| Summary/Abstract |
The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) reflects Beijing's comprehensive approach to improving the environmental situation in China. It includes mechanisms for stimulating "green" and low-carbon manufacturing, and measures for improving air, water, and soil quality. Standards for the emission of pollutants are being tightened to protect the environment, and a diversified mechanism of compensating for ecological damage is being created on the basis of market principles. China has had definite successes in controlling environmental pollution, raising the coefficient of water, air, and solid waste purification. Municipal water supplies and sanitation have been improved, and gas and central heating are being introduced on a broader scale. Efforts to conserve energy have yielded positive results. The task is now to overcome the rise in environmental devastation, improve the situation in major rivers and lakes, and reduce the levels of acid rain and discharges of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In the area of international cooperation, China is adhering to a course of energy conservation and working actively with other countries in the field of ecology under conditions of mutual benefit.
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