Environmental regionalization for the management of township and village enterprises in China

Environmental regionalization (ER) is the basis of environmental assessment , prediction, planning and decision-making. ER techniques were applied to t he management of Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs) in China. TVEs are generally middle and small-scale enterprises widely distributed in rural a reas with rapid development and high discharge rates of pollutants, which i mpact heavily on the environment. A set of 13 indicators was chosen to eval uate TVEs in China: (1) runoff depth (P = 75%); (2) rainfall; (3) atmospher ic pollution coefficient (4) percent of forest coverage; (5) national incom e per capita; (6) economic density of TVEs; (7) population density; (8) env ironmental management staff at county level; (9) cultivated area per capita ; (10) technical advancement of TVEs; (11) environmental impact of NE indus trial structure; (12) ratio of waste water to runoff, and (13) coal consump tion density. Fuzzy cluster analysis was employed to conduct quantitative c lassification. Four zones and seven subzones were obtained. The classificat ion system was adapted to the requirements of environmental management for TVEs at national level. (C) 2001 Academic Press.