Jiangxi is situated in the south bank of the mid-low reaches of Yangtze River. It is surrounded with mountains in its three sides besides one side is the River. In the south is mountainous and hilly land; in the middle is hills alternated with basins and in the north is the Plain of Lake Poyang. Its territory area is 167 thousand km2 and population is 42 million. The economy of Jiangxi province is dominated by agriculture. It is the state production base of commercial foodstuff. After the foundation of new China, socio-economy has been greatly changed and people's living standard has remarkably enhanced. The GDP of the province as a whole was only 20.8 billion in 1985. Due to the natural and historical factors and rapid population propagation, it has ever taken placed to chop down trees for grain plantation, reclaim land from the lake and excessively fish before 80s of 20th century. These activities have resulted in problems of soil and water erosion, ecological deterioration and frequent occurrence of flooding and drought disasters. The provincial CPC and government adhere to take economic construction as the center of our works, adopt development means to solve problems in advance forwards, refresh our conceptions, deepen reformation, innovate mechanism, rely on science and technology, integrate the management of mountains and waters with economic development according to the actual situation of Jiangxi, conduct the renovation of ecological environment step by step, enhance the ratios of natural resource use and output, strive to coordinate socio-economic development, environmental protect and ecological construction, unremittingly explore the ways of rural sustainable development of Jiangxi.

　　Mountain-River-Lake (MRL) Regional Integrated Development

　　Reformation and openness has brought a development chance to Jiangxi. In order to effectively develop the natural resources and protect ecological environment, and promote the development of rural economy, the People's Government and CPC of Jiangxi Province have organized 600 scientists and technicians from and outside the province to conduct three times overall scientific investigations on the situations of socio-economic development, the resources and ecological environment in the Poyang Lake watershed since 1983. Through the investigations, we were aware that the coordination of natural resources exploitation, ecological environment protection and economic development need to take rivers, lakes, mountainous area and hilly area as an integrated ecological economic system, to plan as a whole, manage comprehensively, govern systematically and develop entirely. We should base on the scientific exploitation of natural resources, and focus on the conservancy and construction of ecological environment to promote the harmonious development of human and nature and fully enhance the capacity of regional sustainable development.

　　Under the direction of sustainable development strategy, the provincial CPC and government have decided to inaugurate the "Mountain-River-Lake Regional Development Program of Jiangxi". "Mountain-River-Lake Region" refers to Lake Poyang and five rivers -- Gan River, Fu River, Xin River, Rao River and Xiu River, which flows into the Lake, and their catchments, taking up 97.2% of the whole provincial territory. We have put forward the development strategy --- "to manage the lake, the river must be harnessed; to harness the river, the mountain must be developed; to develop the mountain, the poverty must be alleviated". Relying on technological innovation, we have implemented pilot projects to demonstrate the natural resources exploitation, explore and foster the industrial models of sustainable development, reasonably exploit the natural resource through entirely extending the demonstration achievements from the pilot project sites, protect environment, restore and reconstruct the damaged ecosystem, harmonize the develop of socio-economy and ecological environment. In July, 1985, "Jiangxi Provincial Commission for MRL Regional Development" was founded. The Governor of the province acts as the director-general of the commission, and major chiefs from more than 20 departments or agencies are the commissaries. The functions of the Commission for MRL regional Development are: under the leadership of the provincial CPC and government and in term of unified planning, to comprehensively manage hydrological system; coordinate the relevant departments to form a resultant force; and conduct the development and management step by step. Meanwhile, we have recruited more than 30 renowned scholars and experts from and outside the province to constitute an "Academic Commission for MRL Regional Development", whose aim is to provides scientific consultancy on and technological support to the important decision-making.

　　According to the disciplines of sustainable development, aimed at the features of Lake Poyang watershed and development situations, we have developed an Outline of the MRL Regional Development Overall Planning through drawing on the successful experiences abroad and at home. The Outline of the Overall Planning was submitted to and approved by the People's Congress of Jiangxi Province after it was passed by the provincial government. It has become a watershed development planning with a force of law and put into implementation. The Outline of Planning has clarified the development objectives in short, middle and long terms, and depicted the development patterns of industry, agriculture, forestry, energy and transportation, and the frameworks of development planning of each sector and department, according to the guidelines of "Based on ecology, having economy in mind, Developing systematically and managing in a comprehensive way". In term of the Outline of Planning, "Five-Year Planning for MRL Program" has further formulated by stages, and integrated into the "Socio-economic Development Planning of the whole province".

