Socio-economic Plans in China

China has borne considerable environmental costs through decades of rapid and extensive development. Realizing that the environment and resource constraints may impede development, there is an increasing recognition of the necessity to mainstream and upstream environmental considerations in planning process. Incorporation of environmental sustainability considerations in Socio-economic Plans (SEP) is one of the important tools to assure sustainability. These plans, guiding social and economic development in various aspects, have posed new challenges to the EIA practitioners. This paper introduces the centralized planning system of China, identifies the potential contribution of SEA activities to socio-economic planning and highlights the challenges under the current system and the EIA Law having been implemented since September of 2003. The main purpose of this paper is to propose an approach to assess the effectiveness of SEA practices undertaken for Socio-economic Plans. The findings will contribute to a better integration of environmental considerations in the socio-economic planning process