This publication presents the results of a 2-year effort to update environmental assessment in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The research was a collaborative effort involving the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Development and Reform Commission, and numerous other technical and research institutions in the PRC. Based on this research and extensive consultations, ADB proposes a wide range of programs and policies that will help improve environmental quality despite new and emerging sources of pollution and challenges to natural resources management. Inclusive growth and a green economy are the government's guiding principles for its development agenda under the 12th Five-Year Plan and beyond to 2020. To support these principles, the PRC needs to restructure its economic and fiscal systems to reflect environmental externality, expand the use of market-based instruments to control pollution, and introduce and implement legal reforms to clarify responsibility and promote cooperation.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) suffers from some large-scale land degradation problems, posing a significant threat to the lives of local residents and to the future economic welfare of the nation. The dryland areas of the western PRC, which cover approximately 40% of the country's land area, contain some of the most severely degraded land in the world. With only about 7% of the world's farmland and 6% of the world's annual water runoff, the PRC must feed 22% of the world's population. With the assistance of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Asian Development Bank, the PRC government established the PRC-GEF Partnership on Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems to address land degradation issues, reduce poverty, restore dryland ecosystems, and conserve biodiversity through an effective integrated ecosystem management (IEM) approach.

Rapid economic growth in the world's most populous nation is leading to widespread soil erosion, desertification, deforestation and the depletion of vital natural resources. The scale and severity of environmental problems in China now threaten the economic and social foundations of its modernization. Using case studies, Morton analyzes the relationship between international and local responses to environmental problems in China, challenging the prevailing wisdom that weak compliance is the only constraint upon local environmental management in China. It advances two interrelated discussions: first, it constructs a conceptual framework for understanding the key dimensions of environmental capacity. This is broadly defined to encompass the financial, institutional, technological and social aspects of environmental management. Second, the book presents the results of an empirical inquiry into the implementation of donor-funded environmental projects in both China's poorer and relatively developed regions. By drawing upon extensive fieldwork, it seeks to explain how, and under what conditions, international donors can strengthen China's environmental capacity, especially at the local level. It will be of interest to those studying Chinese politics, environmental studies and international relations.

Infrastructure is essential for development. This report presents a snapshot of the current condition of developing Asia's infrastructure---defined here as transport, power, telecommunications, and water supply and sanitation. It examines how much the region has been investing in infrastructure and what will likely be needed through 2030. Finally, it analyzes the financial and institutional challenges that will shape future infrastructure investment and development.