China Environmental News Digest

Daily updated Environmental news related to China

Saturday, December 30, 2006

China: More Bad Weather Next Year

China Daily December 29, 2006

China will encounter more bad weather next year, Qin Dahe, director of the Climate Meteorological Administration (CMA) said in his annual report yesterday. He urged all levels of government to improve weather monitoring.

China will witness more severe weather conditions in 2007, the country’s top meteorological official forecast in his annual report yesterday.

Qin Dahe, director of the Climate Meteorological Administration (CMA), said that next year the likelihood of drought in north China and floods in the south of the country were high.

He urged all levels of government to strengthen the monitoring of rainstorms, droughts, typhoons, gales, hailstorms, temperature variations and acid rain.

"Based on our observations of the global systems on air, oceans, glaciers and vegetation we drew our conclusions," said Dong Wenjie, director of the National Climate Centre with the CMA.

This year was the warmest in China's history since 1951 with the annual average temperature 1 degree Celsius higher than previous years, Qin said.

The CMA statistics show that during the year disasters caused by bad weather led to over 2,700 deaths and economic losses of 212 billion yuan (US$26.5 billion).

A total of seven typhoons and severe tropical storms hit the country this year resulting in over 1,200 deaths, 300 missing and direct economic losses of about 70 billion yuan (US$8.8 billion).

In spring north China was hit by 18 dust and sandstorms. This is the most on record since 2000 while Sichuan Province in southwest China was suffered the first drought since 1951.

Dong said acid rain in north China was a serious problem this year and required more attention.

"Before, the country's acid rain was concentrated in southwest China like Guizhou Province," Dong said. "But due to more emissions of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide north China has become the new recipient of acid rain."

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Environment-unfriendly enterprises to be suspended

By Coldness Kwan (Chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2006-12-27 16:15

Environment-unfriendly enterprises in Beijing, Shanxi, Tianjin, Hebei and Inner Mongolia in Northeast China will be suspended around the 2008 Games to ensure blue skies for the Olympics, the Legal Evening News reported Tuesday.

The decision was made at a meeting in Beijing on Tuesday of a special working group composed of representatives of the five cites and provinces. The group's mission is to guarantee fine air quality during the 2008 Games.

The measures fall into three stages: pre-Games, mid- Games and around the Games. During the first stage, which lasts until June 30, 2008, the group will stake out key areas and pollution-causing sources that need to be controlled within Beijing and across the city-boundaries.

Pei Chenghu, deputy director of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau listed some fuel saving measures at the meeting, including limiting the city's coal consumption to within 25 million tons during the pre-Games stage, carrying out the Grade IV State Standard for motor vehicle emissions, phasing out three million petrol-guzzling cars before 2008 and moving environment-friendly enterprises and updating old production techniques and equipment.

Tianjin and Hebei will strengthen rectification on tank trucks, storage tanks of pollution-causing industries like metallurgy and petrifaction and Inner Mongolia and Shanxi will focus on vitriol lixiviate and dust removal works in power stations and other polluting industries.

During the around-the-Games stage which runs from July 17 to September 20, 2008, the Capital Iron and Steel Company, known as Shougang, will suspend its steel-related production and construction sites within the Sixth Ring Road and in Shunyi. And Changping District will also be closed to ensure better air for the Games

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Corruption to blame for China's worsening pollution, official says

Tuesday, December 26, 2006 BEIJING

China's top environmental official has blamed corruption for frustrating environmental protection efforts and worsening the country's already severely polluted air and waterways, state media reported Tuesday.

"Illegal small chemical plants, paper and leather mills are still being set up," Zhou Shengxian, director of China's State Environmental Protection Administration, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. "Many outdated technologies, which should have been replaced, are still in use."

Chinese cities are among the world's smoggiest following two decades of breakneck economic growth. The government says all of China's major rivers are dangerously polluted. Millions of people lack access to clean drinking water.

Zhou said in a report to China's legislature that some local government leaders directly interfere in environmental law enforcement by threatening to remove, demote and retaliate against environmental officials, Xinhua said.

"The failure to abide by the law, lax law enforcement, and allowing lawbreakers to go free are still serious problems in many places," Zhou was quoted as saying. Xinhua did not say when the report was delivered.

Separately on Tuesday, Xinhua paraphrased President Hu Jintao as saying that China needed to focus more attention on energy efficiency and environmental protection.

Hu told the ruling Communist Party's political bureau at a recent meeting to step up supervision to ensure that environmental laws were being enforced and to quicken the pace of environmental work overall, Xinhua said.

Zhou's and Hu's comments come amid public pressure for stronger action against rampant pollution that has undermined China's environment during 25 years of breakneck industrialization.

The government has promised to make cleaning up the environment a priority over the next five years but attempts by the environmental agency to crack down on big polluters have generally failed.

The government said last month that 12 billion tons of industrial waste water were discharged in the first half of this year, an increase of 2.4 percent from the same period last year.

