I. deterioration of the natural environment
In the past 30 years of reform and development, there is no concept of "sustainable development" in the development of most areas in China. Under the condition of continuous urbanization and increasing population pressure, the total supply of social natural resources is close to the potential maximum. Under the existing conditions, the natural resource base on which social development depends has a bottleneck effect. Judging from the most basic cultivated land resources and water resources, the situation is not optimistic. In terms of resources for social redevelopment, it also faces fundamental restrictions. With the acceleration of urbanization, the consumption of resources has increased sharply, and the population and geographical scale have expanded sharply, which has had a huge impact on the original urban functions and structure, and some external problems such as resource shortage, environmental pollution and ecological destruction have become prominent.
resource exhaustion
The rapid development of industrialization and urbanization can be regarded as a sign of the improvement of national scientific and technological level and the enhancement of natural transformation ability. However, with the expansion of the city, the material cycle and energy system of the ecosystem are gradually changed by human beings, which not only improves the material living conditions of human beings, but also brings serious resource crisis to the city.
1 land resources
In terms of land resources, the per capita arable land area in China is only 7. 1% of the world average, and the per capita grassland area is 9.3% of the world average. Moreover, these limited land resources, especially cultivated land resources, are being further reduced. According to the figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, since the reform and opening up, China's cultivated land area has decreased by an average of 4.805 million mu per year. Of the more than 2,800 counties in China, 666 (23.7%) have per capita arable land below the 0.053 hectare survival warning line proposed by FAO. In addition, soil erosion and land desertification are also serious. The survey results released by the "Comprehensive Scientific Investigation on Soil Erosion and Ecological Security in China" which lasted for nearly three years show that the existing soil erosion area in China is 3,569,200 square kilometers, accounting for 36.8% of the total land area; Desertification land is as high as 2.674 million square kilometers, accounting for 27.9% of the national territory. With the advancement of industrialization and urbanization, the speed of farmland conversion will be accelerated, and the limited cultivated land area in China will be further reduced.
2. Air pollution
As one of the countries with the fastest economic development in the world, China's energy consumption has increased steadily in recent ten years. At the same time, with the rapid development of economy, the number of motor vehicles and urban population increase rapidly, which makes the problem of urban air pollution in China increasingly serious. Gas burning pollution, industrial waste gas, construction site dust and automobile exhaust become the main pollution sources, and 60%-70% of urban air pollution comes from automobile exhaust. The World Health Organization has measured the atmosphere of 272 cities in 53 countries around the world. Eight cities in China, such as Beijing and Lanzhou, rank among the top ten polluted cities in the world. Serious air pollution has led to a high incidence of respiratory diseases in China. According to the World Resources Association (WRI), 80% of the mortality rate of children under five in developing countries is caused by lung diseases caused by air pollution, and 20%-30% of the respiratory diseases suffered by urban residents are attributed to air pollution. Acid rain caused by sulfur dioxide and other acid-causing pollutants is spreading rapidly in China. China is the third largest acid rain area in the world after Europe and North America, and the area damaged by acid rain has accounted for about 29% of the national area. The pollutants emitted by motor vehicles are more harmful, and the tail gas emitted by motor vehicles is at a low altitude, just within the range of human breathing zone, which has a very obvious impact on human health.
3. Water pollution
After the reform and opening up, with the continuous acceleration of industrialization and urbanization in China, the degree of water pollution in China has gradually increased. Pollution sources mainly come from industrial wastewater discharged beyond the industrial development standards and a large number of untreated domestic sewage directly entering the water body. In recent years, industrial wastewater has decreased after treatment, but urban domestic sewage has increased, accounting for more than 5 1% of water pollution. At present, about half of the more than 600 cities in China are short of water, 75% of the lakes are eutrophic to varying degrees, 90% of the urban water bodies are seriously polluted, and 60%~70% of the total water shortage in southern cities is caused by water pollution. More seriously, water pollution has spread from large and medium-sized cities to small towns. In 2002, among the 6.5438+0.202 million kilometers of rivers evaluated for water resources quality, the length of rivers with water quality worse than the five standards accounted for 35.3%, of which the length of rivers with extremely serious pollution accounted for 654.38+0.7%. Most of the monitored 176 urban river sections are polluted to varying degrees. 52% of the river reach is serious, of which the water quality is Grade V 16%, and the water quality exceeding Grade V is 36%. Although strict pollution control mechanism and various measures such as environmental protection and sewage treatment have been implemented from the central government to the local government, the current implementation and effect are not ideal.
