What are the main causes of environmental pollution and ecological destruction since the founding of New China? A veteran in the field of environmental protection believes that: decision-making mistakes.

Due to many reasons, China made major economic decisions in the last century with little or no consideration of possible environmental consequences, which led to large-scale environmental pollution and ecological destruction in the implementation process. Up to now, there are endless problems: under the influence of the idea of "taking grain as the key link", deforestation and grass reclamation around lakes have become more and more frequent throughout the country, resulting in soil erosion, shrinking lakes, grassland desertification and flooding.

-the resource development policy of "big mines, small mines and small mines" and "fast water flow" put forward in the mid-1980s. The wind of indiscriminate mining and digging is spreading everywhere, which not only wastes a lot of resources, but also greatly destroys the ecological environment.

-The policy of supporting township enterprises formulated in the late 1980s made township enterprises, including "fifteen small" enterprises, blossom everywhere, resulting in "every family is lit, every village is smoked". Industrial pollution and ecological destruction have spread from cities to rural areas, especially the pollution of water environment. Some water towns in the south of the Yangtze River have been embarrassed to "live by the river to buy water to drink" ...

Once these environmental damages occur, we must pay a high price to restore and reverse them, forcing us to invest huge sums of money to pay off historical debts: implementing key environmental projects such as "three lakes and three rivers", returning farmland to forests and grasslands, returning farmland to lakes, returning farmland to grazing, closing small factories and mines, and so on. Take the closure of the Tenth Five-Year Plan with high energy consumption and heavy pollution as an example. In just 1996, more than 65,000 small enterprises were shut down, and some places are still shutting down today, just coming back from the dead. Historical lessons show that the environmental impact of policies, plans and plans is macroscopic, cumulative and long-term potential. If environmental issues are not considered in decision-making, it will often lead to disastrous consequences. How can we minimize the environmental damage caused by policies, plans and plans? At the Sino-Canadian seminar on strategic environmental impact assessment held recently, Chinese and foreign experts unanimously called for the implementation of strategic environmental impact assessment (SEA) as soon as possible on the basis of the current environmental impact assessment of construction projects.

Strategic environmental impact assessment: prevention of environmental damage begins with decision-making.

According to Chen Fu, president of china environmental science Research Institute, strategic environmental assessment refers to a standardized and systematic comprehensive assessment of the possible environmental impacts of policies, plans or plans and their alternatives, and applies the assessment results to decisions with public responsibilities. It is put forward in view of the defects of project environmental impact assessment. Project EIA has played an important role in controlling and reducing environmental pollution and ecological damage since it was put forward and implemented in western developed countries in the 1960s, but its shortcomings are becoming increasingly obvious: construction projects are at the end of the whole decision-making chain (strategy-policy-planning-planning-project), so project EIA can only make remedial efforts; The approval or rejection of a single project cannot affect the initial decision-making and layout. When people set out to formulate policies, plans and programs, environmental problems have already emerged potentially.

In the mid-1970s, some countries in Europe and America began to extend the application of EIA to the planning level. In the early 1980s, EIA was raised to the policy level. By the end of 1980s, strategic environmental assessment began to be widely accepted in the world. 1990, in the form of a cabinet directive, Canada required all government departments to consider environmental factors at the strategic level, conduct strict environmental assessment, and set up a special environmental assessment bureau. In the United States, departments such as environmental protection, energy, housing and urban development, transportation and forestry all actively participate in strategic environmental assessment. In the 1980s, only the Environmental Protection Agency completed about 40 strategic environmental assessments every year.

China should implement strategic environmental assessment as soon as possible.

After more than 20 years of development and improvement, project environmental assessment has become a basic system of environmental management in China. In 2000, the implementation rate of environmental assessment reached 93.6%, which played an important role in controlling new pollution and protecting the ecological environment. However, Wang, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, pointed out that the current environmental impact assessment of construction projects is difficult to play a role in macro-decision-making, and it cannot solve the cumulative, indirect and induced impacts arising from development and construction activities. In order to realize the environmental protection policy of putting prevention first, strategic environmental assessment must be implemented to prevent major decision-making mistakes and environmental damage.

It is gratifying that some cities in China have begun to explore strategic environmental assessment. For example, Tianjin conducted a strategic environmental assessment on the sewage recycling policy, and Lanzhou and Jinan conducted environmental impact assessments on the regional development of Xigu District and the development of Shungeng Community respectively. Zhu Tan, dean of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Nankai University, believes that the main goal of strategic environmental assessment is to ensure that the development strategy conforms to the national environmental policy and action plan, and reflects and meets the requirements of sustainable development. In the process of implementation, the following principles should be followed: the strategic environmental assessment should be fully integrated into the strategy formulation and decision-making process; Conduct strategic environmental assessment as early as possible in strategy formulation; Fully consider alternatives; Clarify the responsibilities of each department and establish an effective cooperation and exchange mechanism; Let the public participate widely.

It is reported that the National People's Congress is drafting an environmental impact assessment law, in which strategic environmental assessment is an important content and the focus of debate. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, China's national economy will continue to develop rapidly, and the task of controlling environmental pollution and ecological destruction from the source will be even more arduous. Zhu, director of the Supervision Department of the State Environmental Protection Administration, believes that "the past is not forgotten, and the future is a teacher". Both positive and negative experiences at home and abroad prove that implementing strategic environmental assessment is an effective way to prevent decision-making mistakes and bring environmental protection into comprehensive decision-making. Relevant departments should abandon narrow departmental interests and actively carry out strategic environmental assessment from the overall situation of safeguarding national ecological security and sustainable development. Only in this way can we avoid going back to the old road of' pollution first and then treatment' in the future. "