Also in the first six months of this year, the water pollution index rose by 3.7 percent, while sulfur dioxide emissions increased by 4.2 percent, from the same period a year earlier.

Company caught dumping chemicals into Yellow River

By Ma Lie (China Daily)

Updated: 2006-12-26 06:52

XI'AN: A chemical company in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province in Northwest China, dumped concentrated chemical compounds into the Yellow River on Friday, but officials from the local environmental protection bureau said the situation was under control.

The company responsible, Lanzhou Xinxibu Vinylon Company Ltd, is considered one of the most-polluting companies in the country.

"Lanzhou Xinxibu Vinylon, a chemical company, dumped calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate into the river on Friday. The materials had a minimal impact on the water quality of the Yellow River," Lu Zhaowen, director of the Pollution Control Department of the Lanzhou Environment Protection Bureau, told China Daily yesterday.

Lu said his bureau had received a report on Friday morning that white material had polluted a 30-kilometre stretch of the Yellow River, which traverses Lanzhou. The bureau dispatched officials and technicians to investigate.

The officials found that the chemical firm had illegally dumped chemical waste into the river. They fined the company and ordered it to stop polluting, the director said.

Tests by the Lanzhou Environment Protection Detection Station showed that the water quality had returned to normal three days after the spill. Further investigations are underway to determine whether the spill would harm to lower reaches of the river.

Lu said the spill had disrupted the water supply to some 2,000 households in the city's Xigu District for about 5 hours. The water supply in other parts of the city was normal.

Lanzhou Xinxibu Vinylon, which is located in Lanzhou's Xigu District and sits about 30 metres from the Yellow River, was previously listed by the State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) as one of the 11 most-polluting companies in the country.

Huang Lihui, the company's general manager, said Lanzhou Xinxibu Vinylon did not have enough money to ensure pollution control.

"Our company lost some 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million) when it halted production for nearly month after being criticised by the SEPA early this year," Huang was quoted as saying by the West Business News.

Since late October, the river has been polluted four times by production waste and sewage.

Lu said local authorities would make more of efforts to better protect the river from pollution.



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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Beijing fulfils "blue sky" target ahead of schedule

(Xinhua)

Updated: 2006-12-25 09:47

This Chinese national capital announced on Sunday that it had 238 days of good air quality so far this year, fulfilling the annual "blue sky" target.

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The number of days with good air quality is four days more than the same period last year, according to Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the municipal bureau of environmental protection.

"In winter, numerous construction sites in Beijing served as the main source of pollution. By late June, the days of fine air quality were 10 days fewer than that in the same period of last year, " said Du.

"With more days of fine air quality appeared in July and August, we eventually caught up and even outstripped the pre-set plan by late August, Du said.

Du attributed the achievement to intensified efforts made by environmental protection departments at various levels in reducing pollution from coal burning.

Company caught dumping chemicals into Yellow River



(Source: China Daily)



By Ma Lie

Dec. 26 -- A chemical company in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province in Northwest China, dumped concentrated chemical compounds into the Yellow River on Friday, but officials from the local environmental protection bureau said the situation was under control.

company responsible, Lanzhou Xinxibu Vinylon Company Ltd, is considered one of the most-polluting companies in the country.

Xinxibu Vinylon, a chemical company, dumped calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate into the river on Friday. The materials had a minimal impact on the water quality of the Yellow River," Lu Zhaowen, director of the Pollution Control Department of the Lanzhou Environment Protection Bureau, told China Daily yesterday.

said his bureau had received a report on Friday morning that white material had polluted a 30-kilometre stretch of the Yellow River, which traverses Lanzhou. The bureau dispatched officials and technicians to investigate.

officials found that the chemical firm had illegally dumped chemical waste into the river. They fined the company and ordered it to stop polluting, the director said.

by the Lanzhou Environment Protection Detection Station showed that the water quality had returned to normal three days after the spill. Further investigations are underway to determine whether the spill would harm to lower reaches of the river.

said the spill had disrupted the water supply to some 2,000 households in the city's Xigu District for about 5 hours. The water supply in other parts of the city was normal.

Xinxibu Vinylon, which is located in Lanzhou's Xigu District and sits about 30 metres from the Yellow River, was previously listed by the State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) as one of the 11 most-polluting companies in the country.

Lihui, the company's general manager, said Lanzhou Xinxibu Vinylon did not have enough money to ensure pollution control.

company lost some 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million) when it halted production for nearly month after being criticised by the SEPA early this year," Huang was quoted as saying by the West Business News.

late October, the river has been polluted four times by production waste and sewage.

said local authorities would make more of efforts to better protect the river from pollution.



