aid and technical assistance to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries through the use of Nigeria’s abundant trained manpower.

Yakub lauded Tinubu’s visionary leadership and steadfast support for the TAC Scheme.

Welcoming the volunteers who had discharged themselves as worthy ambassadors in Zanzibar, the D-G thanked them for their patriotism, dedication to service and for making Nigeria proud on the international arena.

The NTAC boss highlighted the importance of knowledge-sharing, while announcing that certificates of completion will be presented to the volunteers in line with the noble objectives of the service.

He also emphasised the volunteers’ crucial role in passing on the skills and experiences gained in Zanzibar.

He expressed optimism that their efforts would positively impact the lives of Nigerians across the country and shape the expectations and service-delivery of future prospective volunteers.

Earlier speaking, Amb. Zakari Usman, the Director of Programmes for NTAC, expressed gratitude to the D-G for his unwavering support and provision for the volunteers throughout their service period.
He said that the volunteers had so delivered on the mandate of the agency that citizens of Zanzibar did not want them to leave their country.
Popoola Adegoke, the Team Lead and a Mathematics Instructor for the batch of returning volunteers, was full of gratitude to the Federal Government for providing them the opportunity to participate in the scheme.

Adegoke said that Nigeria, was well blessed and had the abundance of both human and natural resources to contribute meaningfully to the development of many countries of the world.

He said that the need to continue the TAC Scheme was not negotiable, owing to its high impact and results.

Mohammed Salisu, a Physicist, said that the experience had broadened his horizon as his orientation during the last 24 months in Zanzibar, especially on the cultural exchange.

He lauded the government for the scheme, saying that Nigeria is seen and perceived to be higher in all ranking, especially in the standard of living and educational system.

He also appealed to the government to sustain the scheme to close the gaps both the educational and professional systems in the African, Caribbean and the Pacific Countries.
NAN

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