Sustainable development in China: From knowledge to action

China has been at the forefront of initiatives designed to translate some of the outputs of the 1992 Earth Summit into reality. It was the first country to produce a national Agenda 21 (in early 1994). Since then, a conscious attempt has been made to integrate sustainable development considerations into the country's national development strategy. Little attention, however, has been given to the mechanisms through which China has attempted to move from debates on the meaning of sustainable development to practical actions that are intended to promote it. This paper discusses key elements in China's response to the imperatives of sustainable development and reviews the actions taken at the national level and in the case of Guangdong Province.link_to_subscribed_fulltex