Monday, December 25, 2006

1,000 villagers stranded after gas leak

By Huang Zhiling (China Daily)

Updated: 2006-12-25 06:54



XUANHAN, Sichuan: Roughly 1,000 villagers remain displaced after being driven

from their homes by a gas leak that started last Thursday in Qingxi Town,

Xuanhan County, in the eastern part of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

A gas well operated by China Petrochemical Corporation started leaking at

around 7:00 pm on Thursday, leading to the evacuation of some 12,380 villagers

living within a 1-kilometre radius of the site.

About 3 hours after the leak started, officials from the corporation ignited

the gas to reduce pressure building up in the well.

"After the gas was ignited, we did not find any sulphureted hydrogen or

sulphur dioxide in the air at the site of the leak. Nor was there any water

pollution," said Liu Yuanbo, chief of the Xuanhan Environmental Monitoring

Station.

As a result, the county government yesterday permitted villagers outside a

500-metre radius surrounding the leaking gas to return home.

"Only some 1,000 villagers have not been able to return home," said Zhang

Chongyao, an information officer in the county.

Zhang told China Daily that the evacuees are living in government buildings,

schools, hospitals and radio stations in Qingxi Town and neighbouring Sanhe

Township.

"We are provided with free room and board. Doctors are available around the

clock in the makeshift shelter where we live," said Li Benhui, a 64-year-old

farmer from Fulong Village in Qingxi Town.

Wang Nengqiu, Xuanhan County magistrate, said the county government had set

up an emergency fund of 100,000 yuan (US$12,700) to buy quilts, instant noodles

and mineral water for the evacuees.

More than 400 primary school students evacuated from their villages will

return to school today, said Xu Daiqiu, chief of the publicity department of the

county's Party committee.

Zou Xiaoyan, a third-grader at Jin'e Village Primary School in Qinxi Town,

told China Daily that she had not expected to return to school so quickly.

"I am very happy," she said.

Early yesterday workers failed to fill in the leaking well with about 200

tons of cement. Officials from the corporation were weighing their options last

night, but no back-up plans had been implemented as of press time yesterday.

The eastern part of the Sichuan Basin abounds in natural

gas reserves.



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Monday, December 18, 2006

China struggling to get more steam with less fuel

by Xinhua writer An Bei

Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Official figures from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) show that China will fail to meet its target of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by four percent this year.

has set a unit energy consumption reduction target of 20 percent for the five-year period from 2006 to 2010. The goal is aimed at guiding China's social and economic development but the country is already well behind schedule.

fact, China witnessed an increase of 0.8 percent in its energy consumption per unit of GDP in the first half of the year and indexes for major pollutants have continued to rise.

central government has put the blame for the sluggish start to their "Green GDP" pilot projects in ten provinces and municipalities squarely on the local governments. Many local authorities have resisted fiercely and some of them have even asked to abandon the scheme.

the green GDP project, the cost of environmental degradation is highlighted alongside economic growth figures of specific regions.

lack of economic motives is the fundamental reason for the local governments' weakness in reducing energy consumption and improving environmental protection," said Chen Qingtai, vice director of the Economic Committee under the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee.

enterprises or local governments are taking pains to transform their methods of achieving economic growth or taking risks to improve technological innovation," said Chen.

Min, the manager of a textile plant in South China, is a case in point. He insists he wants to equip all the machines in his factory with energy-efficient converters but is waiting for the government to introduce financial incentives.

want to change but the cost will be too high and whether or not, or by how much, I can benefit from a tax reduction is unclear," he said.

a national meeting mapping out economic policies for 2007 held last week, China's central authorities recognized that more efforts were needed to improve energy efficiency in the country and issued a stark warning to uncooperative local government cadres.

the eight leading economic tasks it listed for next year, the Central Government put energy efficiency and environmental protection third, behind macro-economic control and agriculture.

officials) must reach a common understanding and make their utmost effort to achieve practical improvement in reducing energy consumption and pollution," a statement issued at the conclusion of the Central Economic Work Conference read.

to an energy efficiency plan circulated by the State Council to governments at all levels in August, an industrial structure that promotes energy efficiency will be created, which places emphasis on technological innovation, supervision of local departments and favorable tax policies.

steps in this direction have been taken this year. In 2006,1,008 enterprises in nine major energy-consuming industries have participated in the energy efficiency program launched by the central government. The objective of the project is to save energy equivalent to 100 million tons of coal.

June, China for the first time published a list of provincial regions in order of energy efficiency in order to name and shame the worst offenders.

September, China abolished export tax rebates on coal, natural gas and some primary wood products while reducing tax rebates on steel, cement, textile and non-ferrous metals.

measures may be effective sometimes in encouraging energy saving and environmental protection, but it is by no means a panacea," said Chen Qingtai.

when the government policies take effect through market forces will every player's efforts in pursuing profits fall in line with energy saving and environmental protection, otherwise achieving our energy efficiency target will be impossible," he said.

list of energy-saving products is being drawn up by the central government, the use of which will result in tax preferences. Higher export taxes will be imposed to dissuade companies from exporting goods that involve a high consumption of energy and cause serious pollution.

