PROJECT ASSESSMENTS - Science for Agriculture and Rural Development in Low-income Countries - page 201

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RMO-BEIJING

Resource Management Options in the Greater Beijing Area

A) Project setting

1) What was the background and motivation of the project?

During the 1990s, China's urban population has grown by about 10 million per year,
to a total which is estimated at 430 million. It has been estimated by some urban
planners that by 2015, 40% of the population will be living in urban areas, bringing
the total to about 670 million. This urbanization process and rising incomes are
important driving forces behind changes that occur in the agricultural sector, and the
impact of this sector on the environment. For example, people living in urban areas,
eat on average twice as many eggs and 50% more meat than people in rural areas.
The associated increase in animal production causes pollution of the environment.
Also, the increasing production of horticultural crops around urban areas that
generally require large fertilizer and biocide applications, has shown negative effects
on the environment.
For the Beijing Municipality the quantity of available water resources and the
quality of the available water have already become matters of major concern. Rapid
urbanization and the strong intensification of the agricultural sector have led to serious
water scarcity and, at many places, to poor quality of the water resources. Finding
sustainable solutions requires, among others, integrated planning, which takes into
account the multiple objectives of future land use and the resource constraints.
To analyse these problems and to explore future options for improved resource
management, the project Resource Management Options in the Greater Beijing Area
(=RMO-Beijing-project) was launched in September 2002. The aim of this project is
to raise awareness among city planners, policymakers and stakeholders (e.g.,
farmers) in peri-urban Beijing about the impact of different agricultural production
systems and technologies on environmental quality, and in particular water quality,
in Beijing Municipality and to identify sustainable options for solving such
problems. This is to be achieved by quantifying the impacts of agricultural activities
on the degree of pollution and environmental (mainly water) quality, with special
attention for the most intensive forms of agriculture such as vegetable and livestock
production.

* Questionnaire received 2006, revised May 2007; Project leaders R. Roetter (Alterra) and
C.A. Van Diepen (Alterra)