Beijing sees 9 days of blue sky in Apr

Vehicles drive in a street in Beijing, capital of China, on April 17, 2006. A floating dust haunted Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua Photo)

    BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Beijing endured a dusty month in April. The only nine days of blue sky among the past 29 days showed the most serious air pollution in the past four years, said the municipal environmental protection bureau Saturday.

    Sandstorms from Mongolia and North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region brought floating dust pollution for seven times in the city in April, said Pei Chenghu, deputy director of the bureau.

    As of Saturday, Beijing's urban area saw 60 days of blue sky this year, where were 16 days less than the same period last year.

    The official said 17 days out of the past four months suffered level four or five air pollution, but there were only nine such days in the past one year.

    Pei said all the relevant departments in Beijing launched dust and pollution prevention and control activities to improve the capital's air quality.

    Beijing Construction Committee examined more than 9,000 construction sites and ordered nearly 3,000 to take measures in controlling the dust from the working sites.

    At the same time, the municipal government will use 13,700 more tons of water to restrain the floating dust on the streets.

    Viewing from the air quality records in the past few years, no floating dust has occurred in May, and the official said he hopes Beijing will have at least 20 days of blue sky in the next month.

Technorati Tags: beijing, air quility, sandstorm

Environment protection-theme movie wins 13th Beijing Student Film Festival

    BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- "The Forest Ranger," an environment protection-theme movie which has been acclaimed widely,won the Best Feature Film for the 13th Beijing Student Film Festival on Saturday evening.

    The movie, directed by Qi Jian and starred by Fu Dalong and ZhuYuanyuan, features a ranger who protects a state-owned forest toughly even at the cost of his life. It unveils some social problems in the environment protection in China.

    The movie has been well acclaimed among Chinese college students, film experts and even film administrative officials during its screenings earlier this month, so Qi said at the awarding ceremony, "The award is not beyond my expectation."

    Zhang Yuan won the Best Director with his "Little Red Flowers."Pu Cunxin and Ni Ping won the best actor and actress by their roles respectively in "A Bright Moon" and "Loach Is A Fish Too." "Loach" and "You and Me" won the Jury Award.

    Hong Kong director Peter Chan Ho-Sa's musical " Perhaps Love," the six-prize winner for the 25th Hong Kong Film Awards earlier this month, not only won the Best Visual Effect award but also wonChan and Zhou Xun the most popular director and actress at the festival. Xia Yu was selected most popular among the students for his role in "Shanghai Rumba."

    "The Silent Holy Stone" by Tibetan director Wanmacaidan won "Best First Feature," a similar award to the director award for the maiden film at the 25th Golden Rooster awards last December.

    "Perpetual Motion," a movie portraying four Chinese modern women who are successful in their careers but vacuous spiritually,took home the Artistic Exploration Award with its unique style.

    There are 30 Chinese-made films entered the festival this year,vying for total 20 awards, 17 of which were selected by a jury consisting of 31 students from 30 universities across the country,10 experts and a president. Other three - the most popular director, actor and actress were directly selected by the college students who participated in the festival.

    Launched in 1993, The Beijing Student Film Festival is sponsored by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio & Television and the Beijing Normal University (BNU).

    As a bridge linking the young people to the films, the festival has been tending to provide a stage for small-budget Chinese-made films and new directors and actors to debut, including Huo Jianqi and his "Postmen in the Mountains," Zhang Yibai and "Spring Subway," Lu Xuechang and his "Cala, My Dog!" and Lu Chan and his "The Missing Gun," which all afterwards won domestic or international film awards

Technorati Tags: beijing, environment, movie

Yellow Dust:Int'l Cooperation Needed to Fight Environmental Concerns

It is welcome to hear the Environment Ministry plans to intensify cooperative relations with neighboring nations to better cope with the dust storms, which cause devastating damage to the economy and people's health every spring. It is crucial for us to make concerted efforts with other Northeast Asian countries, including China, Japan and Mongolia, to minimize damage from this worsening natural phenomenon.

In recent years, the dust storms plaguing our country around this time of year seem to be more frequent and the density of the dust has reportedly increased. Its long-term effects on agriculture, industrial facilities and cultural properties, as well as the overall ecosystem are incalculable.

However, we have no other choice but to accept it as an unwelcome visitor, with no way of preventing it effectively at present. The yellow dust, originating from Inner Mongolia and the Gobi Desert in central China, is carried to Korea by prevailing easterly winds in April and May.

The damage in China and Mongolia from the dust is said to be beyond description. In some regions, people can't see what's in front of them on windy days. Japan is another serious victim of the dust. Maintaining a cooperative relationship among the four nations is crucial for seeking ways to minimize the damage. We can no longer tolerate the yellow dust as merely a natural phenomenon.

It is significant the Environment Ministry has agreed with officials of the other three countries to set up monitoring centers in each country by the end of next year, to better combat the dust and mitigate its negative effects.

Inaugurating an annual meeting among concerned officials of the four nations would be helpful in promoting cooperation as the nations are in an inseparable relationship with respect to pollution. Our government is required to make unreserved efforts for the promotion of a cooperative relationship with the three neighboring countries in the years ahead.

Fortunately, the dust is said to be controllable, to a certain degree, by planting trees in regions where desertification is rapidly occurring. Thus, decreasing the size of these areas is the only sure way to reduce dust damage. We have to encourage the massive tree-planting campaign being waged in inner China and Mongolia to prevent the desertification from spreading.

South Korea has spent $5 million on the reforestation movement since 2000. Some 20 million trees have been planted through the campaign in the region. Our government, in close cooperation with Japan, is asked to support the ongoing reforestation campaign more aggressively through financial aid and all other possible means.

Technorati Tags: chian, korea, sandstorm

Water pollution affects 40,000 people in Guangdong

    GUANGZHOU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A case of water pollution was reported Friday in Sanchajiang River of Wuchuan City in south China's Guangdong Province, posing a threat to the safety of drinking water for nearly 40,000 locals.

    Fish were found dead in large quantity at eight ponds of a fishery farm at Lingtou Village in Changqi Township, said the farm owner, surnamed Pan. He estimated the loss at more than 200,000 yuan (25,000 U.S. dollars).

    Nearby townships also reported a large number of dead fish and poisoning cases of livestock.

    According to the local government, the polluted belt was about eight kilometers long. Water at the polluted belt turns brown in color.

    The pollution has affected the life of about 40,000 people. Thelocal government has already ordered waterworks at the polluted areas to stop fetching water from the river and urged all local markets to stop selling aquatic products to avoid food poisoning cases.

    Currently, hospitals in Wuchuan City have not received any people who are poisoned by polluted water or by eating polluted aquatic products.

    Preliminary investigation shows that the pollutants were illegally discharged by an enterprise at the river's upstream, according to the Wuchuan city environmental protection bureau.

    By press time, investigation into the cause of the pollution is still going on and experts estimate that the quality of water in the river will resume normal in upcoming two or three days.

Technorati Tags: guangdong, water, pollution

Environment assessment report to be released

    BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China will release a report on the situation of the environment in the country on June 5, World Environment Day.

    The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) will promote the concept of caring for the environment to show the government's determination to build an environmentally-friendly society and protect ecological safety, said an official with SEPA on Friday.

    A high-ranking forum featuring ecological safety will be held on World Environment Day, said the official.

    The administration will strengthen efforts to improve Chinese people's knowledge of ecological safety and attract more people to join the environmental protection efforts, the official added.

A close look at farming in China

 


by Leah Nell Peterson

Rob Tate of Cannon Falls recently completed a two-week international study tour to China.

He went with the Minnesota Agriculture and Rural Leadership (MARL) Program. The group spent time in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.

"We were part of a Minnesota group that had some contacts in China and there were some who had a connection with the University of Minnesota," Rob explained. "Those connections helped set up opportunities to meet farmers and Sichuan Department of Ag officials."

This gave Rob's group a close up look at agriculture in China. "First of all, they're very small farms," he explained. "The average farm size is 1/6 of an acre, and the average farmer makes $400 US dollars a year."