China's energy saving project, 2007 will be very critical, because the time has come for those energy-saving measures, governmental or non-governmental, to prove effective," according to the Energy Research Institute of the NDRC.

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Saturday, December 16, 2006

Less focus on GDP, more focus on environment

BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's top authorities will unleash a storm in government departments next year by obliging officials to control GDP growth and pay much closer attention to the environment.

officials should make protection of the environment a key priority. They no longer have to vie for GDP growth to the exclusion of all else. That is the message the Central Authorities sent during last week's national meeting mapping out economic policies for 2007.

Central Government listed eight economic priorities for next year, and environmental protection came in third place, just after economic macro-control measures and agricultural development.

officials) must understand the new priorities, take them on board and do everything they can to achieve a practical improvement in reducing energy consumption and pollution," a statement issued at the conclusion of the Central Economic Work Conference said in unusually stern language.

prevent further deterioration of the environment, China last year set an energy consumption reduction target of 20 percent in the five years from 2006 to 2010. The 2006 target is four percent down on the previous year.

officials have failed to fulfill the four percent quota this year. A survey conducted in the first half of the year found that energy consumption was rising instead of tumbling.

used the words "very hard" to describe the difficulties they are facing in reducing energy consumption to the target level.

economy is expected to steam ahead at more than 10 percent in 2006.

Central Government has decided to make the reduction of energy consumption and pollution the key to restructuring its economy in 2007.

energy consumption and pollution is the most effective approach to restructuring our economy and improving our economic efficiency," said Ma Kai, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

said the year 2007 will be vital to achieving the five-year target, and one that must yield visible results.

ensure that the correct signal reaches local officials, the NDRC will brandish its policy baton and intensify supervision.

NDRC said it will establish a set of mechanisms "as soon as possible" to set, evaluate, and monitor energy consumption reductions achieved by local governments and key state-owned enterprises, Xinhua has learned.

addition, the government will intensify supervision of key energy-consuming industries such as iron and steel, nonferrous metal, coal, electricity, petrochemicals, construction materials and those that consume more than 10,000 tons of coal a year.

for the establishment of high energy-consuming ventures will be made more restrictive, with the level of energy-consumption a key factor in determining approval by the NDRC.

energy consumers and big waste-emitters will have to pay more for water and electricity than normal factories next year, the NDRC said.

year's policy will be tougher than this year's, and implementation of the policy will be more forceful," said Wang Xiaoguang, an economist with the Economics Research Institute under the NDRC.

policy will contain specific details on energy consumption reduction and waste discharge targets, he said.

addition, the use of new environment-friendly technology will be encouraged. The Ministry of Commerce said imports of such technology and equipment will be expanded next year.

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China sets up first environmental damage evaluation center

Xinhua news UPDATED: 20:22, December 15, 2006

China has recently set up its first national environmental damage evaluation center, which is expected to open to the public with professional assessment services.

The center, founded by the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences (CSES), will take commissions from administrative departments, courts and other social organizations to help investigate and evaluate the degrees and effects of damages to the environment.

It will also judge the relations between pollution factors and environmental deterioration and give a conclusion report.

"Its evaluations will help solve environmental disputes more effectively," said an expert with CSES.

China has seen the number of complaints and protests over pollution up at an annual rate of 30 percent in recent years.

Earlier reports revealed that the damage to China's environment has wiped 10 percent off its GDP.

The country is now stepping up efforts to clear out pollution. It has pledged to launch a three-year nationwide investigation into the sources of environmental pollution at the beginning of 2008.

It is also considering to revise the Environmental Protection Law, which hasn't been amended since 1989 and was blamed too "soft" as fines were too low and local environment departments were not granted enough authority and power.

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Friday, December 15, 2006

Scientists say the 'Yangtze goddess' is effectively extinct



AP, BEIJING

Friday, Dec 15, 2006



China river dolphin or baiji photo

A rare, nearly blind white dolphin that survived for millions of years is effectively extinct, an international expedition declared after ending a fruitless six-week search of the mammal's Yangtze River habitat.

The baiji would be the first large aquatic mammal driven to extinction since hunting and overfishing killed off the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s. For the baiji, the culprit was a degraded habitat -- busy ship traffic, which confounds the sonar the dolphin uses to find food, and overfishing and pollution in the Yangtze, the expedition said on Wednesday.

"The baiji is functionally extinct. We might have missed one or two animals but it won't survive in the wild," said August Pfluger, a Swiss economist turned amateur naturalist who helped put together the expedition. "We are all incredibly sad."

The baiji dates back 20 million years. Chinese called it the "goddess of the Yangtze." For China, its disappearance symbolizes how unbridled economic growth is changing the country's environment, environmentalists say.

The damage to the baiji's habitat is also affecting the Yangtze finless porpoise, whose numbers have fallen to below 400, the expedition said.

