Asian Development Bank today issued the expectation on Asian environment in 2001. It shows that in the past 20 years China is a country to develop the fastest in economy in the world, but that brought some worries to the heavy destruction of environment. The economic cost for environmental destruction occupies 3% to 5% of GDP. The environmental destruction mainly embodies in the bad management of water and land resources and air pollution. The cost of environment is never to be neglected. Asian Development Bank thinks that China should increase the water price and collect the coal burning tax...

The bank announced at the same time that of its item planning from 2001 to 2003 is the environmental loan program of US $2 billion. 70% of the loan will be invested in the central and western China. That is for the capital construction and prevention and control of the land degeneration in western China.