260 Billion Eggs on the Chinese Menu

Its economy is growing at a staggering rate and its people are beginning to enjoy a better diet as well as a taste of western-style consumerism.

But the head of the UN's environment programme has warned that China's growth - and ambitious plans for the future - are unsustainable.

Klaus Toepfer warned that so-called developed countries will be forced to tighten their belts under China's plan to expand its economy fourfold within the next 20 years.

Take the Chinese government's attempts to get its people to eat more healthily. Beijing has been aiming to encourage every Chinese person to eat 200 eggs a year - a total of 260billion eggs.

To produce that many eggs, a flock of 1.3 billion chickens is needed.

To keep the chickens fed, a grain crop bigger than that produced by Australia is necessary.

The Chinese are also developing a taste for seafood. Should they begin eating fish at the same rate as the Japanese, they would consume the world's entire catch.

Beer is also becoming more popular. But to provide each Chinese person with just three extra beers a year, as much grain as Norway produces annually would be needed.

No wonder Mr Toepfer sounded worried when he addressed young environmentalists in Sydney this week.

"Quadrupling the GDP of a country of 1.3 billion - can you imagine?" he asked them.

He considered the example not of chickens, fish or beer but cars. The number of cars on China's roads rose by almost 40% last year. The country's flagship car manufacturer, First Automotive Works, aims to increase its output fivefold in the next five to eight years.

The Institute of Petroleum believes the demand for oil will rise in China by 500% in the next 25 years. Mr Toepfer pointed out that if China had the same density of private cars as Germany it would have to produce 650 million vehicles. There is simply not enough metal and oil in the world to sustain such numbers.

"It's not a question of whether you are devoted to nature or whether this is an emotional topic. This is the rationality of economics," Mr Toepfer said.

He said China's plans could only come to fruition if developed nations radically changed their consumption habits.

China's growth in the past 10 years has been phenomenal.

While many still live in poverty, a sharply increasing minority can now afford the cars, electronics goods and imported delicacies that used to be seen as luxuries.

According to the Worldwatch Institute, China has already overtaken the US, which uses a third of the planet's natural resources, as the leading consumer of meat, fertiliser, steel and coal.

The adage used to be "all the tea in China". In the future, it may just be "all the chickens" or "all the cars".