"The situation of the finless porpoise is just like that of the baiji 20 years ago," the group said in a statement citing Wang Ding, a hydrobiologist and co-leader of the expedition. "Their numbers are declining at an alarming rate. If we do not act soon they will become a second baiji."

Pfluger said China's Agriculture Ministry, which approved his expedition, had hoped the baiji would be another panda, an animal brought back from the brink of extinction in a highly marketable effort that bolstered the country's image.

The expedition was the most professional and meticulous ever launched for the baiji, Pfluger said. The team of 30 scientists and crew from China, the US and four other nations searched a 1,700km heavily trafficked stretch of the Yangtze.



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Thursday, December 14, 2006

China to investigate nationwide pollution sources



Beijing, Dec 13: China will launch its first nationwide investigation into the sources of environmental pollution which will serve as a reference for the government in tightening "soft" laws, a top environmental official has said.



"It will take three years to ascertain just how much pollutant is discharged all over the country," director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), Zhou Shengxian said, noting that the survey will start in 2008.



A list of products likely to cause heavy pollution is being drafted, Zhou told the first national work conference on environmental policies and the legal system here yesterday.



He said that the list would provide a reference for the government, who will then exclude the items from export rebates, slap higher customs duties on them or impose limits on imports.



He also acknowledged the disadvantages of the current environmental legal and policy system.



"The number of complaints and protests over pollution has been rising at an annual rate of 30 per cent in recent years," he said.



"Pollution problems have undermined social stability in some areas," he said, attributing it mainly to an inadequate legal system and slack law enforcement.



He noted that China's Environmental Protection Law, which has not been amended since 1989, was too "soft" as fines were too low and local environment departments were not granted enough authority and power.



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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

China Needs a New Type of Livestock Revolution

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While enjoying an impressive increase in meat consumption from 13.4 kilograms per person in 1980 to 53 kilograms in 2004, China is also experiencing the negative impacts of this “livestock revolution,” according to agronomists. When the country introduced livestock factory farms in the late 1970s to meet the rising demand for meat, milk, and eggs, few policymakers foresaw the “serious environmental consequences” of this intensive production system, Cheng Xu, a professor at China Agricultural University and vice-chairman of the Chinese Society of Farming System Research, observed recently.

Speaking in early December at a two-day food conference sponsored by the European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES) in Hangzhou, eastern China, Cheng noted that the large-capacity “confined animal feeding operations” (CAFOs), though highly efficient, “have broken the ecologically benign interlinks between crop cultivation, feedstuff, and manure handling in traditional livestock rearing.”

Cheng’s studies show that by the mid-1990s, such livestock factory farms, non-existent in China before 1979, were able to supply 15 percent of China’s pork, 25 percent of its eggs, 40 percent of its broiler chickens, and 50 percent of its milk. Yet these farms, constructed mostly near large cities, “also produced huge animal wastes, which, mostly discharged untreated, have caused serious pollution to water and air,” Cheng told workshop participants. The event drew more than 30 agronomists from Europe, the United States, China, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

According to presenter Wu Weixiang, associate professor with the Department of Environment Engineering at Zhejiang University, a total of 2.7 billion tons of livestock manure is produced every year across China, an amount 3.4 times the industrial solid waste generated nationwide. “Animal manure has become one of the main pollution sources in China,” he said.

In Zhejiang, Wu noted, the livestock industry, led by some 900 sizable pig, dairy, and chicken farms, produced 26.7 million tons of manure in 2000. This waste contained an estimated 687,000 tons of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 512,000 tons of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)—both indexes of water pollution—as well as considerable amounts of other pollutants such as nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, and phosphorous. “Many of these substances were discharged directly, without any treatment,” Wu observed, adding that “animal manure has been a major contributor to surface water contamination in Zhejiang.”

Professor Cheng Xu, citing findings of a study conducted jointly by Qinghua University and China Agricultural University, said agricultural production accounted for an estimated 70 percent, 60 percent, and 35 percent, respectively, of the total nutrient load (including nitrogen and phosphorus) flowing into the freshwater lakes of Dianchi in Yunnan, Chaohu in Anhui, and Taihu in Jiangsu. The three lakes are among the worst-polluted freshwater lakes in China. “Much of the agricultural pollution should be attributed to livestock excretion,” Cheng said.

In Zhejiang, only 6.2 percent of animal manure is applied to cropland, according to Wu Weixiang. Overall, only about 5 percent of China’s manure is treated, due to limited facilities and treatment capacity. And Cheng noted that of the more than 20,000 livestock factory farms of medium and large size across China, only 3 percent has been equipped with waste treatment facilities.

In light of the many problems caused by factory farms, Cheng echoed the concerns of many international agronomists by pointing to the need to “reflect on the livestock revolution.” He suggested that what China needs is a “new type” of livestock revolution, featuring the full utilization of feedstock resources, the recycling of wastes and other materials, and integrated crop cultivation and animal husbandry, resulting in the production of biogas as a way to close the recycling circle.

