Problems of Policy Implementation and Law Enforcement

that will be inundated after construction of the dam. Other social costs of the dam and the use of hydro-power in general include displacement of people and impact on fisheries.

By 2025, the share of nuclear power used for China's electricity generation is expected to increase to 4% from the little over than 1% currently. The use of nuclear power can be considered a very promising alternative energy source if the problem of disposing its waste can be properly handled.

 Problems of Policy Implementation and Law Enforcement 

As examples of failure to implementing government environmental policies, consider the policies stated by Premier Wen Jiabao in April 2007 as reported in section 3.2. The quoted speech of Premier Wen states:

"The challenge of reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions has proved arduous as China's economy grew 11.1 percent in the first quarter [of 2007] but power consumption surged 14.9 percent… Energy consumption as a fraction of GDP fell only 1.23 percent in 2006, well short of the annual goal of four percent [as stated in the 11^th Five-Year Plan of 2006-2010]. “

The positive aspect of the above story is that, unlike other developing countries such as India, South Korea and Brazil, China was able to reduce both the amount of energy and carbon consumed per dollar of GDP somewhat over the past two decades. The reduction of energy intensity was made possible by its very high level to begin with, the efforts by the Chinese government to conserve energy, and the adoption of more modern industrial plant and equipment. China's Energy Conservation Law came into effect on January 1, 1998. Further efforts by the government to increase overall energy efficiency have included the reduction of coal and petroleum subsidies.  Coal consumption is again rising, however, after declining in the late 1990s, and China's energy intensity increased slightly in 2001. At the same time, the government has promoted a shift towards less energy intensive services and higher value-added products, as well as encouraged the import of energy intensive products.