At a 2000 Beijing Science Week event today, Zhou Guangzhao, chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, said China is facing five challenges in the next century. Four of the five are environmentally related. The first challenge is the aging population. China's population will reach 1.3 billion by the end of this century and is expected to top 1.6 billion by the middle of next century, Zhou said. As the population grows it increases pressure on all natural resources - land, air, water, forests and wildlife.
Agriculture is the second challenge.
Ahou said that one quarter of the country's land has become desertified through irresponsible treatment, and its arable land is decreasing. Energy is the third challenge. Since 1993, China has become a net importer of petroleum. However, China still needs petroleum, with the gap estimated at 100 million tons by 2010. Environment itself is the fourth challenge, Zhou said, mentioning drying lakes and rivers, desertification, salinization and deterioration of grasslands.