One of the highlights for Rob was the time he spent in the Sichuan Province of central China. "We toured some of their farms," he recalled. "We also went to the Sichuan Wheat Institute and saw their test plots and their research center. Going out to local farms and meeting the local farmers was a high point as well.

"They're very dedicated people and very friendly," he continued. "I'd say visiting with them, I found they're almost envious of farmers and people in the United States...just the lifestyle we have.

"It's all hand labor there. They don't have an understanding of machine farming whatsoever, and a lot of areas aren't conducive to machine farming."

In the Yangtze River Valley, the area of the 3 Gorges, it is very mountainous. "We were on a boat and could see the farms going up the mountainside," Rob recalled. "All the work is done by hand because there is no way to get a tractor on that terrain."

(The 3 Gorges Dam is a massive project and is supposed to be the world's largest dam, creating the largest reservoir in the world. It is two-thirds done and will be completed in 2008 or 09.)

"The 3-day boat trip down the river to the dam gave us a wonderful opportunity to see the country.

"We were able to get off the boat in certain locations - it's not easy to get to some parts of the country any other way."

Rob thought the study tour gave him a better understanding of what's going on in China. "If you look at the amount of construction and growth - their economy grew by almost 10% last year!" he said. "But that comes with a price, I think, to their environment. It's good for the people, their income is growing, but it's causing a lot of stress on their environment.

"Pollution is a big problem, from the air quality and water quality standpoint."

Rob made an interesting observation about the political system in China. "At first glance it's not real noticeable that they're Communist," he said. "But one day I was watching the news on Asia CNN out of Hong Kong when a story came on about Tiananmen Square and the screen went blank! They cut it out! Then I realized that - 'Yes, we were in a Communist country.' Up until then I didn't notice it, but a lot of things are still controlled by the government.

"The freedom of speech and freedom of the press is not something they have in China.

"It was a trip of a lifetime," he added. "It gave me a better appreciation of what ag is like in a different part of the world. It makes you value what we have here much more."

Rob works with Crop Revenue Consultants and raises corn and soybeans on his farm near Cannon Falls.

The MARL program is a leadership development program for active adult agricultural and rural leaders across Minnesota. Its mission is to maximize their effectiveness in local, state, national and international arenas.

Technorati Tags: china, framing

Three Gorges pose environmental, health risk: Scientist

Thu Apr 27, 2:35 AM ET

Rising pollution levels in China's Three Gorges reservoir are increasing the risk of an ecological and public health disaster, a leading national scientist says.

"After water started to accumulate in the reservoir, the flow rate of the (Yangtze) river dropped, resulting in a decreased ability of the river to clean itself," the China Business Times quoted environmental expert Shu Weiqun as saying.

"Because of this, the reservoir area, with its 31 million people, has become a high ecological and public health risk area."

Shu, a professor at the environment and sanitation research institute of the People's Liberation Army's Third Medical Hospital, was last week awarded a national environmental protection award for his research into the water quality of the Three Gorges reservoir.

The award reflects the central government's determination to ensure the water remains clean in the 600-kilometer-long (372-mile) reservoir behind the controversial Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project, the paper said.

The award has also given Shu a platform to air his concerns over pollution levels in the reservoir.

Since water began accumulating in the reservoir in 2003, the government has invested more than four billion yuan (500 million dollars) for at least one water treatment plant in every county surrounding the body of water, the paper said.

"But at present only 20 percent of the polluted water (flowing into the reservoir) is being treated," Shu said.

Shu also said that state water quality standards were far from adequate, as they only required the monitoring of 35 items, including only four known organic pollutants.

The professor said he had discovered 101 organic pollutants in the reservoir.

Shu urged increased spending on pollution controls and water treatment plants, higher water quality standards for the reservoir and a pollution control law to cover the entire Yangtze river basin, it said.

China is expected to announce the completion of the construction phase of the dam in the coming weeks, although the last set of power generators will not go on line for two more years.

Technorati Tags: china, three gorge, risk

Nu River champion wins prestigious environmental award

Via Three George Probe News

Yu Xiaogang, founder of the Kunming-based group Green Watershed, has won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in recognition of his work on watershed management and the social impacts of dam building in China. (See the Goldman Prize site for a profile of Yu Xiaogang, photos and video.)

Below is an abridged version of an account of the eye-opening field trip Mr. Yu led two years ago when he took a group of Nu valley residents to visit the Manwan dam on the Lancang (Mekong) River, to see how people resettled a decade earlier for that project were faring.

The Nu valley visitors, themselves facing possible resettlement due to dam development on their own river, were shocked at the destitution they found. "Only idiots would want to follow the path the Manwan migrants were forced to take," one said.

"But we also cannot confront the government. If it decides to go ahead with the Nu River dams, it also has the responsibility to protect the interests of ordinary people. We don't like to see a situation where dams make power companies and governments richer, and poor people only poorer."

(The original story ran in South Wind Window (Nanfeng chuang) on June 6, 2004. Translation by Three Gorges Probe.)

2 killed in Jiangsu chemical plant blasts

    NANJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Two workers were killed and three others were seriously injured in chemical plant explosions Tuesday afternoon in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, according to local government.

    The blasts took place at the Nanjing Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday when a synthetic purifier under repair exploded. Five workers were injured on the spot and two of them died in hospital.

    The three injured persons are still in critical condition, according to hospital source.

    After careful monitoring, the city's environment protection department said the explosion would not cause any air or water pollution. All data acquired show the air around the plant is up to state requirement.

    Investigation on the cause of the explosion is underway.

Technorati Tags: china, nanjing, chemical, blast

Chinese vice-premier calls for sustainable tourism

    HANGZHOU, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi said if China's tourism industry intends to practice sustainable development it will have to protect its natural resources as it develops.

    Wu mad e the remark during her inspection tour in east China's Zhejiang province. She stressed that building an environmentally friendly and harmonious society requires a rational combination of resource exploitation and protection.

    She said harmony is the key in developing tourist destinations that involve nature, culture heritage and the environment.

    Wu has visited Hangzhou, Zhoushan and Ningbo beginning last Friday to check the work of tourism and foreign trade in the province. She praised the innovative work of local companies and the development and protection of local tourism resources.

    Wu took a boat trip to the Xixi national wetland park in the capital of Hangzhou. She approved the scientific restoration and protection of the wetland, which she thinks will promote both the quality of the city's eco-environment and reputation.

    At Putuoshan, a famous site for Buddhist attraction, Wu asked about the living conditions of monks in Pujichan Temple and Luojia Mountain. She called for coordinated work between local governments, companies, non-governmental organizations and Buddhists to help the temples to attract more visitors from home and abroad.

City marks Earth Day

Fu Yingqing Shanghai Daily

2006-04-24

Students from Shanghai Rainbow Bridge International School perform during an Earth Day celebration at Shanghai Zoo to raise public awareness about the environment. — Shen Kai

EARTH Day was celebrated in Shanghai over the weekend at Shanghai Zoo. The annual international celebration raises public awareness about the environment.

Participants from both home and abroad set up 12 ethnic booths, do-it-yourself areas and a stage.

The ethnic booths were set up as villages representing different countries. China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, France, the Philippines, Scandinavian nations and the United States were among those represented. Each village represented its culture and what each country was doing to stop pollution.

Inside China's booth, students from the Shanghai Rainbow Bridge International School built a three-story monastery with more than 100 empty milk cartons and named it Jing'an Temple.

Within the DIY areas, children and their parents were taught to make bracelets, earrings, and shuttlecocks with used paper and plastics.

"The Earth is everything, we need to protect our natural resources for our children," said Janice Sigrist, the event organizer, also the principle of Rainbow Bridge International School.

Earth Day was launched in the United States in the 1970s. So far Earth Day is celebrated in more than 141 countries and regions in the world. The Chinese government has organized public activities since the 1990s.

Guangdong Arranges Pollution Index And System

April 24, 2006 Via 

The Guangdong Environmental Protection Department (GEPD) is preparing to set up a pollution warning system in an effort to protect its citizens.

GEPD said that they would use an alarm system to take measures like limiting the number of vehicles in case of serious pollution.

GEPD says it is currently studying the relation between dust and vehicle pollution. To that end, it has compiled an automotive exhaust pollution prevention rule, which has been submitted to other government agencies for approval.