　　We have strengthened the establishment of legal system of ecological environment conservation and construction, and natural resources development, in term of the national laws and statutes related to environment conservation and resources development, to assure that the watershed comprehensive management has laws to abide by, and orders to follow. The People's Congress of Jiangxi Province has approved 29 local statutes since 1985, such as the "Ordinance on the Prevention of Environment Pollution", "Ordinance on Resources Comprehensive Development". The provincial government has also promulgated 28 administrative regulations such as "Regulation on the Fundamental Farmland Conservation". Meanwhile, we have been conducting long-term legal education, and strengthening the law execution, to guarantee the protection of ecological environment and reasonable development of resources.

　　Forge the Green Jiangxi

　　In recent 20 years, we always take the scientific and technological innovation and system innovation as the drive, and correctly handle the two relations of human -- nature, and human – human in the development of MRL Region. We adhere to the ideology of "Combining the management of mountains and waters with the poverty alleviation, coordinating the resources exploitation and environmental conservancy and construction, and integrating the present interests with long-term interests". We have established and improved 9 kinds of 26 experiment and demonstration bases and 127 extension sites, supported 112 agricultural commodity production bases, and implemented more than ten large-scale comprehensive resources development projects. At the same time, the successful experiences of experiment and demonstration bases have been extended to the whole province. We have kept on large-scale construction in environment conservancy, management of mountains and waters, and exploitation of resources. These activities may be approximately categorized into five aspects.

　　1. Return farmland to lake, reinforce the main levee, transit the households to a new town, and eradicate inundation. After the cataclysm of Yangtze Reviver watershed in 1998, we have input about 10 billion RMB fund to even 418 reclamation dams and reinforce the main levee of Lake Poyang to enhance flood control standard. More than 900 thousand farmers have moved to the adjacent townships or towns from the lake area, to get rid of the threats of flooding and waterlog disasters. The area of water surface of Poyang Lake has almost restored from 3,220 km3 to that of 1954 (about 4,400 km3). The cubage of floodwater store and the wetland area has greatly expanded.

　　2. Develop small watersheds comprehensively, restore and reconstruct the damaged ecological system. We build reservoirs and ponds in mountains to store water for the prevention of droughts; adopt the measures combining the engineering means with the biological ways to store water and conserve soil, plant trees and grasses to gradually increased thickness of arable land and enhance land fertility. For hilly area, we blocked off to foster natural forest on the slope over 25℃. On the bare slope below 25℃, we planted trees and grasses in term of soil character to form a soil and water conservation forests, which are comprised of arbors, bushes and grasses, for the prevention of soil and water erosion, or developed orchards and planted grasses to protect the slopes. The grassroots describe this pattern as "forests and grasses are on top and ponds below, fruits and grains are cultivated on bottomland，livestock farming and aquaculture promote mutually, processing and circulation become more prosperous". In recent 20 years, the average area of soil erosion which has been managed amounted to 3 million mu per year. The area of soil erosion has reduced from 36% to 21% of that of total land. Two billion CNY of direct benefit has been produced.

　　3. Scientifically utilize land resource, greatly develop eco-economy and prevent rural pollution. In order to integrate the environmental protection with rural economy development and peasants' richening, we join plantation, livestock farming, fishery and agricultural processing together and advance them mutually, and exploit natural resources at multiple levels and enhance the utility rate of light energy and the transform rate of biological energy in term of agriculture ecology. It is aimed to produce high yield, quality and non-pollution agricultural products. The eco-economic pattern of "pig-biogas-fruit (vegetable/fish/ others)" has been widely extended in whole province. One household combines his latrine, barn and biogas pond (about 6 – 10m3) together and raises 4 pigs and cultivates about 10 mu fruits. Feces are fermented in the biogas ponds, where the organic matters are decomposed and some harmful bacteria are killed. The produced biogas can provide energy for cooking and lighting. The biomass liquor can be used as feed supplement and good surface fertilizer which can prevent crops from plant diseases and pests to some extent. The biomass residues can be returned to farmland and increase 30~40% fertilizer efficiency. The "pig-biogas-fruit" pattern takes biogas pond as its hard core, which incorporates the three isolated activities of plantation (of grain and oil crops, fruits, vegetables and gazing etc.), raising (pig, cattle, goose, duck and aquatic products) and everyday life into an open complementary system. It has matter to be sufficiently circulated and collects the biological energy which is emitted naturally in the past to be used. According to an analysis, the benefit one household gains from this energy use is above 1,000 Yuan, and 500 Yuan profit has gained from fertilizer use. At same time, forest and vegetation are conserved; agriculture pollution reduces and contagion sources are under control. It also facilitates everyday life; reduces labor intension; beautifies the surroundings and increases farmer's income. This pattern has reached good ecological and economical benefits. Ministry of Agriculture takes the "pig-biogas-fruit" pattern as a southern model of eco-economic development for extension. So far, more than 900 thousand households have established biogas ponds in the whole province.

