Canada’s Environment and Development E 广东.doc

Canada’s Environment and Development Experience and Relevance to China By Arthur J. Hanson Introduction China’s long history of civilization, immense population size, remarkable biological diversity and ecosystems, and rapid economic and social development are factors that will shape its particular pathway of environment and development—perhaps uniquely among the nations of this world. However, China clearly wishes to draw upon the experience of other countries as it creates and implements environment and sustainable development within its own boundaries and as it helps to address these issues at a global and regional level. Canada (Figure 1) is a country with which China has developed significant ties on environmental matters. The reasons for doing so likely include Canada’s emphasis on these matters in its international cooperation with China and other nations, good relations between leading Canadian and Chinese individuals and organizations in this field, some environmental similarities between the countries, and Canada’s strong role in the past concerning environmental management and administration both domestically and in global and regional forums. Among these joint environmental activities is the Canada-China Cooperation on the Management of Environmental Sustainability Project. This Project draws upon Canadian experience with environment and sustainable development for introducing this subject matter into the work of the Central Party School and four provincial party schools. This paper supports various Project activities by addressing as explicitly as possible the rationale and understanding of why Canadian experience on environment and development is likely to be of value to China. The paper addresses three key questions: Why has Canada adopted an environment and sustainable development approach in its decision-making? Why is Canada’s experience successful? Why is Canada’s experience relevant to China? At the outset, it is important to note that Canada, l