Chen Guangrong, the deputy director general of GEPD, said that during the just-ended 10th Five-Year Plan period, the environmental quality of air, water and noise in Guangdong Province remained stable, but the pollution caused more serious acid rain. According to statistics, eighteen regional cities in the province suffered from acid rain in 2005.

NGOs in environment protection dilemma

    BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China's non-governmental organizations (NGO) committed to environmental protection have been operating in dilemma, with weak power and money shortage, an official survey revealed over the weekend.

    The survey made by the All-China Environment Federation on China's 2,768 environmental protection NGOs found that only a little over 20 percent of the NGOs had registered with authorities, and more than 70 percent lack fixed funding sources for operation.

    The survey showed that about 80 percent of NGOs have a membership of below 30. More than 90 percent of NGO leaders have a college or higher degree.

    In 2005, nearly 3 billion yuan (370 million U.S. dollars) was raised by these NGOs for environmental protection.

    However, most of the NGOs are small in size employing a total of 70,000 full-time staff. Due to the lack of funds, about half of the full-time workers are unpaid or ignored of required welfare insurance.

    Monday's China Daily quoted Wang Yuqing, director of the State Environment Protection Administration as saying that the administration welcomed the NGOs' work.

    "Our relationship should not be based on opposition, but rather be co-operative and complementary," he said.

    He encouraged NGOs not to linger on general appeals, instead make in-depth investigations and then put forward feasible suggestions.

Technorati Tags: chian, NGO, environment

China to tighten control of imported waste

    BEIJING, April 22 (Xinhua) -- China will tighten the control of imported waste to eliminate potential environmental risks, Ge Zhirong, deputy director of the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said on Saturday.

    "Import of waste materials for recycling is necessary for the economy, but the import of wastes that don't conform to standards poses a grave danger to the environment," Ge said at the inauguration of the renewable material branch of the China Inspection and Quarantine Association.

    The current regulations on the management of imported waste will be amended as soon as possible, he said, adding that the new rules will require the registration of suppliers, inspections both before shipment and upon arrival and follow-up inspections.

    Other measures include the registration of all receivers of imported waste and full enforcement of the newly-amended environmental control standards for the import of solid waste as materials.

    China will also strengthen its cooperation with other countries in cracking down on the cross-border transfer of rubbish and dangerous waste, Ge said.

    China's thirst for raw materials has in recent years produced a surge in the import of waste materials for recycling, but the presence of the dangerous waste has raised concerns over the potential dangers to the environment.

    According to official figures, the country's inspection and quarantine authorities recorded the import of 326,600 shipments of waste materials worth 11.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2005.

    Among them are 5,039 shipments of illegal waste with a combined weight of 1.21 million tons.

Technorati Tags: china, import, waste

Take 10 and act to celebrate Earth Day

Updated: 2006-04-21 14:47 Via Chinadaily

Here are 10 tips on how to observe Earth Day ¡ª which is on Saturday ¡ª from OrganicEarthDay.org:

1. Get off to a clean start: Take a shower with soaps and shampoos made with organic ingredients. Then, serve breakfast with certified organic orange juice, coffee, fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt and eggs.

2. Create a celebratory meal that's as close to 100 percent organic as possible. Invite friends and family to enjoy and help cook. It can be an organic picnic, pizza party, barbecue or high tea.

Try Organic Valley's Earth Day Creativity Cards for a fun dinner table game (http://www. earthdinner.org).

3. At season's peak (May through October), go to your local farmers market and buy from your favorite organic farmer. About 40 to 60 percent of all farmers market growers are organic.

4. Building healthy soil is a key tenet of organic farming. To guarantee rich, organic soil, start composting. Contact your local library or Cooperative Extension office for composting information.

5. Release "beneficial insects" (good bugs that keep away the bad bugs) in your organic garden. Ladybugs don't just bring good luck; they also serve as natural defenders for your garden's plants. Green Lacewing Larvae (considered the "garbage disposal bug" of the insect world) are hardworking and hungry. If they're not available at your local garden supply, you can get a list of garden suppliers online, at http://www.theorganicpages.com.

6. Kids can celebrate with color. Get hold of activities and coloring pages on The O'Mama Report Web site (http://www.theorganicreport.com/pages/65_o_kid.cfm). Play the Environmental Game on http://www.organicearthday.org.

7. Be a big "softie" and treat yourself (or someone special) to a pair of 100 percent organic cotton socks or anything made with organic fleece. Studies have shown that, in the U.S., it takes about a third of a pound of chemicals to grow enough non-organic cotton for one T-shirt.

8. Remember your pooch. Give your furry pal an organic dog wash and treat him or her to an organic doggie biscuit.

9. Raise a toast to organic. Whether you enjoy a glass of organic wine, lemonade or tomato juice, there are many organic refreshments to wet your whistle.

10. Slumber soundly. Organically sip organic chamomile tea and slip under your organic cotton sheets.

¡ª The Earth Day Network and Organic Trade Association have teamed up to draw attention to the ways organic products support a healthy environment and lifestyle with the Go Organic! for Earth Day national campaign. For money-saving coupons, organic recipes, educational materials, Earth Day events and a store locator for participating retailers, visit http://www.organicearthday.org

Technorati Tags: earthday

China Comes Clean，A hopeful breath of fresh air.

April 21, 2006, 6:29 a.m.By Steven Hayward

It is the fashion these days to apply the overused phrase the "tipping point" to just about everything, especially when it comes to bad news for the environment. And nowhere is the pessimism greater than when it comes to China, whose spectacular economic growth and voracious appetite for natural resources is said to be leading the region and perhaps the world toward irreversible ecological catastrophe.

This story line, played out in countless media headlines over the past few years, has it backwards. China has indeed reached a tipping point on the environment — the point at which it begins to make environmental improvements.

It's about time. China has some of the worst pollution problems in the world. Nearly two-thirds of China's 343 major cities currently fail to meet the nation's air quality standards. The World Health Organization reckons that seven of the ten most polluted cities in the world are in China. Pollution levels in China's major cities are 10 to 50 times higher than the worst smoggy day in Los Angeles.

The story is much the same with water pollution. China is desperately short of potable water. Groundwater has been badly depleted, and surface water sources are equally overused. The Yellow River, for example, has run dry every year since 1985 because of diversions; in 1997, it failed to reach the ocean for 226 days. Severe water pollution has led to shutdowns of major urban water systems, such as occurred last year in the city of Harbin following a chemical spill in the Songhua River. The city of 3.8 million people was without running water for nearly a week.

These and other environmental trends are supposedly going to get worse as China continues its headlong drive to become a modern industrial nation. "China's Next Big Boom Could Be the Foul Air," the New York Times reported last October. Yet these predictions are already out of date. A look at the data shows that China is on the curve that other modern industrialized nations followed in the mid-20th century, whereby pollution starts to fall even as the economy continues to grow. Sulfur dioxide and particulate levels have actually fallen in Beijing and other major cities over the last decade, at the same time as the number of motor vehicles China nearly quadrupled and total energy consumption increased by one-third.

China is slowly turning the corner on the environment for the same reason the U.S. and other advanced economies reversed course a generation ago — economic growth provides the means to implement better technology to reduce pollution. China has been enacting environmental laws that resemble the landmark legislation the U.S. and Europe enacted in the 1970s, and China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) reports that spending for environmental projects is increasing about 15 percent a year. China has adopted the European Union's automobile tailpipe standards, for example, and has even begun to emulate our Environmental Impact Review process for major construction projects.

China is working at breakneck speed to reverse its water pollution and supply problems as well. Industrial discharge of petroleum-related pollutants and heavy metals into rivers and oceans has been cut in half over the last decade. Wastewater treatment facilities are quickly being built; between 2000 and 2005, total wastewater capacity doubled. China's reforestation program appears to be taking flight; SEPA reports that 4.8 million hectares of forestland were planted in 2004, and that forestland has been growing at slightly more than 1 percent a year over the last decade.

