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One child policy ‘pays off’
AFP, IOL
China said on Tuesday its battle to rein in soaring greenhouse gas emissions has received a boost from an unexpected source – the nation’s controversial family-planning policy.
Since its adoption in the late 1970s, the so-called “one-child” policy has averted the births of more than 300 million people, who would have emitted an additional 1,3 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, a government environment report said.
If true, the figure would represent more than one-fifth of China’s current emissions, based on estimated figures released by a Dutch agency last year.
(11 March 2008)
China Mulls Change to One-Child Policy
Associated Press
China may consider changing its one-child policy because it has helped slow population growth over the last three decades, a Chinese official said Sunday.
… Wu’s comments echo a position China’s communist government has been thinking about for some time. On Thursday, a senior family planning official said changes were being considered but that family planning policies would not be scrapped altogether.
Under the current mandate, Beijing limits most urban couples to one child and rural couples to two to conserve scarce resources.
(2 March 2008)
