Environmental protection has been a basic national policy since the 1980s. The State Environmental Protection Committee of China was established in 1984 and the first Environmental Protection Law formally issued in 1989. After the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, China was one of the first countries to formulate and carry out a strategy of sustainable development. In 1993, the Environmental Resources Committee of the NPC was set up. So far, the state has promulgated eight laws for environmental protection, 14 laws for management of natural resources and 35 regulations on environmental protection. Environmental protection authorities have publicized over 100 national environmental protection regulations and more than 1,000 local ones.

Responding to stresses on natural resources caused by fast economic growth, development and urbanization, the state at the turn of the 21st century responded with a "green strategy" that includes developing a revolving economy, increasing resource-use efficiency; developing clean production, reducing pollution cost in production processes; developing green consumption, reducing ecological impact of consumption; developing new energy resources, reforming production methods, moving toward ecological industrial civilization, and creating a balanced ecological environment.

Construction of eco-provinces
The Outline for National Eco-Environmental Protection promulgated in 2000 by the State Council of China advocated the energetic establishment of eco-provinces, eco-cities, eco-counties and eco-townships. These eco-areas, whose objective is regional sustainable development, should simultaneously promote economic development, social progress and environmental protection in a unified way. Eco-designated localities should strengthen environmental protection and ecological construction, promote awareness, protect and improve the environment whilst also developing eco-industry and economy, and enhancing the quality of life. Today, trial projects are underway in eight provinces including Hainan, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shandong and Anhui. Jilin has earmarked for 2001-2005 more than 38 billion yuan on eco-industry and eco-environment construction. Heilongjiang Province has been developing green products in line with its resources and industry. Zhejiang Province has included eco-construction into the work goal responsibility system for administrative heads at all levels of governments throughout the province. 

Nature Reserves
China's first nature reserve was the Dinghu Mountain Nature Reserve, established in 1956 in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province. At the end of 2004, there were 2,194 nature reserves of various kinds throughout the country, covering a total area of 148.23 million ha, and accounting for 14.8 percent of the total land territory. Protected through these nature reserves are 88 percent of the land eco-system types, 87 percent of the wildlife populations, 65 percent of the higher plant communities, nearly 20 percent of the natural forests, 50 percent of the China's marshland and wetland, main habitats of more than 300 precious and endangered species of wild animals, and major distribution areas for over 130 precious tree varieties.

Of all China's nature reserves, the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve established in August 2000 is the greatest concentration of bio-diversity. Covering a total area of 316,000 sq km and an average elevation over 4,000 meters, it is also the largest and highest. It is located in the central area of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, at the source of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers. State-level investment totaling 220 million yuan has been put into the Sanjiangyuan protection project, which started in 2003. Guangdong Province has 209 nature reserves, the most in China, covering a total area of 3.17 million ha. Wolong and Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan Province, Changbaishan in Jilin Province, Dinghushan in Guangdong Province, Baishuijiang in Gansu Province are among the 27 reserves designated by UNESCO as "World Biosphere Reserves."

Wetland Protection
China has 65.94 million ha. of wetlands, of which 36.20 million ha. are natural wetlands, ranking first in Asia and fourth in the world.

Widely distributed across China and widely varied, China's wetlands fall into 28 different types and 5 categories, including marine, river, marsh and reservoir. Since joining the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 1992, China's government has established 535 natural wetland reserves, including low beaches by seas, lakes and rivers and forest-edge wetlands. Of these 30, with a total area of 3.43 million ha, have been classified as Wetlands of International Importance, thus 40 percent of the natural wetlands and 33 key animal species under state protection are effectively preserved within the nature reserves. Thanks to effective protection, the Lalu Wetland in Lhasa, Tibet, the world's highest, largest natural wetland within a city, has stopped shrinking, expanding from under 6 sq km at the end of the millennium to 6.2 sq km today. Its vegetation coverage, most of it grassy marsh, is over 95 percent.

A National Plan for Wetland Protection Actions begun in November 2000 aims to stop human activity-related shrinking of natural wetlands by 2010, and to restore deteriorated or vanished wetlands by 2020.

Biodiversity
China has rich biodiversity, boasting the world's largest number of bird species and gymnosperm varieties. But China's biodiversity is faced with a critical situation: 15 to 20 percent of higher plant varieties are endangered, threatening the existence of 40,000 species of organisms related with them.  As one of the earliest contracting countries to the Convention on Biological Diversity, China has been active in international affairs concerning the Convention and vocal on important issues related to biodiversity. China is also one of the few countries to complete the Convention's action plans. The China Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation, implemented in 1994, provided rules and regulations for many eco-environmental protection activities. According to the Law on the Protection of Wildlife, the highest punishment for crimes of damaging wildlife resources is the death penalty.

International cooperation
China supports global environmental efforts and has played an active role in international environmental affairs. Since 1994 when the United Nations Framework Convention on Global Climate Change went into effect, China has adhered to its principles in international talks on climate change, adopting measures and defending the legitimate rights of China and other developing countries. In August 2002 China signed the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

China ratified the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in June 2004. Aware of its importance, the government organized a lead team to draw up national plans and the State Environmental Protection Administration established a lead team and office for implementing the Stockholm protocols. China will take necessary legal, administrative and technical measures to reduce, control and dispose of persistent organic pollutants; and will handle them in a safe, effective and hazard-free way.

As a member state of the Global Environmental Fund (GEF), China has maintained a close cooperative relationship with the organization, an international fund-management partnership founded in 1992 that has become the world's largest investor in the field of international environmental protection. China is one of the few developing world donor countries, having played an active role in fund-raising. At the same time, the GEF has provided financial and technological assistance in helping China protect its environment and fulfill international treaties. China has undertaken dozens of projects with GEF help, receiving several hundred million US dollars in donations and becoming GEF's biggest beneficiary.

In the 1990s, the World Bank and China's State Environmental Protection Administration set out a vision for the sustainable development of China's environment in "China's Environmental Strategy Paper" and "Clear Water, Blue Skies: China's Environment in the 21st Century." In the past two decades, the World Bank has granted loans to 24 environmental protection projects in China, and assisted in obtaining donations from the GEF and Montreal Protocol for Chinese environmental projects.

Non-governmental environmental protection organizations from various countries in the world, such as the World Wide Fund for Nature and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, have successfully cooperated with Chinese authorities and non-governmental organizations in various fields. The "China Council for Cooperation on Environment and Development" consists of some 40 experts and acts as a senior consultancy to government. Since its establishment more than a decade ago, it has made many constructive proposals to the Chinese government and is respected abroad for its international environmental cooperation.