Pan Biling, deputy head of the environmental protection department of Hunan province and vice-chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy, said if the rural environment can't be addressed properly, the urban environment will also be hard to improve.

"For example, if the soil in rural areas is polluted, the vegetables or crops planted there will be affected. Then, after they are sold to cities, they will also affect the health of urban residents," he said.

Vice-Minister Li said government investment in pollution control didn't cover rural areas in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10). But the importance of this issue has become apparent during this time.

Since 2008, the environmental protection and agriculture ministries have invested 13.5 billion yuan ($2.17 billion) in improving the environment in 26,000 villages across China, accounting for 4.35 percent of all villages. This coverage will be expanded to 10 percent by the end of 2015 as planned.

But Pan said this is still far from enough.

Wang Yi, a deputy to the National People's Congress and deputy head of the Institute of Policy and Management of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said a key method to increase investment in environmental protection is to bring in non-governmental investors, emphasize the polluting companies' responsibilities, and issue favorable policies to encourage investment from green industries.

But several CPPCC members have stressed the importance of increasing State investment on this issue.

According to Pan, experience in developed countries shows that environmental quality won't be improved considerably until relevant investment from all sources reaches 3 percent of a country's GDP.

Contact the writers at wuwencong@chinadaily.com.cn and gaoqihui@chinadaily.com.cn