Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Paris and Washington, D.C.: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006, 287 pp.

Sixteen papers, originally presented at the Workshop on Environment, Resources, and Agricultural Policies in China held in Beijing in June 2006, explore agro-environmental issues with a special focus on water. Papers discuss the new socialist countryside and its implications for China's agriculture and natural resources; selected aspects of water management in China--conditions, policy responses, and future trends; the effects of integrated ecosystem management on land degradation control and poverty reduction; water resources and agricultural production in China--the present situation; agri-environmental policies in OECD countries and natural resource management; market mechanisms in water allocation in Australia; the Dutch approach to water quality problems related to fertilization and crop protection; policy issues regarding water availability and water quality in agriculture in the United States; decision support tools to aid policy design and implementation for sustainable resource use in agriculture; fertilizer use in Chinese agriculture; conserving agricultural biodiversity through water markets in China--lessons from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment; a resource utilization approach to resolving food security issues in China; models and strategies for the development of circular agriculture in China; the crop protection industry role in supporting sustainable agriculture development in China; whether crop insurance influences agrochemical use in the current Chinese situation--a case study in the Manasi Watershed, Xinjiang; and nonpoint source agricultural pollution--issues and implications. No index.

Anonymous

Worldwatch Institute, 2006, 244 pp.

Provides a special focus on China and India, examining the global impact as these two nations join the United States and Europe as major consumers of resources and polluters of local and global ecosystems. Explains the critical need for both countries to "leapfrog" the technologies, policies, and even the cultures that now prevail in many western countries for the sake of global sustainability, and reports on some of the strategies that China and India are starting to implement.

Kirsten A. Day.

Armonk & London: ME Sharpe, 2005

Lester R. Brown.

Earth Policy Institute: Building an Economy for the Earth, 2005

Explores the impact on the environment, resources, and on crop production if consumption per person in China were to reach current U.S. levels. This exercise points out the need for a new economic model based on renewable sources of energy, a transport system that does not emphasize automobiles, recycling of materials, and zero waste.

Elizabeth C. Economy.

Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2004, xiii, 337 pp.

Explores the problem of integrating economic development and environmental protection in China. Describes the death of the Huai River, which epitomizes the saga of environmental change in China. Explains how the exploitation of natural resources has contributed to the wars, famines, and natural disasters that have plagued China through the centuries. Examines the economic explosion since 1978 and its environmental cost. Describes China's bureaucratically weak environmental protection apparatus and explores the challenge of greening China. Examines the new politics of the environment in China, as China's leaders have allowed the establishment of genuine nongovernmental organizations, encouraged aggressive media attention to environmental issues, and sanctioned independent legal activities to protect the environment. Describes how China has eagerly accepted technical and financial help from international institutions as well as other countries in pursuing environmental protection. Presents examples from outside China that demonstrate how the release of independent social forces can lead to pressures for broader political change. Explores three alternative scenarios for China's environmental future. Economy is C. V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director, Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Index.