Dr. Ge Backus, head of the section market and networks of the Agricultural Economics Research Institute of the Netherlands, offered his country’s experience with environmental management in the livestock industry. Of particular interest to the workshop’s Chinese audience was the 22-year-old Dutch manure policy, which is aimed at reducing nitrate and phosphate leaching from livestock wastes into groundwater, emissions of ammonia and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, and eutrophication of surface waters.

Backus also elaborated on how to develop an effective agro-environmental policy to regulate the livestock industry. “Modern agriculture is causing more environmental problems than industry, but is not as well regulated yet as to the emissions,” he said. “You have to have a sense of urgency to build up a public environmental policy for livestock.”

Several Chinese agronomists attending the EAGLES food workshop are feeling that urgency. “We lack the regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems caused by the livestock industry,” said Professor Li Ji, director of the Department of Ecology and Ecological Engineering of China Agricultural University. But Li noted that some big regions, including the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, and Jiangsu province, have issued policy incentives to encourage farmers to treat animal wastes to alleviate the pollution.

Meanwhile, Chinese researchers have developed several new models of livestock farming, applying integrated technologies for ecological treatment and utilization of animal wastes, which have shown efficiency in removing CODs and BODs. “Environmental problems caused by the livestock industry can be alleviated with integrated technologies,” Wu Weixiang of Zhejiang University said, adding that “economic profits can be obtained from ecological utilization of animal wastes.” Wu has been involved with four such experimental models, and is well aware that the “development of cost-effective treatment systems for livestock wastes plays an important role in pollution control.”

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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

China’s challenge to the Kyoto Protocol

Until China’s competing policies of maintaining record growth while protecting the environment are reconciled, it will continue to pose a considerable challenge to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gases

Commentary by Elizabeth Wishnick for ISN Security Watch (11/12/06)

The International Energy Agency (IEA) on 6 November released a report, The World Energy Outlook, projecting that China will overtake the US in carbon dioxide emissions by 2009, a decade earlier than previously anticipated. The IEA’s revised estimate highlights the growing challenge that China’s robust economic growth poses for global efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The IEA re-evaluated China’s contribution to global greenhouse gases in light of the 13 percent annual increase in its coal use since 2003. China relies on coal for 67 percent of its energy, and nearly 70 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy sector. Construction of new coal-fired plants has expanded exponentially to support China’s economic growth and increasingly urbanized population, who now live in cities with record air pollution.

The Kyoto Protocol distinguishes between developed (Annex I) states, which are obligated to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to approximately 5 percent below their 1990 levels by 2012, and developing (Annex II) countries, which are not subject to these rules. Annex I states may offset their emissions by participating in emissions trading among themselves or by contributing to a Clean Development Mechanism and providing green technology to Annex II countries.

Although the US accounts for 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the Bush administration opted out of the treaty in large part because China and other industrializing developing states such as India are not required to comply with Kyoto emissions limits. Australia, currently the second largest per capita emitter, has refused to participate for the same reason.

Drafted in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol only was entered into force on 16 February 2005, after Russia signed it. Russian participation meant that 35 countries representing 55 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions in 1990 would be covered by the treaty.

Although China signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1998, Beijing contends that requiring developing countries to adhere to the same limits as developed states would be unfair given the great discrepancy in income and per capita emissions. Some Chinese officials also assert that the US and other developed countries benefit by shifting polluting industries offshore to China. Such arguments fail to address the major point: China’s contribution to global warming is expanding rapidly to everyone’s detriment, including the Chinese people.

In mid-November, representatives from 180 states met in Nairobi to discuss the future of the Kyoto targets after 2012. The group failed to agree on a timetable for future cuts. China and India remain adamantly opposed to making developing countries subject to future limits, a position that is unlikely to change unless the US and Australia join the treaty.

Despite the Democrats’ victory in US congressional elections, the Bush administration is not expected to rethink its position on the Kyoto Protocol. Instead, Washington is focusing on developing clean technologies through the Asia-Pacific Partnership, formed in 2005 with Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea.

In contrast to the US market-oriented strategy, France has urged Europeans to take tough measures to achieve broader compliance with the Kyoto Protocol. On 13 November, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin suggested that the EU should impose punitive carbon taxes on imports from non-signatories.

Achieving wider adherence to the Kyoto Protocol represents an important first step, but compliance with the treaty holds a much greater challenge. The EU as a whole is expected to achieve a 9 percent cut in emissions, 1 percent lower than its 8 percent target. A European emissions trading program made this possible despite significant emissions increases in some individual European countries (Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain).

Other signatories have been less successful in meeting their targets. Canada, for example, experienced a 26 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions over 1990 levels, while Japan saw an 8.1 percent rise. Although the Kyoto emissions limits have proven difficult to meet for many developed countries, at least they provide a benchmark and involve global accountability.