4. Urban noise pollution
In recent years, noise pollution has become a new "urban disease". The Bulletin of China Environmental Status shows that the noise in most cities in China is above the medium pollution level, and the influence of domestic noise is wide and tends to expand. First, the traffic noise of urban roads exceeds the standard, and the traffic noise caused by elevated roads and rail transit is more prominent; Second, the noise of the construction site is constantly disturbing the people, and the contradiction is more prominent; Third, the noise of social life has a wide influence, and the noise generated by restaurants, food markets, shops and cultural and entertainment places in the tertiary industry is on the rise. The main noise sources are range hoods, air-conditioning units, loudspeakers in entertainment industry and various exhibitions. Fourth, urban industrial noise pollution interferes with the normal life of citizens.
5. Electromagnetic radiation pollution
Electromagnetic radiation pollution, also known as electronic fog pollution, has been recognized as a public hazard in cities. High-voltage lines, substations, radio stations, TV stations, radar stations, electromagnetic wave towers, electronic instruments, medical equipment, office automation equipment, household appliances, etc. in cities will all produce electromagnetic waves with different wavelengths and frequencies, and people will be hurt if they are exposed to the safe radiation dose for a long time. Due to the suspected electromagnetic radiation pollution, the house prices along the maglev train in Shanghai have fallen instead of rising, and citizens have expressed their concerns about the electromagnetic pollution of maglev in various forms. The public is worried about electromagnetic pollution, and the optimization scheme of Shanghai maglev is still being questioned. At present and for a long time to come, China is still in the period of rapid development of urbanization and industrialization. The urbanization rate will increase by about 1% every year, and about150,000 farmers will enter cities and towns every year. The shortage of natural resources has become the bottleneck of urban development, and ecological and environmental problems pose a real threat to the quality of life of urban and rural residents. Extensive urban development model is unsustainable. If we continue the original road of urbanization, it is predicted that China's energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions will rise sharply in the future. The suburbanization development model of the United States makes cities consume more than 80% of energy and produce 80% of harmful substances, and the cultivated land area is drastically reduced. This development does not follow the development model of low-carbon cities, so its per capita carbon dioxide emissions are much higher than the world average, and the urbanization of China cannot continue this model.
Second, social harmony is no longer.
In recent years, China's Gini coefficient has been rising continuously, reaching 0.65 in 2008, which greatly exceeds the warning line of 0.4 recognized by the world and has become one of the countries with the largest gap between the rich and the poor in the world. The income distribution of our society has entered an absolutely unbalanced state. The income gap between urban and rural residents has been widening, and the rapidly rising urban affluent class, urban residents with sustained income growth and farmers hovering at low income levels have formed a sharp contrast. According to the statistics of some social research institutions, the assets of the top 50 richest people in Chinese mainland are equivalent to the average annual income of 50 million farmers in China; The assets of 300 millionaires are equivalent to the net income of 900 million farmers in China for two years. This situation has seriously affected the development of national economy and the overall progress of society, which runs counter to the construction of a harmonious society and a new countryside.
(A) the urban-rural gap
After entering the 2 1 century, China's economy continues to grow rapidly, but rural reform and development are constantly facing new problems. Especially since 1997, the growth rate of farmers' income has declined for four consecutive years. From 1997 to 2003, the income of farmers increased by less than 4% for seven consecutive years, which was less than one-fifth of the income increase of urban residents. The income of major grain producing areas and most farmers has been hovering or even decreasing, and various social undertakings in rural areas have also fallen into a period of low growth. The development of urban and rural areas is seriously unbalanced, the social contradictions in rural areas are increasingly prominent, and the income of urban and rural residents has further expanded after once shrinking.
1. Income gap
In the past five years, although the income of farmers has increased rapidly, and the per capita income has increased by more than 2,000 yuan in five years, the growth rate still lags behind that of urban residents. In 2007, the per capita net income of rural residents actually increased by 9.5%, which is the highest increase since 1985, but the income ratio of urban and rural residents has expanded to 3.33: 1, with an absolute gap of 9646 yuan, which is the biggest gap since the reform and opening up. According to the data of China Economic Situation Analysis and Forecast in 2009, the per capita income ratio of urban and rural residents in China was 3.36: 1 in 2008, which was 3% higher than that in 2007. The absolute difference exceeded 1 10,000 yuan for the first time, while it was 2.57: 1 in the early days of reform and opening up. In 2008, the gap between urban and rural areas in China was much higher than that in most countries in the world. The regional income gap indices of the United States, Canada and India are 1.58, 2.30 and 3.26 respectively. According to the calculation of the World Bank, the urban-rural income gap and regional income gap account for more than 80% of the total income gap in China. Considering the factors that urban residents enjoy various benefits and subsidies, this index will be higher, which not only becomes the main contradiction of "agriculture, countryside and farmers", but also seriously restricts the growth of national economy and affects the harmony and stability of society.