China today is roughly where the United States was in 1950 terms of environmental performance. In those days the U.S. still poured raw sewage and chemicals directly into rivers and lakes and the ocean, and had little along the lines of air pollution controls. Like the U.S. 50 years ago, China has a long way to go. Some of the environmental news out of China is going to get worse before it gets better. The central point remains, however, that China's environmental news is going to start improving a lot sooner and a lot faster than people expect.

The most intriguing possibility from this story is how environmental reform might contribute to political reform and liberalization. Many of the changes in China's environmental performance are coming in response to large public protests — and frequent riots — over pollution. The environment, often an anti-democratic force in American governance, might prove to be a tipping point toward democracy in China.

Sandstorms not to dull Beijing's 'Green Olympics', says forestry official

 BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Despite the frequent sandstorms that have hit Beijing this spring, the Chinese government is still optimistic that the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will be "Green Olympics".

    "China will intensify afforestation efforts in and around Beijing to create a better environment for the Olympic Games, " said Liu Tuo, head of the desertification prevention and treatment department under the State Forestry Administration (SFA) on Thursday.

    Liu said China launched an afforestation project in sand-prone areas in Hebei and Shanxi provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in 2001 to tackle sandstorms that had been plaguing Beijing's environment for years.

    The coverage of forests and grass in these areas increased by an average 30 percent, said Liu.

    The sand control project has improved the air quality in Beijing. The monitoring network of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau found a significant drop in major pollutants in the city in 2005, and more than 230 days of the year had good weather, compared with 100 days in 1998.

    "It's high time for the forests and grasslands to play their roles in the 2008 Olympic Games. What's more, the Olympic Games is scheduled in August, when sandstorms seldom happen in Beijing," said Liu.

    Ten sandstorms have stricken northern China since February this year and Beijing, which neighbors the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a major sand source in China, has suffered the most serious spring air pollution since 2002.

    The strong sandstorm on Sunday alone brought more than 10 tons of sand and dust per square kilometer to the urban area of Beijing, according to the SFA's statistics.

    Fifty to sixty percent of the sandstorms which hit Beijing originate from places outside Beijing and even outside China, and the major sand sources in Beijing are the sandy areas in its outskirts and the construction sites in the city, said Yang Weixi,chief engineer of Liu's department.

    Higher temperatures and less rainfall in the arid parts of North China, together with frequent cold air flow from Siberia, were to blame for more severe sandstorms, according to Yang.

    The drought sucks moisture from the soil and makes sand easier to be picked up by the wind, said Yang.

    The Beijing municipal government has invested heavily to improve its environment since it won the right to host the 2008 Olympics. It spent 60 billion yuan (7.5 billion U.S. dollars) on pollution control projects from 2000 to 2005.

    "The sandy area in Beijing has thus dropped to 67,000 hectares from 200,000 hectares three years ago, effectively reducing the sand source inside Beijing," said Yang.

    It is a long-term and tough task for desertification prevention and treatment in China as there are around 1.74 million square kilometers of desertified land in the country, accounting for 18 percent of China's land area, said Liu.

    China would strengthen international cooperation in this field and take measures against overgrazing, over-logging and over collection of fire wood in the desertified area to honor the promise that all the country's desertified land can be repaired by 2050, said Liu.

Technorati Tags: beijing, sandstorm, green, olympics

"Green packaging" demand to help environment

    BEIJING, April 20，Via ChinaDaily -- China is working to develop "green packaging" as part of its efforts to build an environment-friendly society, Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan said yesterday.

    He made the remarks when referring to the vast growth of packaging waste in the world at the World Packaging Conference, which opened in Beijing yesterday.

    "The large increase of packaging waste has become a worldwide problem that deserves great attention," Zeng said.

    China's packaging industry attaches great importance to environmental protection and resource conservation, he added.

    Zeng called for additional efforts to be made to promote green packaging by developing technologies of recycling waste or using degradable materials.

    The packaging sector has witnessed robust growth in China. According to statistics from the China Packaging Federation, the total output of the nation's packaging industry reached US$50 billion last year, with a year-on-year growth of more than 20 per cent.

    "A challenge for the Chinese packaging innovators is the creation of efficient packaging with the consumption of less energy and resources and less waste after use," Alexis Stassinopoulos, president of the World Packaging Organization, said at the conference.

    The president said the increasing consumption of convenience foods creates a corresponding demand for packaging materials.

    It is estimated that 25 billion pizza boxes were sold all over the world last year, Stassinopoulos said. "I should also mention packaging from McDonald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken, which are becoming very popular in China.

    "We must all work to create new packaging solutions, which save more and consume less," said Stassinopoulos.

    In order to economize the gradually decreasing resources and protect the environment, the development of green packaging must be carried out without delay, said Shi Wanpeng, president of the China Packaging Federation.

    More efforts are needed to perform related research and development in a bid to supply the market with better packaging products, which are non-poisonous, harmless and of a light weight, Shi said in a keynote speech.

    "We should try to find more effective technology of waste recycling of packaging so as to realize the maximum resource-efficiency."

Technorati Tags: china, green, packaging

Pollution fuelling social unrest -Chinese official

BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) - China's environment chief has made a rare official admission that serious water and air pollution is fuelling social tensions, protests and riots. "The environment has become a focal issue that triggers social contradictions," Thursday's edition of the Beijing News quoted Zhou Shengxian, head of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), as saying. "Mass incidents" -- protests and riots in the ruling Communist Party's jargon -- over environmental woes have grown at an annual rate of 29 percent in recent years, he said. After two decades of breakneck economic growth, China has 20 of the world's 30 most polluted cities, the World Bank says. An estimated 300 million nationwide have no access to clean water. Zhou was appointed in December after his predecessor was forced to resign over his handling of a toxic spill that poisoned the Songhua River, a source of drinking water for millions. The degradation of the environment has increasingly galvanised citizens across the country into violent actions because of the slim chance of redress through legal channels. Zhou did not give an exact number for the protests, but said there were 51,000 pollution "disputes" last year alone. Thousand of villagers rioted in Zhejiang province last April, forcing the closure of 13 polluting chemical plants. About 50 policemen were injured and four protesters were later jailed. An eastern industrial stronghold, Zhejiang was hit by at least two other mass protests in 2005, one of which also ended with the shut-down of a battery factory. A Hong Kong newspaper reported that about 200 villagers in the southeastern province of Fujian, angered by pollution of their water supply, attacked three factories and a sewage treatment plant earlier this month. At pains to avoid social unrest, the government has made balanced growth and greater respect for the environment a key element of a development plan for the next five years. Zhou blamed an obsession with economic growth, slack law enforcement and "soft" laws for the serious environment risks that had resulted in 76 "sudden environment incidents" since November, or one in every two days.

Government accused of Salween hydropower cover-up during UNESCO visit

Shanghai.  April 19. INTERFAX-CHINA - The journalist and environmental activist Wang Yongchen told Interfax that the local authorities in the Salween (Nu) River region in Yunnan Province covered up a number of hydropower construction sites during a visit to the area by a delegation from UNESCO.

"The local government showed a terrible attitude towards the UN investigations," Wang said.

She said that during the delegation's visit to the Nu River Prefecture, situated on Yunnan's Tibetan border, local government workers had been employed to cover construction sites with cloth and conceal ships used for engineering.

She also claimed that construction of the hydropower plants, which have not yet been formally approved by the central government, has already got underway.

Experts from the UNESCO World Heritage Center began a three-day tour of the "Three Parallel Rivers" on April 9.  The Nu, Jinsha and Lancang (Mekong) rivers all flow through the prefecture.

During the three-day trip, experts including Nikita Lopoukhine, the chairman of IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, and R.. Jayakumar, the Program Specialist in Science, Technology and Environment of UNESCO's Beijing Office, were looking into the conservation work on the Nu River and conducting on-site investigations, accompanied by state and local officials.

On 2 July 2003, the "Three Parallel Rivers" region was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.  As required by UNESCO's World Heritage Center, each site should be monitored and investigated three years after being listed.

According to the Nu River Daily, the UNESCO delegation highly praised the efforts and contributions made to protect this area for the ethnic minorities living in the prefecture.

However, Wang Yongchen, a journalist with China National Radio from 1986 and the founder of the Green Earth Volunteers NGO in 1996, disagreed with the assessment.  