China’s voluntary efforts have thus far been insufficient, particularly in terms of implementation and enforcement. In response to mounting concerns about the projected rise in its greenhouse gas emissions, Chinese officials note their concerted effort to place environmental protection at the top of their policy agenda. The 11th Five-Year Plan for 2006-2010 sets voluntary targets for the next five years: reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent and lowering discharges of pollutants by 10 percent. However, many targets for 2006 will not be met, and a November 2006 report by the Chinese State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) acknowledged that air and water pollution were worsening.

Such efforts also reflect the growing realization that environmental costs are chipping away at China’s economic growth. SEPA Deputy Director Zhu Guangyao told a June 2006 press conference that pollution could cause economic losses of up to 10 percent of GDP. Public concern over pollution also threatens social stability, as environmental protests have become more frequent throughout China in recent years.

China’s position on the Kyoto Protocol stems from the Chinese government’s mutually contradictory policies: maintaining record economic growth and expanding prosperity, while protecting the environment and preserving social stability. Until these competing priorities are reconciled more realistically, China will continue to pose a considerable challenge to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.

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Beijing scraps 13,000 outdated taxis to reduce pollution

11/12/2006 15:52 Xinhua News via Eastday.com



Beijing has shunted 13,000 outdated, polluting taxis onto the scrapheap since the beginning of 2006 to try and reduce air pollution, said the local legislature.

The taxis are cheap models with high emission levels, said Liu Xiaochen, secretary general of the municipal government at the 33rd session of the Standing Committee of the 12th Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

They will be replaced by new taxis that meet the Euro-III emission norm, said Liu.

Some 2,000 outdated buses will also go to the wreckers this year and 2,760 clean gas-driven buses will go into service.

The city renovated 330 coal-fuelled boilers and replaced 28,000 old taxis and 3,900 diesel-engine buses in 2005.

Automobile emissions containing sulfur dioxide have become a major factor in urban pollution. Sulfur dioxide emissions increased by 4.2 percent in the first half of the year over the same period in 2005.

Statistics show that Beijing has 2.8 million registered motor vehicles, including 67,000 taxis.

China will introduce new motor vehicle emission standards in 2007 that will cut automobile pollutants by 30 percent, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has said.

The new standards match the EU's Euro III standards. A more stringent standard, equivalent to Euro IV, will come into effect in 2010.

China began enforcing Euro II emission standards nationwide in September 2003.

Other measures -- including fume desulphurization at three power stations and increased supervision of flying dust on construction sites -- will also be implemented next year to combat pollution.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Pollution probe to hit paper mill

Shanghai Daily Home
LOCAL environment authorities in a city of northwestern China have promised to investigate a paper mill which reportedly discharged 2,000 tons of unsafe waste water into the Yellow River, further threatening the pollution-ridden waterway.



Early last week, tipsters told a local newspaper that the Baimei Paper Co in Lanzhou, capital city of Gansu Province, discharged a large amount of reddish brown, foaming waste water, likely untreated sewage, into the Wanchuan Creek, a tributary of the Yellow River.



The obviously colored waste water floated down the creek for more than 40 kilometers and eventually spilled into the Yellow River, according to the report. The newspaper said the waste water from the paper mill produced a slightly irritating smell.



Some nearby residents said the company was put on a blacklist of the State Environmental Protection Administration in February because of reported breaches of environmental regulations.



Qiang Fengzheng, an engineer in charge of the company's waste water treatment, said the reddish brown sewage discharged by the paper mill was normal.



Oxygen tests



Qiang noted environmental authorities mainly monitor the value of chemical oxygen demand, a test to measure the ability of waste water to sustain aquatic life, in a paper mill's discharge. Since the company was blacklisted in February, the company has invested heavily in new pollution treatment facilities, he said.



The company also installed an automatic COD monitoring device, Qiang added. But device records showed the COD value did not meet national standards most of the time from October 1 to Friday, the newspaper said.



The engineer explained the company was still in its trial production phase, and its pollution treatment facilities have not yet passed environmental authorities' check.



The engineer said the company discharges about 2,000 tons of waste water every day.



An official surnamed Kang of Lanzhou's environment administration said paper mills are among the enterprises most prone to causing pollution. Besides COD values, authorities test sewage discharge for a list of other standards.



Kang said the administration will launch an investigation immediately to determine if the company should be blamed for illegal discharge.




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Thursday, December 07, 2006

China May Collect Environment Tax to Curb Pollution

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

Shenzhen, 6 December: China may bring in a environmental tax as widespread pollution could hold back the country's continued economic growth, reported Wednesday's [6 December] Southern Daily. "The country will gradually levy environment tax when conditions are ripe," Mao Rubai, chairman of the Environment and Resources Committee of the National People's Congress or parliament, was quoted as saying at a workshop in this south China city.

The government only takes into account production cost and sometimes the scarcity of resources when setting prices, but often neglects environmental costs, he said, adding those who pollute will pay the tax. Experts warn that an environmental crisis may threaten to wipe out China's gains made during three decades of rapid economic growth.

