Environment

Introduction to readers from RespChi’s “Sichuan office”

By Mark Hiew, contributing blogger

Hello ResponsibleChina readers!

Greetings from Chengdu, the famously laid-back capital of Sichuan province, here in Southwestern China. Given that a lot of the existing blogging on China comes from the economic powerhouse centers along the East Coast, I plan on bringing some alternative voices of people working on sustainability issues here in the Southwest to ResponsibleChina. To begin with, however, I thought some background information on this part of the country might be useful.

Sichuan province, still largely unknown to most outsiders, is a large basin which sits in China’s southwest, and is known as the “rice bowl” of China. It’s home to more than 87 million people and claims a long history dating back to the Shang Dynasty of 1600 BC. Outside of its majority Han population, it contains a significant number of ethnic minorities, including Hakka, Hui, Tibetan, Qiang, Uighur and Yi groups. Culturally, Sichuan is famous for its spicy, tongue-numbing cuisine, the beauty of its women and perhaps most prominently, local economic reformer Deng Xiaoping.

From an environmental standpoint, Sichuan receives significant coverage due to the famed plight of its most popular inhabitant, the Giant Panda, whose native habitat is located in the province’s lush forests. A flagship panda breeding and research center is located just north of Chengdu. Another important environmental site is the ancient Dujiangyan Irrigation System, built in 250 BC (before the invention of explosives) and still in successful operation today. Not far east of Sichuan is Chongqing Municipality, home to arguably the largest city in the world (Chongqing officials include surrounding areas within the city’s defined limits) and the controversial Three Gorges Dam project.

China is surely one of the most exciting countries to be living in at the start of the 21st century. Hope, new prosperity and change emanates from every city block and Olympics billboard. Within China, as companies increasingly look westward, into the country’s interior with its lower production costs, Sichuan started to boom more recently than the South and East. Chengdu alone in 2006 had a GDP of 275 billion RMB–maintaining double digit growth rate over the last decade, according to Chengdu Invest. It’s readily apparent on the streets, where the newly moneyed and well-heeled fill restaurants and bars each night in a city whose citizens are famous for knowing how to enjoy themselves.

It’s also readily apparent in the amount of waste being generated. Figures dating back to 2003 list Sichuan as producing about 9 million tons of waste, a figure that increases 5 to 8 percent each year (see: “A Fantastic Presentation of Consumption” by Tan Juan in Issue No. 6 of  Chengdoo Magazine.) Groups such as the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots and Shoots program already exist in the area, but clearly, there is a serious need for local waste-reduction action. Chengdu locals can draw much hope from the successful clean-up project for the city’s Funan river, which today is in far better condition than a decade ago.

Now, more than ever, it’s critical that sustainability and corporate social responsibility issues be addressed in partnership, rather than opposition, with the tremendous growth occurring throughout the region and country.

I hope to take part in that process.

=====

Read more about blogger Mark Hiew here.

(Photo courtesy of Mark Hiew via itslateagain on Flickr)

Sphere: Related Content

© 2007 ResponsibleChina.com: Environmental sustainability, corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship in China..