Wang said that she had found on several visits to the area that local villagers did not receive any information from the government about development plans. "In my interviews in January and February [this year], villagers said that the government had told them nothing about local hydropower development," she said. "They are all relying on rumors."

She said that the environmental impact assessment had not yet been disclosed to the public, but construction has already started.

"The government should tell the villagers about the dam construction," Wang said.

She said that some local villagers have not bothered to fertilize their farmland because they assume that the land will soon be flooded.

Some have suggested that hydropower construction will alleviate the poverty of local villagers, but Wang, echoing other opponents of China's dam building, believes that hydropower construction has nothing to do with poverty alleviation.

Wang said that some households have been encouraged to move to Simao in southern Yunnan, where they were told that living conditions were better.  However, when they moved to the area, they found that they could not get the compensation and help that the government had promised them.

Because they could not earn enough money to survive in Simao, they returned home and discovered that that their farmland had already been seized.

Wang said that villagers believed they could, at best, achieve the same standard of living after relocation.

In any case, Wang said, improving standards of living was not the highest priority for many villagers. "Some young men have been to large cities, but they don't like the city life. Villagers are quite satisfied with life at the moment," she said.

After several visits to the Nu River Prefecture, Wang Yongchen believed that the environment there has already suffered damage.

"Rocks on the cliff of the Songta Gorge, which has the most fantastic scenery in the Nu River area, have already been devastated by quarrying." Wang said.

"And mud-rock flows hit the region more frequently now," she said. "Some workers with the engineering team told me that they saw around 20 passers-by dead after mud-rock flows."

"The local geology is really fragile." Wang said.

China admits 'green' failures

By Richard Spencer in Beijing
(Filed: 20/04/2006)

The Chinese government admitted yesterday that it had failed to meet almost half of the environmental targets it set itself six years ago.

Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, owned up after a fortnight in which Beijing has experienced some of its worst pollution for years.

He told a national conference on environmental protection that "lack of awareness, insufficient planning, illogical industrial structure and a weak legal framework" were all reasons why the country was falling behind on eight of 20 measures set out in 2000.

These included the release of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, the discharge of industrial solid waste, and improving the treatment of waste water.

At the same time, the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) issued a report saying that China had doubled its consumption of the world's resources, on a per person basis, since 1961. It also cited a survey of big business which claimed that many companies broke environmental laws.

The government has set great store by its plan to "re-order" China's development away from increasing economic growth towards sustainable development.

The consequences of China's environmental devastation have been plain to see this month in the capital. On two occasions smog has been so bad that the government has issued warnings that children should be kept indoors.

This week, the worst dust storms in five years, caused by desertification in the north-west of the country and unusual climate conditions, swept across northern China, into Korea, and even into Japan.

The 11th five-year plan, announced last autumn, decrees that energy consumption per unit of GDP is to be cut by 20 per cent by 2010; major pollutants by 10 per cent and forest cover is to increase.

Dermot O'Gorman, WWF's representative in China, said despite its economic growth, the country's use of resources per head remained a third of that in western Europe and a seventh of that in North America.

The question was what would happen if growth continued, he said.

Beijing pushes clean production for better environment

April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing municipal development and reform authorities will carry out checks on local enterprises in a bid to boost clean production that serve the improvement of local environment and energy-saving.

municipal government has issued a regulation concerning enterprises' clean production that will help enforce the National Provisional Measures on Clean Production Examination made by the State Council in October 2004, said Zhang Yanyou, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.

local regulation requires enterprises with heavy discharge of pollutants in their production to conduct internal checks in two months and then make necessary changes to pass the clean production check in a year, China Daily quotes Zhang as saying at a press conference on Tuesday.

government will give financial assistance to expensive renovations that are needed.

Xiang, another official with the commission, said about 500 million yuan (62 million U.S. dollars) would be allotted this year to help small and medium-sized enterprises to realize clean production.

enterprises that pass the check in one year will be eligible to apply for the title of "Environment-friendly Enterprise."

to Zhang, Beijing started to build clean production projects in 1993. So far, the city has carried out 1,250 clean production projects in 55 enterprises.

new regulation will be a substantial step in our efforts to turn the capital into a resource-saving and environment-friendly metropolis," Zhang said.

China Using Artificial Rain to Clear Dust

By JOE McDONALD

The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 18, 2006; 3:17 PM

Construction workers look at a car that was left coated in dust after the worst dust storm in five years in Beijing Tuesday, April 18, 2006. Beijing was preparing Tuesday to use artificial rain-making to clear the air after a choking dust storm coated China's capital in yellow grit, prompting a health warning to keep children indoors. The storms are expected to last through at least Wednesday in Beijing, neighboring Tianjin and a swath of north China stretching from Jilin province in the northeast through Inner Mongolia to Xinjiang in the desert northwest. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) (Greg Baker - AP)

BEIJING -- Beijing will use artificial rainmaking to clear the air after a choking dust storm coated China's capital and beyond with yellow grit, prompting a health warning to keep children indoors, state media said Tuesday.

The huge storm blew dust far beyond China's borders, blanketing South Korea and reaching Tokyo.

The storm, reportedly the worst in at least five years, hit Beijing overnight Sunday, turning the sky yellow and forcing residents to dust off and hose down cars and buildings.

Hospitals reported a jump in cases of breathing problems, state television said.

The government was preparing to seed clouds to make rain to clear the air, state TV said, citing the Central Meteorological Bureau. It did not elaborate, and the bureau refused to release more information.

Storms carrying chalky dust from the north China plain hit Beijing every spring, but newspapers said this week's was the heaviest since at least 2001. The Beijing Daily Messenger said 300,000 tons of sand and dust were dumped on the city Monday.

That was "definitely one of the most serious pollution days in Beijing," weather forecaster Yang Keming said, according to the China Daily newspaper. "Small children had better stay at home during such days."

The dust reached Tokyo on Tuesday, the first time that has happened in six years, said Naoko Takashina of Japan's Meteorological Agency. Dust from China was found in more than 50 locations throughout the country, she said.

The Japanese agency warned of reduced visibility but did not say any health dangers were expected.

In South Korea, a light layer of dust blanketed the country, but no ill effects were reported. Rain was forecast overnight Tuesday, and the weather bureau said it should clear the air.

The dust storms are expected to last through at least Wednesday in Beijing, neighboring Tianjin and a swath of north China stretching from Jilin province in the northeast through Inner Mongolia to Xinjiang in the desert northwest, the China Daily and other media said.

That region is home to hundreds of millions of people.

More storms were expected later in the week in Xinjiang and other parts of the northwest, according to news reports.

China's government has been replanting "green belts" of trees throughout the north in an effort to trap the dust after decades when the storms worsened amid heavy tree-cutting.

Last week, the western Xinjiang region was hit by its worst sandstorm in decades, which killed one person and left thousands stranded after sand covered railways and high winds smashed train and car windows.

___

Associated Press reporters Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo and Bo-mi Lim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Technorati Tags: china, beijing, rain, sandstorm

Wen sets environment protection goals

Updated: 2006-04-19 06:18

Premier Wen Jiabao has called on the nation to view environment protection from a strategic perspective while warning of a worsening ecological situation in some regions.

Targets set for economic growth were easily met in the country's 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) but major environment protection objectives set for the same period were not achieved, and new problems have emerged, said Wen at a two-day national conference on environmental protection that ended in Beijing yesterday.

It was the highest-level meeting on environment issues and is usually held only once during a premier's five-year term.

Of the 20 environmental goals set for the 10th Five-Year Plan, eight have not been achieved, the State Environmental Protection Agency said last week.

The unfulfilled goals include reducing discharges of sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and industrial solid waste, and improving wastewater treatment.

Wen blamed "lack of awareness, insufficient planning, illogical industrial structure and a weak legal framework" for the severe environmental problems in some places.

According to the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), energy consumption per unit of GDP will be cut by 20 per cent, major pollutants reduced by 10 per cent and forest coverage rise to 20 per cent from 18.2 per cent.

To fulfil the targets, the government focus should be put on both environment protection and economic growth, and the latter should not be at the cost of the former.

