The international workshop on “Environment and Development in China and India and Global Implications” was held in Beijing on September 9, 2006. This workshop was organized by the Secretariat of CCICED, which aimed to explore the hot topics of the interests of each sector with the help of CCICED platform. Prof. Shen Guofang, the Chinese Lead Expert of CCICED and Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director General of the Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) of India and International Member of CCICED chaired the meeting. Mr. Xu Qinghua and Mr. Yang Chaofei, both Deputy Secretary General of CCICED, and Mr. Biudu Lohani, Director General of Regional and Sustainable Development Department of ADB attended and addressed the meeting.

Over 60 participants attended the meeting. They were Chinese and Indian experts in relevant fields, officials from NDRC, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, SEPA, Environment and Resource Committee of National People’s Congress and relevant ministries and committee; representatives from international organizations or country embassies such as ADB, WWF, EU, Britain, Italy and Japan. Some CCICED International Members also attended the meeting.

The meeting had heated and in-depth discussion on the three key topics: 1) environmental policies of China and India and their future challenges; 2) energy policy, and 3) water resource management.

From the perspective of environmental policies, the Chinese Government attached great importance to environmental protection and took it as one of basic national policies. In the new development period, it has put forward the scientific outlook on development and the establishment of a harmonious society as well as the important objective of improving the environment for the realization of a well-off society in an all round way. The ecological environment of China is still facing with massive challenges at present and this will last for some period in the future. Same as China, India has its ambitious development goal. However, it is facing many challenges in environment and development, too. For example, huge population pressure, poverty, lack of energy and environmental pollution. India is also actively adjusting its policies that are beneficial to environmental protection.

For energy issue, energy demand had a big increase during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period in China. The Chinese Government has issued a series of policies in relation to energy. In the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, the Chinese Government clearly identifies the target of 20% reduction of energy consumption. Coal consumption will still dominate energy consumption in China for a relatively long period in the future. However, pollution resulting from coal consumption is also very serious. For this reason, the Chinese Government has made great efforts in developing clean coal technology in order to minimize the pollution caused by coal combustion. In India, the energy structure is similar to that of China with coal dominance, but the proportion is not as high as in China. Per capita energy consumption of India is relatively low, only one third of the level of China. Meanwhile, it is facing with such problems as lack of electricity in rural areas, low energy efficiency and high dependency on foreign energy resources. China and India could enhance their cooperation in such fields as energy saving, optimizing energy structure, improving energy efficiency and developing clean coal technologies.

China and India share many similarities in the management of water resources. At present, per capita water resource of China is very low, less than one third of the world average. It is even lower in India. Meanwhile, the distribution of water resources in the two countries is not even, hence requiring water diversion projects. Water resources in China are facing the following grave challenges: 1) increasing conflict between economic development and lack of water resources; 2) low efficiency and return of water resources; 3) increasing deterioration trend of water pollution that aggregates shortage of water resources: 4) excessive development of water resources leading to serious ecological damage. The problems of India in water pollution, efficiency of water resources and lack of water resources are similar to that in China, but not that serious.

All participants share the same viewpoint that for a long time, China and India have little cooperation and exchanges in the field of environment and development. They lack in-depth understanding and communications. As two big developing countries, if China and India can jointly develop a sustainable development path different from that of developed countries, they will make active and great contributions to the whole world.