2. Consumption gap
Restricted by income growth, farmers' consumption growth is relatively slow. The per capita consumption expenditure ratio of urban and rural households increased from 2.68∶ 1 in 978 to 3.07∶ 1 in 2008. Generally speaking, the current consumption level of rural residents is only equivalent to that of urban residents in the early 1990s, which is 10 years behind urban residents. In terms of quality of life, the Engel coefficient of urban and rural residents decreased from 57.5 and 67.7 in 1978 to 37.9 and 43.7 in 2008, respectively. The living standard of urban and rural residents has improved significantly, but the coefficient value of rural residents is still high, which shows that there is a big gap between rural residents and urban residents in improving their quality of life and personal development expenditure.
3. Education gap
The education gap is more hidden and deeper, and it is also a longer-term gap between urban and rural areas. According to the data of the fifth population census in 2000, the education level of rural population is far lower than that of urban population. The proportion of the population with bachelor degree or above in urban areas is 3.2%, and that in rural areas is 0.07%. The proportion of urban population with high school education, technical secondary school education, junior college education, undergraduate education and postgraduate education is 3.4 times, 6. 1 times, 13.3 times, 43.8 times and 68. 1 times that of rural areas, respectively. Even in the nine-year compulsory education stage, the phenomenon of rural students dropping out of school and unemployment is more serious.
4. Medical gap
In 2 122 years, the government's total investment in rural health was1510 million yuan, accounting for only 23% of the government's total investment in health, and 60% of the rural population only enjoyed less than a quarter of the health resources. The per capita medical and health resources of rural population are far below the average level of cities. There are 3.67 hospital beds per thousand people in cities, while the agricultural population has only 0.76 beds per thousand people. There are 4.84 health technicians per thousand people in cities, and only 1. 19 people per thousand people in agriculture. Due to the deterioration of medical and health conditions in rural areas and the spread of infectious diseases in rural areas, schistosomiasis, once extinct, reappeared in some areas. In recent years, due to the shortage of public health supply and the sharp rise in medical prices, many rural areas have experienced the phenomenon of "poverty due to illness and returning to poverty due to illness".
5. Public investment gap
The proportion of national financial expenditure for supporting agriculture in fiscal expenditure has been declining. From 13.43% in 1978 to 7. 12% in 2003, with a slight increase in 2008. The proportion of agricultural capital construction investment expenditure in the national fiscal expenditure decreased from 4.52% in 1978 to 2. 14% in 2003. The allocation of financial funds is further tilted towards cities. In 2007, the expenditure of various financial subsidies, such as grain, cotton, oil and meat, mainly aimed at the daily life of urban residents, exceeded the expenditure of the state finance for agricultural capital construction. In recent years, the state has realized the difference of public investment between urban and rural areas, and gradually increased the capital investment in rural areas. In 2008, the central government's expenditure on agriculture, rural areas and farmers increased by 37.9% over the previous year, reaching 595.55 billion yuan, accounting for about 1 1% of the total central government expenditure. However, due to the vast rural area and large population in China, the vast rural areas, especially the vast rural areas,
Regional differences
In the process of urbanization in China, regional differences are its main characteristics. The characteristics of urban spatial distribution are that the eastern coastal areas are relatively dense and the western areas are relatively sparse. On the whole, it shows the development trend of high in the east and low in the west, that is, the eastern region is obviously higher than the western region, and the central region is in between. Judging from the development level of urbanization, the data of the fifth national census in 2000 showed that the proportion of urban population in China was 36.09%, including 46.67% in the eastern region, 32.58% in the central region, 28.77% in the western region, and the gap between the east and the west was 17.9 percentage points. Judging from the level of urbanization, the national average urbanization level in 2008 was 45.68%, and the eastern region was 54.62%, which was nearly 10 percentage point higher than the national average. 42.46% in the central region, slightly lower than the national average; The western region is only 35.73%, which is about 10 percentage point lower than the national average. At the same time, due to the unbalanced economic development in rural areas of China, the population distribution density is quite different, and the level of urbanization development varies from place to place. At the same time, the imbalance of urban spatial distribution is also an important problem in the current urbanization process. In the western region, which accounts for 72% of the land area, only 17% of the urban population and 24% of the urban population; Western towns are not only few in number, but also generally small in average size. Most of the country's economic and social activities and urban population are mainly concentrated in the eastern and central regions. There are objective reasons for the formation of this unbalanced development pattern, including natural geographical conditions, restrictions of objective conditions of economic development, and national investment policies and development policies. However, the excessive imbalance in space has caused many capital talents from the central and western regions to flow to the eastern region, further affecting the economic development of the central and western regions, hindering the process of rural urbanization in the central and western regions and affecting the coordinated development of the local economy. In the long run, it will seriously affect the sustained and stable development of urbanization and the healthy development of the comprehensive strength of the national economy.