Wen set priorities for environmental protection strengthening water conservation, controlling atmospheric and soil pollution, enhancing ecological protection, improving the economic structure and boosting the environmental technology and protection industry.

He vowed that environment protection would be a factor in assessing officials' performance.

He asked local governments to release information on energy consumption and pollutant emissions every six months, control emissions and step up environmental assessment of construction projects.

Protective policies on exploitation of resources should be implemented, and legal and supervisory systems should be established, he said.

An editorial published in today's People's Daily hails the conference as a "milestone in China's environmental protection history."

Guangzhou, Shenzhen warn of unqualified drinking water sources

GUANGZHOU, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Two booming cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province warned of unqualified drinking water sources, which failed to meet national standards in this regard.

nitrogen, Fecal coliforms, biochemical oxygen demand, and total nitrogen were cited as major pollution indices for the drinking water sources in the two cities, according to a report issued Monday on the environmental situation in Guangdong last year and in the period of the 10th Five-Year Plan (2000-2005).

quality of all drinking water sources in 19 other cities of the province met the national standards last year, said the report,published by the Guangdong Provincial Environment Protection Bureau.

has altogether 66 drinking water sources, covering all of its 21 cities, said Chen Guangrong, deputy director of the bureau.

general, 87.5 percent of the drinking water sources in the province met national standards last year in terms of water quality, Chen said.

indicated 19.7 percentage points higher than that of 2004 and the overall situation is positive,"

Technorati Tags: guangzhou, shenzhen, drinking water

Water in Harbin part of Songhuajiang River safe

HARBIN, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Pollutants of nitrobenzene and benzene in the Harbin part of Songhuajiang River in Northeast China is below national standard, according to local government sources.

team of experts have argued that most of nitrobenzene poured into the river has either volatilized or degraded and only very little remained in ice and the river bed, and the water is safe for drinking, the circular said.

Songhuajiang River suffered major pollution in November last year when around 100 tons of pollutants containing hazardous benzene spilled into it after a chemical plant explosion in Jilin Province.

incident forced cities along the river, including Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province and a city of more than three million people, to temporarily suspend water supply.

officials said that tap water in the city is fit for drinking.

must draw lessons from the pollution in Songhuajiang River. We will fully assess the damage to environment and make an effort to prevent such accidents from happening in the future," said Du Yuxin, party secretary of Harbin.
Technorati Tags: china, harbin, songhuajiang, pollution

Pollution threat from China a 'far eastern Chernobyl'

Mon Apr 17, 1:24 PM ET，Russia faces a major environmental threat from factories in neighbouring China, a newspaper said, dubbing the situation a "far eastern Chernobyl".

In its main article, the Russian Vremya Novostei newspaper said "the industrial boom in China could turn into a catastrophe for border areas of Russia" and likened the threat to the environmental disaster caused by a 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the west of the Soviet Union.

A major slick on the Amur River that resulted from an explosion at a Chinese chemical factory in November was just one in a series of such accidents to have affected the health of the region, the newspaper said.

"The consequences of chemical pollution in the Amur basin by discharges from Chinese factories and plants will have the most negative effects for the residents of the region for a long time to come," the newspaper said.

A survey by Russian experts of the environment and the health of people living along the Amur had produced disturbing preliminary results, the paper said.

"Liver problems were found in 73 percent of adults tested and in 80 percent of children under 14," the paper said, citing experts. "The number of people suffering from cardio-vascular diseases in riverside villages is significantly higher than those further from the Amur."

"In addition, specialists are very concerned about the significant growth in the number of oncological diseases. In several villages the growth in patients with such serious diagnoses is increasing by 10 percent to 15 percent annually," the paper said.

Although a document had been signed by Chinese and Russian officials on joint monitoring of the river, there had been no further progress on such monitoring, the paper quoted Viktor Bardyuk, the top regional official with Russia's environmental protection department, as saying.

"The only way to achieve a breakthrough in this situation is to get China to exercise complete control over factory discharges and to sign an agreement on an inter-state level on joint use of the waters of the Amur basin," the paper quoted a health official as saying.

Technorati Tags: china, russia, environment, threat

River clean-up project "needs accelerating"

BEIJING, April 18 ,China Daily-- Treatment and flood control work on East China's Huaihe River, one of the country's most heavily polluted rivers, needs to be accelerated to meet State Council targets, according to an official.

Min, director of the Huaihe River Water Resources Commission, said by the end of last year only nine of 19 key projects had been completed, at a cost of 23.9 billion yuan (US$3 billion).

comments at a national meeting on treatment of the Huaihe River on Sunday were reported by Xinhua.

central government has set the goal of completing all the 19 key projects by 2007, focusing on prevention and control of floods.

admitted that they are facing mounting investment pressure to meet the goal.

2006 to 2007, the central and local governments need to invest 10.6 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) and 3.4 billion yuan (US$420 million) respectively to ensure the achievement of the goal," Qian was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

1,000-kilometre Huaihe originates in central China's Henan Province and runs through Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces. The areas along the river have a history of flooding and droughts.

thousands of small factories, which discharged heavy pollution and waste, mushroomed along the river in the 1980s, making the water condition deteriorate severely.

improvements were ordered after it was listed as one of the most polluted rivers in need of urgent treatment about 10 years ago.

China's Henan Province, where the river originates, has made considerable achievement in dealing with the pollution of Huaihe River.

river has reached its best condition for the past few decades, with the pollution level in many parts gradually turning from heavy to low-grade, said Wang Guoping, director of the Henan Provincial Environment Protection Bureau.

per cent of the rivers in the Huaihe Valley flowing out of Henan Province has reached the required standards, greatly reducing complaints from the downstream provinces that heavily rely on the river water both for civilian and industrial use, he said.

a series of crackdowns in 2005, the province shut down 978 heavily polluting plants, of which 107 are located within the Huaihe Valley.

number of paper plants in the province has shrunk from about 1,300 in 2000 to 350 today, according to Wang.

said to the plant owners that if their pollutant discharge levels reached certain standards then they would survive, if not they would close," said Wang.

province has mapped out a plan that by the end of 2007, all its county-level cities and key towns will have their own wastewater and garbage processing plants.

will begin on 69 wastewater processing plants this year to further enhance the processing rate of civilian wastewater.

provincial government has also earmarked nearly 200 million yuan (US$25 million) to ensure the drinking water safety of more than 1 million people living in nearly 700 villages within the Huaihe Valley.

Technorati Tags: china, huaihe, pollution

"Yellow blanket" covers Beijing overnight

Vehicles drive in a street in Beijing, capital of China, on April 17, 2006. A floating dust haunted Beijing on Monday. (Photo: Xinhua) Mr. Han sweeps the dust from his car in Beijing, capital of China, on April 17, 2006.(Xinhua Photo) A dust-covered car is parked in front of a vehicle-washing shop in Beijing, capital of China, on April 17, 2006.(Xinhua Photo)

April 17 (Xinhua) -- Most Beijingers woke up on Monday to find, to their surprise, that a "yellow blanket" has covered up everything in the open air: from window sills, cars and the ground to every single leaf on the trees.

if the desert has crawled to Beijing overnight," said ZhangRui, a citizen in Chaoyang District in eastern Beijing.

was not exaggerating -- Zhang said he spent at least 15 minutes dusting the sand off his Jetta sedan.

sandstorm hitting the China-Mongolia border Saturday and Sunday started to affect Beijing at midnight on Sunday and by daybreak, the city had turned yellowish.

the particulate matter that often exists in Beijing's air, the suspending granules hitting the city today are bigger, though still less than 100 microns in diameter," said Wang Xiaoming, an official with the municipal environment protection bureau. "That's why we feel sand is raining down."

particulate matter that often hovers over Beijing is mostly less than 10 microns in diameter, he added.

said this is the eighth, as well as the worst, sandy weather that attacks from outside Beijing this year.

bureau forecast at 9:00 a.m. that the city's air quality will be level V or hazardous on Monday, with pollution reading over 301.

municipal government launched a pollution control scheme Sunday night hoping to lessen the impact of the sandy weather. The city has sent sprinklers to wash urban roads and construction sites have been told to halt earthwork.

city's meteorological bureau predicts drizzle in northern Beijing on Monday night and says the wind scale will reach five on Tuesday. But neither will be strong enough to drive away the dust, which will probably stay until Tuesday evening.

