World Bank Providing International Experience for China in the Management of Brownfield Sites

Recently, the World Bank released its latest research report titled “International Experience in Policy and Regulatory Frameworks for Brownfield Site Management” in Beijing. It’s pointed out in the report that in the face of fast development of cities today, it’s very important that China manages brownfield sites in a systematic way while by learning from international experience China can improve its management level.

Contaminated Sites (also known as Brownfield Sites) refer to sites that are already contaminated. The residual hazardous substances and pollutants make it more complicated to reutilize and redevelop those sites. If brownfield sites are not properly managed, they will pose a great threat to the environment and public health. Thanks to the report in 2004 on the poisoning incident of three constructions workers in the Songjiazhuang Subway Project in Beijing showed that China began to attach importance to the management of brownfield sites. In recent years, a few “poisonous sites” have been exposed by the media. The November-30th report titled “Construction of Affordable Houses by a Wuhan Real Estate Development Company without Environment Appraisal on a Seriously-Polluted Land Parcel” became the focus of attention. For this reason, “it’s imperative that China systematically manage and scientifically remediate brownfield sites in order to “regulate the management of brownfield sites, reduce risks to the environment and public health, and relieve the demand of land use”, said Doctor Xie Jian, the World Bank’s senior environment expert and Manager of World Bank’s Project of Brownfield Remediation and Redevelopment in China.

“ Many developed countries and regions like the USA, Canada and EU, have accumulated rich experience in this regard and have formulated comprehensive and tested brownfield management frameworks.” According to Gong Yuyang, World Bank consulting expert and author of the above-mentioned report told our journalist, “One of the advantages China has in solving the problem of brownfield sites is that it can learn from experience and lessons of the aforesaid countries and regions in dealing with similar problems and speed up the establishment of an excellent management framework.”

The report released by the World Bank is one of the achievements of the “Brownfield Remediation and Redevelopment in China” project initiated by the World Bank. The Report reviews and summarizes the policies and laws and regulations of four different regions in brownfield management, including North America (USA, Canada), Asia (Japan, Chinese Taipei), Europe (EU, UK, Germany, Netherlands) and Latin America (Brazil, Mexico).

As the first country in the world to formulate policies and legal frameworks for the management of brownfield sites, the USA’s experience and lessons are of great significance to other countries. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, which was adopted in 1980, is the first law enacted by the USA to regulate the management of brownfield sites. The most outstanding contributions of the Act include: 1) Establishing the Polluter-pays principle and holding potential liable parties for restoring historically contaminated sites. 2) Authorizing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force any potential liable party to pay for all or part of expenses for restoring a contaminated site and leaving the sharing of restoration expenses and distribution of liabilities to all potential liable parties for settlement. 3) Formulating the article on the establishment of super funds, which provides a financing mechanism for the restoration of brownfield sites. For this reason, the Act is very often referred vividly to as the Superfund Act.

However, the Act has its deficiencies, including triggering a lot of law suits, putting unfair burdens on the shoulders of small and medium-sized enterprises, insufficient participation on the part of state governments and local communities, etc. In particular, the provision that a potential liable party may be obligated to undertake infinite but undefined liabilities discourages investors and developers so that sites are left unused and degraded into brownfield sites. The flaws of the Act have been corrected through multi-round amendments and reforms of the Superfund Plan over the years, including Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act adopted in 2002 and many other projects and plans related to brownfield sites. The revised Superfund Act is very popular with various interested parties. The amendments and reforms are of practical significance for developing countries like China.

Canada’s management framework highlights the complexity of relations between the federal government and local governments in the management of brownfield sites. In Canada, the responsibility of brownfield site management falls on each province. Each province and region is responsible for formulating the restoration standards for management of brownfield sites within their respective jurisdiction and the implementation procedures for risk assessment. The federal government’s involvement is limited to providing financial and technical assistance and formulating federal guidelines. Canada’s practice is very different from that of the USA, which relies mostly on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the management of brownfield sites.

In Europe, as EU member countries have very different policies on the management of brownfield sites, the EU is considering formulating a new land framework directive in the hope that EU will take overall charge of the management of brownfield sites within its jurisdiction. The policies of the UK, Germany and Netherlands as selected in the Report are very distinctive as the management of brownfield sites by the three countries are based on risk management. For instance, when setting targets for restoration of a contaminated site, consideration shall be given to the future use of the site, instead of merely complete restoration. One highlight of Netherlands’ policy is that soil is regarded as non-renewable resources and the process of site restoration is regarded as the process of restoration of soil functions.

Based on analysis of major foreign polices and legal frameworks, the Report makes the following suggestions on China’s management of brownfield sites.

Specifying the identification of interested parties and division of liabilities: China needs to find a balance between the identification of liable parties according to the Polluter-Pays Principle and effective implementation of restoration tasks, so as to avoid legal proceedings that are long, expensive and unfavorable for effective management of brownfield sites.

Formulating policies to contain risks caused by existing contaminated sites: Under many circumstances, it’s better to take safeguard measures to insulate or even close off contaminated sites to cut off ways of exposure, than to restore the sites directly, so as to reduce direct threats or risks to the public or the environment.

Setting restoration targets based on risks management: Experience of various countries show that it’s too expensive to completely restore contaminated sites. The best restoration target is to be set according to the risks posed by contaminated sites to the environment and surrounding population, which is to a large extent contingent on the use purpose of a contaminated sites and the distance between a contaminated site and population centers.

Establishing a financing mechanism for the restoration of contaminated sites: According to the experience of the US and other countries, it’s necessary for China to establish a sustainable financing mechanism for the restoration of contaminated sites, so as to restore those high-risk contaminated sites as soon as possible.

The report released by the World Bank is a summary of international experience in the restoration of contaminated sites. I believe that departments of the Chinese Government concerned can gain useful international experience from the report. “Pointed out Magda Lovei, Deputy Director of Sustainable Development Department of the East Asia and Pacific Region (the World Bank) in charge of society, environment and rural areas.

Although China can learn from the rich experience of other countries and regions, China is still confronted with special problems and challenges in the management of brownfield sites, including the influences of the state-owned land system on identifying persons liable for contaminated sites, objective restrictions of accelerated urbanization and economic development on the restoration time of contaminated sites, as well as the necessity of formulating measures by regions and stages for the management of contaminated sites due to the difference of various regions in economic development and management abilities, etc”. “We hope that while learning from international experience, China may be creative to find ways and means for the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield sites.” Ede Ijjasz, Deputy Sector Manager, China and Mongolia Sustainable Development Unit, East Asia and Pacific Region (the World Bank) told reporters. “We sincerely hope that the World Bank and the Chinese Government can further strengthen cooperation in the management of Brownfield sites.” (Source: China Daily Website)