　　4. Take comprehensive measures to control schistosomiasis. To secure people's health, we have taken comprehensive measures to prevent the prevalence of schistosomiasis. We blocked the small branches of the Lake Poyang with low dams from its main water body, to reduce the chance people and live stocks' contacting the schistosomiasis contaminated water. The branch ponds can be used to raise fishes or water fowls. We have changed the low land into fish ponds to stabilize the water level; planted trees by water to establish barrier belt; changed the paddy field at high land into dry land and restructure the crop pattern to fruit and vegetable cultivation, reduced the number of farm cattle and raised pigs in pens; Blocked off lake beaches and forbidden gazing in schistosomiasis epidemic seasons. We have improved water supply facilities and latrine conditions through running water and hand pressing well for everyday water use, and constructed biogas ponds and healthy latrines to perish schistosome eggs in the stools. We keep strengthening farmers' consciousness of healthcare through popularizing health education and fostering their healthy civilized life style.

　　5. Adopt administrative and economic means to ensure the orderly exploitation and sustainable use of natural resources. We have normalized the conservation and reasonable exploitation of mineral resources. And also we have blocked off harbors and banned fishing during breeding seasons for 16 years in Lake Poyang. We have been collecting water fee, sewage discharging fee and mineral resources compensatory fee, to urge consumers to save the natural resources and enhance their utility rates. To guarantee the conservation of our natural resources step by step, we have established 111 natural sanctuaries and 5,000 sub-sanctuaries of all kinds in whole province.

　　Thoughts decide ways out and conception is also the fortune. Through the efforts of the people of our whole province, we have constructed a "green" Jiangxi. The past barren mountains and unruly rivers have become beautiful mountains and rivers. In past 20 years, the area of afforestation was up to 2.3 million hectares and the barren mountains suitable to afforestation have almost disappeared. The area of soil erosion has reduced from 3.3 million hectares to 1.3 million hectares; the forest covering rate has rose from 31.5% to 59.7% and city greening rate has amounted to 23.48%. The annual average amount of sand and soil coming into Lake Poyang reduced from 53.35 million tons to 24.00 millions tons. The area of water surface of Poyang Lake has almost restored to that in 1954. The cubage of floodwater store has increased 4.6 billion m3, and the wetland area has greatly expanded. The main levees in lake area have been reinforced and capacity of flood control has enhanced. Water quality has been improved. The water quality of the main body of Lake Poyang has reached the Grade II water quality standard. The water quality of above 70% monitored rivers is beyond Grade III standard. The air quality of cities has reached Graded I or II standards. The gross production value of agriculture, forest and husbandry of the whole province was up to 11.45 billion Yuan in 2002. It rose 2.33 times than that in 1985, among which agriculture increased 1.77 times; forest 1.63 times; animal husbandry 3.13 times; and fishery 12.1 times. People's life standard has greatly enhanced. The rural annual mean income increased from 287 Yuan in 1985 to 2,450 Yuan in 2003. Population of 4.5 million has got rid of poverty.

　　MRL Regional Development Program has obtained supports, assistances and appreciation from the state ministries and commissions related and many international organizations. In 1992, MRL Program was selected to display on the Technical Fair of the World Environment and Development Summit by Chinese Government. In 1997, the former State Science & Technology Commission and Planning Commission held an on-spot meeting in Jiangxi to extend the comprehensive development experiences of MRL Program to the whole country. In 2000, MRL Program was selected to display in Hanover World EXPO 2000. UNDP regarded MRL Program as a mirror of sustainable development in underdeveloped region.

　　Gold Mountains and Silver Mountains are needed;

　　But Clear Waters and Green Mountains are much more desirable

　　After entering 21st century, The Provincial CPC and government are actively exploring the rules for accelerating the social and economic development of Jiangxi, and have decided the development objective of economic uprising in middle China, and formulate the development ideology of "taking industrialization as the hard core, taking great openness as our main strategy, taking scientific and technological innovation and system innovation as the strong power, greatly advancing the agricultural and rural industrialization". We take the attitude of seeking the truth and dealing with the concrete matters relating to works and are clearly convinced that Jiangxi is still in the elementary phase of industrialization. We have made the realistic choice to have Jiangxi to become the continuing base of industrial gradient transfer, the processing and supply base of high quality agricultural products, export base of human resource, and the backyard of tourism and recreation of the coastal developed regions.

　　To realize sustainable development, insist on and carry out the view of scientific development, it is necessary to respect the natural laws as well as the economic rules. Gold mountains and silver mountains are needed, but clear waters and green Mountains are much more desirable. Development is the eternal topics and ecological environment is tomorrow's fortune. In the phase of economic rapid development, it is especially avoided to take the old development way of "taking our ancestor's food and stopping our children's way". We should not take it as development cost to sacrifice our ecological environment. Therefore, the provincial CPC and government have taken several measures as follows:

　　1. It is not allowed to introduce projects pertaining to eroticism, bet and narcotics; it is not allowed to introduce projects which are out-of-date, environmentally damaged, lagged in technology and non profitless; and it is prohibited to establish projects harmful to laborers' security and people's health.