(C) Three rural dilemmas
With the advancement of urbanization, the status of industry and agriculture has gradually changed, and agriculture has retreated to a secondary position. The importance of the secondary and tertiary industries is increasing day by day. With a large number of rural people becoming urban residents, the whole social structure has changed, and the proportion of urban and rural population has changed significantly. At the same time, industrialization and urbanization have brought about a relative surplus of labor, unemployment and poverty of workers, and many social problems have emerged, such as diseases, disabilities, accidents, old-age care and unemployment.
1. Farmers' Problems At present, farmers' problems in agriculture, rural areas and farmers are mainly manifested in the following aspects:
First of all, the slow growth of farmers' income leads to the widening income gap between urban and rural residents.
Since the slowdown of farmers' income in the mid-1980s, farmers' income has been growing at a low speed since the end of 1990s, which is in increasing contrast with the high growth of urban residents' income. In 2008, the net income of farmers in China was 476 1 yuan, accounting for only157865438+25.15% of the per capita disposable income of urban residents. From 1998 to 2008, the net income of farmers in China increased by 2,599.02 yuan, with an average increase of less than 4%, which was lower than that of urban residents 1/3. In addition, the income of farmers is very uneven. Due to rural income differentiation, a few high-income households cover up most low-income households, nearly half of farmers' income is in a state of zero growth, and many agricultural products' income is declining.
Secondly, the economic interests of farmers can not be effectively guaranteed.
Due to the lack of risk dispersion mechanism, farmers have long been passive recipients of agricultural product prices, and the natural risks and market risks of agriculture are mainly borne by farmers. Due to the lack of interest protection mechanism, farmers passively accept the ultra-low price of land and cannot enjoy the due benefits in the non-agricultural transfer of production factors such as land; In the labor transfer, farmers, as the most vulnerable group, are often the recipients of the minimum wage, creating the economic wealth of the city but not sharing its benefits.
Finally, the equal rights of farmers are not guaranteed.
In fact, due to the lack of strong interest representatives, farmers cannot fully enjoy the same rights as urban residents in the process of development. In rural areas, there is a general lack of necessary social security, and people cannot enjoy public health, medical care and education. Even if they enter the city, migrant workers have actually become the builders and wealth creators of the city, but they can't enjoy the same urban public welfare as the original citizens, and they don't have equal political rights to participate in social affairs. Thus, although the land has been "urbanized", farmers have not been "urbanized" and "vagrants" have appeared.
2. Agricultural problems
"Agriculture, countryside and farmers" is an overall problem that affects the whole national economic development and social stability, among which the agricultural problem is the most urgent and related to the national economy and people's livelihood. Agricultural issues occupy a prominent position in the work of the party and the state. Three of the five "No.1 Documents" issued by the Central Committee are about agriculture. Agricultural products not only serve as food to maintain life, but also provide production materials for industry. Rural areas and farmers are still huge markets for the export of labor and industrial products. Adam Smith once commented on agriculture: "It can be properly said that all the wealth and means of subsistence of the city are obtained from the countryside." However, with the development of industry and urbanization, as well as the rapid development of knowledge, information industry and science and technology, the gap between urban and rural areas and the gap between the rich and the poor is also growing, and there are relatively many problems in agriculture.
(1) Various problems brought by urbanization restrict the future development of agriculture.
Looking back at the process of urbanization in China, many problems are restricting the development of agriculture at present, which makes the agricultural problems in China have the characteristics of long-term, international and public welfare. The total amount of cultivated land is decreasing and the quality is declining; The quantity of water resources is decreasing, and the water quality is declining, so the future development of grain production is facing great challenges; Local improvement and overall deterioration of the ecological environment have caused serious disasters; The development of agricultural science and technology has made some progress, but it is still insufficient; Agricultural infrastructure has improved, but it is still weak; The low overall cultural quality of farmers also affects the future development of agricultural production.
(2) Rural production factors and resources flow to cities, and the supporting conditions are weakening day by day.
Theodore schultz, the Nobel Prize winner, once pointed out that the transformation of traditional agriculture must inject new factors of production from the outside: capital, technology, talents and new institutional factors. However, under the current system, this process is reversed: the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization results in the cheap production factors and resources in rural areas flowing to cities and industries, forming a "low-cost" advantage to support industrialization. In this process, there are three net outflows, namely, the net outflow of land value, the net outflow of rural funds and the net outflow of excellent labor, which greatly reduces the speed and efficiency of transforming traditional agriculture in China. According to statistics, since the reform and opening up, the difference in cultivated land occupied by cities is about 2 trillion yuan, which is equivalent to four times the total scissors difference in the 30 years before the reform and opening up. In recent years, rural funds have flowed to cities, and agricultural funds have flowed to non-agriculture. Farmers have created more than 40% of residents' savings, but loans from agriculture and rural enterprises only account for about 5% of the total social loans. In particular, the outflow of agricultural superior labor force has generally reduced the quality of agricultural employees.