An Approach To Co-constructing Economic Belt And Ecological Barrier Along The Upriver Of Yangtze

Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, carrying out the Grand Western Development Program in 1999, explicitly defined infrastructure construction as the foundation, ecological and environmental construction as the fundamental breakthrough point, and as the key economic restructuring and developing locality-featuring economy. What is most essential and intrinsic to the strategy of developing west China, then, lies in co-constructing economy and ecological environment in the western areas. In particular, since the region along the upriver of Yangtze mixes concentrated resources with underdeveloped economy, the water sources of great rivers with fragile ecology and sensitive environment, the region not only shoulders a twofold task of the construction of the economic belt and of the ecological barrier in the Grand Western Development Program but also has to confront environmental limits and capital bottleneck on its economic growth.The region sees a high frequency and ever increasing deterioration of the problems that undermine sustained regional economic growth. Despite the history-making shift from increased to decreased water and soil loss in Yangtze drainage area, the general ecological worsening along the upriver has not been basically reversed, major drainage-threatening environment pollution accidents incessantly happen, and the efficiency of resources exploitation and use remains low. Worse still, from lack of regional cooperation and the haphazard overall overtaking programs by some local governments result, in the economic belt along the upriver of Yangtze, a converging industrial structure, an over-sized heavy industry, a higher consumption than national average of energy and resources by some manufacturing industries, a slower pace in fostering newly-emerging leading industries, and a still-going-on economic model of low output with high input, consumption, and emission. Si Chuan and Chong Qing are predicted to be accelerating industrialization and urbanization in the twenty years to come. More strain will be imposed upon the regional system of resources and environment by the increased total industrial amount, the expanded basic industries like manufacturing, and the upgraded urbanization. And, as a result of great shortage of energy, minerals, fresh water, land and other resources in China, a new round of tapping on resources in the west is on the threshold, hence threatening to cause new destruction and safety hazards to the ecology and environment along the upriver of Yangtze.The appearance and deterioration of the above-mentioned problems in the development of the upper reaches of Yangtze river are, theoretically, traced to the current researches and policy-making that designate cross-regional reconstruction of ecology and environment as merely auxiliary to regional economic growth. Therefore, inadequate theoretical approach as well as practical appeals leaves this dissertation room for exploration. Also the dissertation is presented with new perspectives and methodology deriving from the academic results of the scholars home and abroad studying sustainability and other sustainable development theories, as well as from the ever-developing finance theories and practices in circular economy. And the dissertation is of some realistic value, for the results of the research can be referential in the western areas.This dissertation, employing regional economics, developmental economics, environmental economics, ecological economics, finance and other related theories, combining theoretical analysis with empirical analysis, qualitative study with quantitative study and general analysis with case study, intends to bring up a systematic approach to the sustainable economic development issues in the special region of upper reaches of Yangtze (a region of concentrated resources as well as of fragile ecology, a key region for development as well as for ecological and environmental reconstruction in Yangtze river drainage area).The whole dissertation is divided into two parts, seven chapters. The first part, involving Chapter I, II, III, begins with identifying the double roles of the economic belt and ecological barrier along the upriver of Yangtze, investigates the necessity and significance of co-constructing the two systems by examining the problems involved in performing them simultaneously within the same region, reveals the major conflicts involved in co-construction and the basic responsibilities borne by the participants by examining favorable regional externalities, and analyses the effects of co-construction on and the comparative advantages of the economic sustainability of resources and environment in the region. The second part, from Chapter IV to Chapter VII, basing it on the economic analysis in the first part and drawing on the international experiences of cross- administrative belt (area) development and ecological and environmental protection, formulates new ideas and conceptions of co-construction, and, by examining respectively the three parts, coordination mechanism, industrial structure optimization, and innovation of investment and financing models for co-construction projects, provides a tentative approach to the important issues in the work and proposes concrete policy making measures.This dissertation attempts to be innovative in the following aspects:To begin with, the dissertation points out that the region of upper reaches of Yangtze River has to assume a twofold task of the construction of the economic belt and of the ecological barrier along the upriver and that the task involves contrariety as well as unity. Researching on the co-construction of the economic belt and of the ecological barrier along the upriver, the dissertation intends to overcome the "environment vs. development" contradiction and to strike a balance between economic growth and building of ecology and environment. That means the adherence to the scientific outlook on development, which can in turn be