Jan. 1 to April 17, Beijing has reported 56 "blue sky days", with excellent or fairly good air quality and pollution reading less than 100, 16 days less than the same period of 2005.

could easily occur at places with little rainfall, scarce vegetation and frequent gales, said Qiao Lin, an expert in China Meteorological Administration (CMA).

China experiences sandstorms almost every spring. The situation is worsened by higher temperature this spring and the prolonged drought in northern China, according to Qiao.

launched an afforestation project in 2000 in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which is blamed as source of sandstorm, targeting sandstorm threatening Beijing and Tianjin, but it is difficult to contain the intensified desertification

Technorati Tags: beijing, sand, storm

Environment gets all-clear after chemical plant blast

April 15 (Xinhua) -- Environmental safety officials say the area around the site of a chemical plant explosion in northeast China is free of pollutants.

had conducted repeated tests on groundwater around the Xiguang Chemical Plant since the blast on April 6, said a statement from the government of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province.

showed the blast has caused no pollution in the Songhua River or the surrounding area, said the statement on Saturday.

containing the raw materials for producing diluting agents exploded around 3.30 p.m., injuring two workers and destroying four tons of dimethylbenzene and cinnamene at the plant in Songbei District of Harbin.

plant, a collectively-owned factory, which used to do paint mixing, had an annual production capacity of 20 tons of diluting agents.

showed it was operating illegally after being ordered to shut down in October last year. The blast occurred just three days after it resumed unlicensed production on April 3.

site is just four km from the Songhua River, a tributary of the Heilongjiang -- or Amur River -- which flows along Sino-Russian border. There are no homes within a kilometer of the plant.

team of inspectors from Harbin environmental protection bureau and the public security bureau have been probing the cause of the accident.

have been trying to trace the plant's legal representatives, who disappeared after the explosion. Environmental protection officials have monitored air and water quality.

100 tons of benzene-based chemicals spilled into the Songhua River after another chemical plant blast in neighboring Jilin Province on Nov. 13 last year. It was one of the worst cases of river pollution since the founding of new China in 1949

Technorati Tags: harbin, pollution, safety

Aso says Japan to focus on environment in providing loans to China

(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, April 15_(Kyodo) _ Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Saturday Japan will focus on environment conservation projects in extending aid to China, saying pollution is getting to be a serious issue in China.

"We are willing to provide enough money to help in environmental issues and capable of providing technical assistance," Aso said in reference to Japan's official development assistance -- chiefly loans -- to its rapidly growing economy.

The aid recipient has its own needs for environment conservation and it also serves the interests of both Japan and China, Aso said in a speech delivered in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture.

The government last month said it plans to withhold its authorization on yen-denominated loans to China for the fiscal year staring April 1, in light of the deterioration in bilateral ties.

Relations between Japan and China have deteriorated due chiefly to the dispute over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

On Koizumi's Yasukuni visits, Aso reiterated that just because China objects to them, the premier cannot say he would stop making them.

"Even if (the shrine issue) is resolved, don't expect Japan-China relations to improve immediately," Aso said. "Friction will inevitably occur."

Aso added that the leaders of the two countries need to meet for talks.

Technorati Tags: japan, loan, china, environment

Let watchdog do its work

2006-04-14 Via China Daily

Qu Geping, former director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), admitted on Wednesday that some of the country's environmental protection targets have never been met in the past 25 years.

Authorities from the SEPA revealed on the same day that some of the goals for the 10th Five-Year Plan (2000-05) have not been achieved, either.

Both pieces of news send a message that there have been difficulties in carrying out measures by environmental watchdogs at various levels to achieve the set targets.

Further news from the SEPA that environmental watchdog offices for large regions will be established confirms this message.

Such offices for large regions, according to the SEPA, will be directly under the auspices of the SEPA and their workers will be directly dispatched by the SEPA as well.

This move will hopefully help resist interference from local governments with the implementation of environmental protection rules or measures, according to the SEPA.

Environmental protection administrations at local levels are under the leadership of local governments. As a result, how their role of watchdog is played, to a large extent, depends on whether local governments support their work or not.

Environmental protection law stipulates that any project that may cause pollution must be subject to environmental impact assessment by relevant departments. Yet, many pollution cases involving discharge or emission of pollutants from industrial enterprises suggest that such procedures have not been carried out, at least to the letter, in many localities.

How could the construction of these polluting plants get the green light from local governments? How did the local environmental watchdog play their role of assessing the environmental impact?

If the local environmental watchdog was able to function in an effective manner, these plants would not have been there.

What prevents the local environmental watchdogs from functioning as they are entitled to is interference from local government authorities, who always place economic benefits before consideration for the environment when the two are in conflict.

We hope the new move by the SEPA will change this embarrassing situation.

Technorati Tags: china, environment, watchdog

Pollution has no boundaries: US official

By Xiao Chen(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-04-14 06:30

SHANGHAI: China and the United States are working together to improve the world's environment, according to a top US environmental official.

Stephen Johnson, administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, summarized his meeting with his Chinese counterparts, from the State Environmental Protection Administration and Ministry of Water Resources, as "very productive."

"We agreed that we live in a global economy and a global environment. We also agreed that the US and China are vital to the health of our environment. And pollution has no political or geographical boundaries," said Johnson, who was on his last leg of his week-long China trip, which also took him to Beijing and Lijiang, Yunnan Province.

He described a Financial Times report two days ago as misquoting him and taking things out of context.

In the Financial Times story, Johnson was quoted as accusing China of spreading air pollutants, such as mercury, to as far away as the United States.

"It is true that China, India and other countries, including South Korea and the United States, all contribute to global pollution. That is why it's important for us to work together to address the global environmental problem," said Johnson.

He said the US experience is a good example of economic growth going hand in hand with environmental protection.

In the past 35 years, the US gross domestic product has almost tripled, the population has increased by 40 per cent and transportation volume has increased considerably, but air pollution has reduced by 50 per cent.

According to the US environment chief, the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, that will put China in the global spotlight, will provide wonderful opportunities for the two countries to work together to improve the health of the global environment.

China and the US are co-operating on many projects in energy security and clean energy.

The "Methane to Market" project will help Chinese to catch methane gas from waste dumps to prevent greenhouse gas emissions and will also use it to run machinery.

Under the project "Future Gen," the US will help China to apply the technology of using coal with almost no emissions.

"It is a win for energy security and a win for the environment," Johnson said.

In his last day in Shanghai today, Johnson will attend several events that demonstrate China's commitment to the co-operation with the United States in promoting cleaner air.

Johnson along with Chinese officials will also announce an air quality forecasting and public notification system in Shanghai to be modelled on the AIRNow system successfully used in more than 300 US cities to help protect public health.

On a tour of Shanghai's Waigaoqiao coal-fired power plant, Johnson will observe advanced scrubber technologies that have been installed to control sulphur dioxide emissions that lead to acid rain, smog and other pollution.

Technorati Tags: china, us, pollution

China develops technologies to control water pollution

BEIJING, April Xinhuanet -- Over the past three years, China has invested over one billion yuan in its research to develop technologies to control water pollution. Now the efforts have begun to be paid off: China has developed an array of technologies that can help solve heavy water pollution problems in the country.

water pollution control project is divided into five main aspects: technologies that are used to solve water pollution in lakes and restore their ecological environment, technologies used to improve water quality in cities, technologies to guarantee the safety of drinking water, and new technologies on biological treatment of water, and on forming waste water handling equipment into a complete set. The major achievement includes technologies can be used to improve overall aquatic environment at lake sources, and restore the ecological environment for lakes after they are heavily polluted. These technologies are regarded as key technologies in solving the lake pollution problem. The technologies are have been put to use in 11 cities including Wuhan and Suzhou, and different schemes made that can improve the water quality in these cities based on their specific situation.

research team on the water pollution control project said some technologies have begun to produce good results, and some have been used in handling the Songhuajiang River pollution incident that occurred last year. In future, these technologies will be applied in solving the water pollution problems in areas such as the Three Gorges dam, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, Taihu Lake, and Huaihe River reaches.

big technology program was initiated in 2002. Chinese central government invested 350 million yuan for the project and another 700 million yuan was gathered from local governments and related social institutions. So far, applications for patents for over 400 technologies in the program have been filed, 14 sets of criteria have been made to control various kinds of water pollution, four R centers established, and more than 100 big modeling projects established from the program.

