October 22, 2010 A Chinese environmental update China unveiled its most ambitious conservation plan in a generation ahead of the opening in Nagoya, Japan, of the UN Convention of Biological Diversity, The Guardian reported. The plan designates 35 priority conservation areas, covering 23% of the country; promises state funds for protection; and sets a target of controlling biodiversity loss by 2020. Typhoon Megi unleashed torrential rains over Taiwan, leaving at least seven people dead, dozens missing and hundreds more trapped by landslides, before moving toward China’s south-east coast, Agence France-Presse reported. The strongest storm to hit the north-west Pacific in two decades, Megi also killed at least 36 people in the Philippines. China will step up implementation of safety systems to help miners survive accidents, Agence France-Presse said. A government work-safety official was quoted by state media as saying the country will “speed up the provision of underground emergency shelters and refuge chambers, systems for locating and communicating with underground workers, and monitoring and control systems”. Meanwhile, China Daily reported that – in a pilot programme -- underground mine-accident shelters, escape capsules and other emergency facilities are being installed in seven coal mines in Shanxi province. Citing China Youth Daily, the report said a Lu’an Group mine in Changzhi city was the first to install the facilities. The report follows the October 16 deaths of 37 miners trapped by a gas leak at a Pingyu Coal & Electric Company mine in Henan province. Sinohydro, a leading state-owned hydropower construction group, plans to increase its investments in Africa, China Daily said. More Chinese investments are flowing into Africa as the continent emerges as one of the most important outbound direct investment (ODI) destinations. China has become a leader in clean-energy efforts, outstripping the United States and Japan on pollution price tags, and leaving Australia lagging far behind, Xinhua quoted a study commissioned by Australia’s Climate Institute think tank as showing. The study showed Chinese incentives to encourage low carbon generation, such as wind and solar power, are almost triple American ones. China’s petroleum and chemical industry has been required to further reduce its energy consumption by 10% during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), according to a draft industry plan for public comments, Xinhua said. The government will earmark 8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) by the end of October to reinforce small- and medium-sized river banks against flooding, Xinhua reported. The waterways were revealed as the weak link in China’s river-control work after a series of flood-triggered disasters in recent years. Six million census-takers are to be deployed across the country in November for the first national head count since 2000, according to the Associated Press. The census will be China’s sixth, but the first to count people where they live, rather than where they are legally registered, allowing China to formally track its rapid urbanisation.