interprted here as conservation in development and development in conservation. The unity of development and conservation consists in co-construction, and co-construction is to be well founded on a permanently effective mechanism. Next, the dissertation conceives the economic belt and the ecological barrier along the upriver of Yangtze as two sub-systems of the comprehensive economic system covering the complete Yangtze drainage area. It is in this macro-system that the issue of co-construction is investigated and the regional sustainable development models and mechanisms coping with more environmental resistance are analyzed. The dissertation points out that a coordinating mechanism, rather than mere mechanism innovation, is the most crucial to maneuvering the host of conflicts in the co-construction of the two sub-systems, in order that the economic sustainability of the resources and environment in the region can be upgraded on an overall basis, hence achieving sustainable development.Such a mechanism consists of decision-making administration, interactive development, compensation, achievement assessment, incentives and restraints. The top concern is to institute an authoritative organization in charge of the whole drainage area, responsible for co-construction planning, cross-administrative zones decision-making administration, coordination of the relationship between economic growth and environmental conservation and the relationship between the upper, middle, lower reaches of the river. The next concern is, according to the favorable regional externalities of building the ecological barrier along the upriver of Yangtze and the requirement for comprehensive development in the whole drainage area, to set up the development compensation mechanism and development interaction mechanism. The following concern is to institute the co-construction evaluation mechanism and achievement assessment mechanism to mobilize government at all levels to join in the co-construction endeavor. The final concern is, at the micro-economic level, to establish incentives and restraints mechanism to motivate businesses to transform their business models.Thirdly, drawing on the theories of resources sustainability and environment sustainability and their analytical methodology, this dissertation brings forward the concept of economic sustainability of resources and environment, and establishes a spatial-dimension-cored theoretical analysis frame for regional economic sustainability of resources and environment. After defining the economic sustainability of resources and environment as the capability for economic growth allowing for sustainable resources supply and long-term environmental capacity, this dissertation formulates the frame that embraces: (1) analysis of the factors influencing regional economic sustainability of resources and environment and their correlation, (2) analysis of the effects, of the changes induced by inter-regional interaction to intra-regional natural resource supply and to environmental resistance, on regional economic growth, (3) the dynamic analysis model for regional economic sustainability of resources and environment, (4) calculation of the comparative advantages of regional economic sustainability of resources and environment.Fourthly, employing the dynamic analysis model for regional economic sustainability of resources and environment established in this dissertation, the author analyzes the influence inflicted by co-construction upon the economic sustainability of resources and environment along the upriver of Yangtze and demonstrates a necessary shift of economic growth from one focusing on improving capital and labor productivity to one focusing on increasing resources productivity. A conclusion of the analysis is that some major construction projects in building the economic belt and the ecological barrier along the upriver of Yangtze has, to some degree, reduced resources supply capability within the region, increased environmental resistance, and lowered the regional economic sustainability of resources and environment. This dissertation ventures to propose that the solution be efforts to transform regional economic growth patterns, increase resources productivity and bring down environmental resistance.Fifthly, addressing the bank financing difficulty for ecological economy projects, this dissertation puts forth a credit-risk-sharing model, with co-construction compensation mechanism as the foundation and "government plus market" as the center, and introduces an exploratory new bank financing pattern - "government + bank + guaranteeing agency + venture". The dissertation points out that the ventures in ecological and environmental industry, in the infancy of growth, has weak credit and limited gages and are hardly able to obtain creditor financing from banks or other financial institutions, and therefore suggests that, via the governmental economic regulation, the government financial subsidies and preferential policies granted to the ventures be combined with bank financing and a "loan pool" be formed through sifting, that proper guaranteeing mechanisms and risk-compensating mechanisms be set up to form a social risk-transferring and risk-sharing system.Sixthly, based on the theoretical analysis of regional externalities, the dissertation points out, in regional economic cooperation, the emphasis should be placed not only on market-based exchange of products with comparative advantages but on strengthening cooperation in the supply of the cross-regional public goods. This dissertation proposes that the responsibility of improving the environment and ecology in all Yangtze drainage area be shared by the upper, middle, and lower reaches alike, that cross-regional infrastructures like transportation, telecommunications, water conservancy projects, power supply network be co-constructed with the "Yangtze Golden Water Avenue" as the trunk, and that public services like education and health be enhanced throughout the drainage area and cross-regional assistance and relief systems be constructed.