Technorati Tags: china, water, pollution, technology

Green Sun Over China

April 12, 2006

By Jonathan Keehner

EU commissioner Andris Piebalgs recently indicated the decisive role alternative energy could play in China. Listing bilateral initiatives to a Chinese minister, Piebalgs concluded that joint plans to promote renewable energy may "ensure a major breakthrough over the next coming years." Some big numbers underscore the commissioner's remarks. Research group Worldwatch Institute reported that global investment in renewables reached a record $30 billion in 2004. Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin believes this figure was surpassed by up to 50 percent in 2005 – reflecting expanding demand from emerging markets led by China. But China's entrance onto the renewable scene may not be the windfall for U.S. companies that it will for western competitors, reports American Council on Renewable Energy president Michael Eckhart. "The U.S. is woefully behind when it comes to competing in alternative energy," he said. Eckhart added that as renewable demand increases and the Chinese market develops, U.S. shareholders and companies may find themselves falling regretfully behind European and Canadian counterparts. The Chinese appetite for energy is massive: Jerry Clifford of the Environmental Protection Agency testified before Congress in February that for the past 15 years China has annually constructed 400 million square meters of building space – "the equivalent of building 1,000 Sears Towers each year." Clifford went on to note that in 2004 the increase in energy use from new Chinese air conditioners alone "exceeded the entire generating capacity of the Three Gorges Dam." Such staggering demand has raised obvious. questions on where the energy is actually going to come from to satiate the ever-growing Chinese appetite for the fuels that power a growing consumer society. "China's back is against the wall," explained Robert Watson, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Their land is barren, the water undrinkable and the government needs to begin providing for an immense and newly wealthy population." The result, says Watson, is that "China will drive the alternative energy market and help make it a reality." Concerned with growth and pollution – in addition to a rising profile with the upcoming Olympics - China is focusing on renewables. At last year's Beijing International Renewable Energy Conference, Chinese leaders affirmed their pledge to derive 10 percent of all energy through alternative means by 2020. Representing a $180 billion commitment in both infrastructure and research & development, China took recent steps toward this ambitious goal with the first "Law on Renewable Energy." Taking effect next year, the law encourages alternative energy use through renewable purchases and financial incentives. "My bet is that China is indisputably number one in renewable energy within five years," Worldwatch's Flavin said of the legislation's effect. "They now have key state sponsored support and one advantage of a centralized economy is that these massive projects can be put into effect very quickly." But state control of this centralized system may obstruct opportunities in China, ACORE president Eckhart points out. Before the private sector can access renewable markets, he explains, "Chinese officials must work with foreign governments on parallel levels, minister to minister." Hosted for the sixth time in Shanghai, the annual China-EU Energy Conference may foster such relationships for Europeans. The conference, commissioner Piebalgs keynoted, "has the objective of bringing together the key players in our energy industries as well as high ranking officials from the EU and China." And it may have succeeded: last year brought blockbuster EU-Chinese deals in wind power, fuel cells and hybrid cars including Volkswagen's joint-venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. The venture, which Volkswagen describes as an unprecedented collaboration of Chinese and foreign hybrid technology, plans a product launch during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A press release from the company states: "[hybrid vehicles] fit in ideally with the [Chinese] motto 'Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics Beijing' and with the policy of developing a society in China that conserves energy." The deal may also highlight collusion between foreign and Chinese governments in private renewable deals. Volkswagen's venture was followed by a $60 million investment from the German government for a wind turbine project in Qingdao – the site for Beijing Olympics water sports. Following the Qingdao announcement, vice minister Zhu Guangyao told the China Daily: "Germany is well-known for its advanced technology and rich management experience in the fields of renewable energy and a circular economy. The future for cooperation between the two countries looks bright." By comparison, experts point to a distinct lack of support from the U.S. for similar ventures. "I don't think the Department of Energy has any real money in its budget to promote U.S. and Chinese cooperation," said director of Asian studies Elizabeth Economy at the Council on Foreign Relations. "We lag very far behind the EU and Canada when there are real dollars involved and [the U.S. is] simply not in the game financially. This congress has very little interest in supplying funds for cooperative efforts." Indeed representatives from the DOE could identify only one joint venture between the Energy Department and China during the last 12 months - a promotion of hydrogen-based transportation at the Beijing Olympics totaling $2.6 million. "This is really an error of omission," said Eckhart. "Europe and Canada expressly noticed that the U.S. was not a leader in the alternative energy space and realized that this was a huge opportunity where they could take the lead." He points to an EU White Paper from 1997 as evidence that nearly a decade ago Europe prioritized the development of renewables. Referring to "promising business opportunities" in "third countries," the White Paper states: "development of renewable energy sources can actively contribute to job creation." The European wind industry may validate this outlook. Donald Aitken, former Stanford physicist and national chair of the American Solar Energy Society, recently wrote in Solar Today Magazine: "By the end of 2003, Germany had an estimated 45,400 permanent jobs resulting from the wind industry alone, a figure expected to increase to 103,000 jobs by 2010. About one new job is created in the German wind industry for every 300 kW capacity installed, for a technology that contributes 6.2% of the nation's demand for electricity" Wind is also big business in Spain. In another example of politics interacting with renewable dealmaking, Spanish wind turbine maker Gamesa unveiled a $190 million agreement to provide turbines to China. The deal, signed in Madrid in the presence of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero, was announced in November with Hu conferring on Spain the status of "strategic partner" – an accolade shared by several other EU members. Political complicity in alternative energy deals goes beyond the Continent. During a state trip to Canada in September, president Hu visited a single company: Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems, an automotive fuel cell manufacturer. Ballard executives reciprocated the visit by traveling to Beijing, where they attended the November launch of Ballard fuel cell-powered buses sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology. These visits may be more than symbolic. "[I]f a mere 3.7 percent of all Chinese earned enough money to buy a car in 2002, the figure will reach 13 percent in 2010," reports corporate strategist Mercer Management Consulting. "In absolute terms, this implies a growth of today's 50 million potential buyers to more than 170 million." Increasing in eight years by approximately the number of cars in the EU, China's dynamic market could substantially determine the future of both Ballard and automotive fuel cell industry. "We don't know what kind of transport system will develop, but oil supply and pollution issues might cause the Chinese government to mandate fuel cells," said David Edwards, analyst at San Francisco-based ThinkEquity Partners. "That type of top-down government could create an immediate market. In the U.S. this would be more of a trickle." But when it comes to renewables, the U.S. may risk falling behind in areas beyond automobiles. London-based JPMorgan analyst Andreas Willi believes that despite the U.S. having some of the most advanced wind power technology, an unfavorable political environment has discouraged business. EU members like Germany and Spain are committed to domestic wind energy and renewable exports, Willi says, allowing them to have more stable wind markets than America. He adds: "The U.S. is constrained by politics, budgets and bills which is very unattractive for investors." These same constraints have resulted in GE Wind Energy being the only internationally competitive U.S. wind company, reports Barcelona-based Emerging Energy Research director Keith Hays. "GE is the only global American competitor, for other U.S. companies they just aren't that competitive internationally," he says. "The way that wind energy has grown in Europe has been significantly different from the U.S.," Hays continued. "The Kyoto accords, emission targets and alternative energy incentives have led to a lot of general activity between China and Europe." With Hays estimating that growth in the Chinese wind market could total up to $600 million annually for the next several years, limited involvement may confound both U.S. companies and shareholders. "The only way we can compete is to be developing next year's technology," said Watson, the senior scientist from NRDC. "We have two to three years maximum before our current technology is copied and even improved on." Watson believes that if the U.S. is going to continue as a global energy power, it must recognize the importance of areas like alternative energy and its approach to China. After all, a lack of meaningful engagement with China on matters of energy will only get harder to justify. Technorati Tags: alternative, energy, china