China's sulphur dioxide emission in 2005 amounted to more than 25.5 million tons, 27 per cent more than in 2000. Air quality in nearly half of China's cities was moderately or seriously polluted and 10m ha hectares, or a 10th of the country's arable land is polluted.

A preliminary draft law on establishing an economy based on recycling was discussed by about 300 delegates from governments, legislatures, enterprises, non-governmental organizations and academic circles last month. Designed to offer a legal framework for sustainable development, the law includes provisions on resource exploitation and conservation, waste recovering and recycling and sustainable consumption.

More than 10 provinces and municipalities in China have already promulgated local regulations promoting recycling. Mao said that formulating an effective economic policy such as collecting an environment tax is critical.

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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Trial of anti-pollution protesters begins in southern China

The Associated Press

International Herald Tribune

Tuesday, December 5, 2006



Five environmental activists who were arrested for protesting the construction of a chemical plant in southern China went on trial Tuesday, a court official said.



The five were arrested in June for staging a protest against the building of a manganese electrolyte plant, the Human Rights in China group said in a statement.



Included among the five is Huang Jin, chairman of Leishe district in Daxin county, Guangxi province.



A court official who would give only his surname, Zhao, confirmed the trial had begun. He said a verdict was possible in the next several days, but he gave no more details.



The New York-based rights group said the five were arrested after leading a sit-in of 1,000 villagers who were upset that the plant was being built close to their homes.



It said authorities used hundreds of police to break up the demonstration and arrest the protest leaders.



The area is already the site of several plants which villagers say have caused widespread environmental damage.



Land seizures for factories and worries about pollution have spurred numerous protests, some violent, throughout China's poor countryside in recent years. The disputes are a major concern for Communist leaders, who worry about unrest among the 800 million rural Chinese.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

China pollution crisis undermining growth-official

HONG KONG, Dec 2 (Reuters) - China faces an environmental crisis that threatens to wipe out much of the gains of three decades of economic growth, one of China's most outspoken environment officials said in comments published on Saturday. "China is dangerously near a crisis. The country's enormous environmental debt will have to be paid one way or another," Pan Yue, deputy head of China's State Environmental Protection Administration, said in a letter to the South China Morning Post. "(We must) begin paying this debt now ... rather than allowing it to accumulate and, ultimately, threaten to bankrupt us all," he added. Beijing has admitted to some of the environmental degradation caused by three decades of pursuing rapid economic growth at almost any cost, but the picture it painted was still incomplete and China needed action, not rhetoric, Pan said. Realistic estimates put environmental damage at 8 to 13 percent of China's national income each year, meaning the cost of pollution off-set almost all of China's economic gains since the late 1970s, he said. The costs of pollution are being borne by ordinary Chinese. "Scarcely anyone bothers to consider the environmental costs to -- or rights of -- the country's poor and powerless," Pan said. A quarter of the population drink substandard water, a third of urbanites breathe badly polluted air and China has a major water pollution incident every two days on average, he added. Pan urged the government to introduce legal mechanisms to make polluters pay and reward those who protect the environment. He also called on Beijing to help unify the environmental watchdogs scattered across different sectors, and establish a system to monitor officials' performance in environmental as well as economic fields

Saturday, December 02, 2006

China vows to enhance protection of world heritage sites

Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from China's 33 world heritage sites on Friday signed an agreement to enhance protection of the sites.

cultural and natural heritage sites, which have been recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 1987, include the Palace Museum in Beijing, Taishan Mountain in Shandong Province and Emei Mountain in Sichuan Province, where the agreement was signed.

Yujie, an official of UNESCO's world heritage project, said enhanced protection of the world's natural and cultural heritage was of crucial importance.

sites had high historic, cultural and scientific value, and the government had worked hard for their protection, Zhu said.

the sites had met with many problems such as natural disasters, over-exposure to human activities and pollution.

will be a huge and long-term task to protect and manage them properly," he said.

the one-day world heritage protection forum held at Emei Mountain Administration Center, participants discussed ways to solve the problems.

vice curator of Beijing's Palace Museum Zhou Suqin said experts were using modern technologies, such as liquid injection in wall repair and three-dimensional digital exhibition, to repair and protect the 600-year old imperial palace.

Convention on the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which UNESCO adopted in 1972, requires all its members to preserve and safeguard listed sites, which are protected during times of war.

cultural sites are required to have historic, artistic, archeological scientific and anthropological value, while natural sites must offer distinct ecological and geographical features.

joined the convention in 1985 and filed an application the following year. The first group of six Chinese sites was added to the list in 1987.

sites were: Mount Taishan in Shandong Province; Great Wall and the Palace Museum in Beijing; Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu Province; Tomb of Qinshihuang in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province; and Peking Man site near Zhoukoudian in southwest Beijing.

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