　　2. We insist on the principle of "replacing the small business with large enterprises" when we develop our industry to protect environment and save resources. Through fully clearing and rectification, we have put down a series of projects which are re-constructed at low level, or results in great pollution, or consume too many resources, or endanger the laborers' securities, such as small scale paper making, coal pits, steel making, timber processing and fireworks workshops. Meanwhile, we have supported and developed a series of Hi-tech, profitable, environmentally friendly and resource-saving modern large-scale enterprises in electronics, informatics, coal & charcoal, and chemical industry. The internal economic structure of industry has been improved, and benefits and resource using rate have enhanced, and environment has been conserved.

　　3. We pay attention to change the ways of economic increase, to take a new way of industrialization, and to conduct intensive management. We have implemented the strictest system of arable land conservation to avoid the practices of "establishing industrial sites everywhere" when we developed town and township enterprises in the past. We mostly use the hillsides and wilderness around cities and county capitals to establish industrial parks, to avoid occupying farmland to the best. We firmly stop the blind enclosure of land and direct to establish industrial projects in one place and conduct intensive management, in order to enhance the constellation effect. We take the unit area input of fixed assets and industrial production value in an industrial park as important index to assess industrial parks. Two third industrial parks constructed in recent years are situated in hillsides or wilderness. The arable land area has kept balance of occupancy and supplement for consecutive 16 years.

　　In the progress of agricultural industrialization, the provincial CPC and Government have put forth the ideology of "constructing golden granaries below mountains, establishing green banks in mountains, and developing featured breed in waters".

　　First, Jiangxi should contribute to the state food security since it is one of main production areas of rice. Based on the state policy of supporting foodstuff production and motivating farmers' activeness, we have been strengthening the integration of techniques for high quality rice fertility, and extending them from a pilot site to the whole, so as to drive foodstuff production to a new step.

　　Second, we have greatly developed ecological agriculture and constructed a series of production bases of green rice, uncontaminated vegetable and organic tea, so that many agricultural products have accesses to green food symbols. We also extended the eco-economic patterns of "pig-biogas-fruit", "pig-biogas-fish" and "pig-biogas-vegetable" and integrated them with the prevention of schistosomiasis in the region around Lake Poyang. The towns, townships and villages have become civilized, healthy, prosperous ecological regions with green mountains, clear waters, beautiful houses, and facilitated roads.

　　Third, we have classified the management of forest resources. We have implemented the project of forest ecological system construction in Lake Poyang watershed, further extended the construction of natural sanctuaries and wildlife conservation, and constructed forest industry base dominated with fast growing and high yielding forests for timber need. We have reformed the use and management of collective-owned forest land to activate the management system, and encouraged farmers to intensively run forest land in a contracted or rent way, and greatly develop commercial forests of bamboo and oil tea camellia.

　　Fourth, we have been strengthening the construction of rural infrastructure. Highway construction has been accelerated. We are reconstructing more than 6,000 km rural highway each year in the framework of 1,400 km expressway. The planned rural highway to be reconstructed will be up to 10 thousand km from county capitals to townships, 18 thousand km highway from townships to villages by 2007. And also we will increase a large sum of fund to reconstruct endangering reservoirs and aging irrigation and drainage facilities.

　　Fifth, we are greatly developing the rural public utilities. We are further consolidating the achievements of popularizing nine-year compulsory education and enhancing education quality. We are strengthening the construction of rural public healthcare system and conducting the pilot program of new typed cooperative healthcare. We are providing perennial relief to 300 thousand rural people in extreme poverty and providing temporary assistance to farmers living a hard life due to disasters.

　　Under the precondition of conserving good ecological environment, social and economic development of Jiangxi is much rapid in recent years. In 2000, GDP of the province as a whole is 200.3 billion Yuan, among which the second industry only took up 35%. GDP of 2001 increased 8.8% than that of 2000. GDP of 2002 increased 10.5% and of 2003 increased 13%, amounting to 283 billion Yuan, among which first industry reduced 5.2% than that of 2000 and second industry increased 8.5%. Under the support of the state rural and agricultural policies, the three aspects of grain plantation area, grain gross production and mean income per farmer will increase above 20% this year than last year through the mutual efforts of cadres and farmers.

　　We are clearly cognizant of what Jiangxi is still an underdeveloped district in middle China. Rural development has some gap compared with the developed district. To realize the objective of full constructing a well-off society, we must firmly build up and fully carry out the view of scientific development, further enhance our understanding, strengthen leadership, handle affairs complying with laws, and persevere to promote the full, coordinated and sustainable development of all rural aspects in our province.