China solved the problem of environmental pollution

When worries about an environmentally unsustainable economic development model increased, especially after the chemical spill polluted the Songhua River, Beijing began to pay attention to the warnings of organizations. environment.

Premier Wen Jiabao stressed that environmental protection and quality of life will be a priority in China's next five-year economic development program .

China will suffer from water pollution crisis

Zhou Shengxian, SEPA Director at a press conference in Beijing on March 11, 2006. (Photo: Chinese daily newspaper).
Pan Yue, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said China will face an environmental crisis, especially the water crisis, soon. more than expected.

Since the explosion of a chemical plant in Jilin polluting the Songhua River in November 2005, large cities have temporarily closed their drinking water systems, there are 45 pollution cases in China. In the middle of February, the industrial waste of a power plant spilling into a Sichuan river caused the water supply of 28,000 people to stall for at least 4 days. Currently more than 300 million people in rural China lack clean water.

According to Pan, the economic boom has increased the amount of chemical waste and toxic chemicals that spilled into rivers. More than half of the 21,000 chemical companies located near the Yangtze River and the Yellow River - a source of drinking water for millions of people and accidents can lead to "catastrophic consequences". waste and industrial waste flowing into Chinese rivers and lakes increase every year In 2004, more than 200 million tons of wastewater and 200 million tons of industrial waste were dumped into lakes and rivers in the country.

Meanwhile, air pollution in China is also very serious. Pan deputy director said, total sulfur dioxide emissions (SO2), the main component in acid rain, is 80% higher than permitted and is still rising. Children in Chinese cities are also breathing in a toxic atmosphere equivalent to smoking two packets of cigarettes every day!

Environmental pollution: A big problem in China's development

At a press conference just before the annual session of the Chinese National Assembly, Premier Wen Jiabao acknowledged that environmental pollution has become a major problem in China's current development and has yet to be resolved well. Mr. Wen Jiabao said that China has fulfilled most of the objectives of the 10th Five-Year Plan (2000-2005), but the environmental goals have not been well implemented.

The government acknowledges that most rivers are polluted, more than one third of the country is attacked by acid rain. Large heavily polluted rivers make hundreds of millions of people without clean water to drink. Chinese cities are among the most dusty cities in the world.

At the March 11, 2006 press conference, Zhou Shengxian, Director of SEPA, warned that China should quickly improve environmental protection. Otherwise China will face catastrophe following two decades of rapid development that pollute the air, water and soil.

Zhou said the pollution problem has become a bomb that destroys social stability. He wanted to imply an increasing number of public protests about environmental issues. Farmers protested against the uncontrolled waste of factories that are destroying crops and poisoning water.

According to Pan Department's calculations, within the next 15 years, China aims to become a well-off society - GDP will quadruple - but if China still maintains its current production and consumption levels, then Infection and energy consumption in this country will also increase by 4 times.

The source of the source

According to environmental experts, it is the neglect of environmental protection that made China pay in the last few years. When worries about an increasingly unsustainable environmental development model, especially after the Songhua River, Beijing began to take notice of SEPA's warnings and environmental organizations.

Dalian Petrochemical Plant (Northeast China). After a series of serious pollution cases, China will soon conduct an environmental assessment with 127 petrochemical plants (Photo: AFP) Kevin May, director of anti-poisoning campaign of Greenpeace China in Guangxi province Chau said there was a law in China, but the implementation of the law was still very limited. For example, Hai Lam beer distillery produces alcohol but does not have the required wastewater treatment system. The local Environmental Protection Agency has asked the plant to stop operating at the end of last year. But because the local government did not approve this proposal, the factory continued to operate until the release of pollutants into the Mudan River in Heilongjiang Province in late February.

Mr. Pan, SEPA Deputy Director, said that Chinese law regulators lack the power to implement environmental standards, some leaders do not recognize the importance of environmental protection.

Some leaders even argue that only developing the economy will solve all social, political and other issues. SEPA spokesperson said China's environmental pollution cases will occur more frequently due to an imbalance in the industrial structure. Director Zhou said the pollution problems could not be solved overnight.

Environmental protection: Measuring officials' capacity

At a press conference just before the annual National Assembly session, Premier Wen Jiabao stressed that China should not follow the old way of polluting the environment and then treating it. 'We should spend green mountains and clean water for our children and grandchildren.'

According to Premier Wen Jiabao, instead of focusing solely on economic growth, China should pay attention to energy conservation and environmental protection. At the same time, China will enforce strict industrial policies, prohibiting businesses and infrastructure projects that cause environmental pollution and waste of resources. China will also implement special programs to deal with environmental pollution, especially handling step by step pollution of water, air and soil.

In addition, the Government will tighten the enforcement of laws and environmental protection in parallel with the law. Businesses that consume large amounts of energy and pollute will be closed, businesses and heavy polluters will be fined.

In the first four years of implementing the 10th Five-Year Plan, China invested a total of 600.6 billion yuan (about 72.3 billion dollars) in pollution prevention and control. The issue of environmental protection and quality of life will be a priority in China's next five-year economic development program.

At present, the Chinese government has set a new guiding principle to define goals, tasks and policy measures for environmental protection in the future.

Accordingly, the ability to protect the environment will become an important measurement to determine whether officials at all levels will fulfill their role. In other words, assessing local officials is not only based on the ability to develop the economy but also the ability to protect the environment. It was Zhou's predecessor who was forced to resign after the contamination of the Songhua River.

According to SEPA Director, the Chinese government has just completed a long-term river management plan, focusing on pollution prevention and treatment. The government is trying to avoid similar pollution cases of the Songhua river pollution caused by chemical plants located near the rivers and lakes. For its part, SEPA will require factories to report chemical spills within one hour of the incident to avoid 'confining information'. It was the contamination of the Tunghua River that was not published for several days and made it more difficult to control the crisis.

People are allowed to participate in environmental impact assessment

On February 22, 2006, SEPA announced two interim measures for public participation in environmental impact assessments. These two measures will take effect from March 18, 2006. Accordingly, people can participate in environmental impact assessments, consult experts, or attend seminars or public forums. Project contractors will have to provide people with details of the impact of construction on the environment and preventive measures they will apply.

Previously, China's environmental impact assessment system relied heavily on administrative measures but lacked the supervision of the people.

Xu Kezhu, Professor of the University of Political Science and Chinese Law, said that this is a big step of law to enhance people's participation in environmental careers.

In 2005, nearly 30,000 cases of environmental violations were investigated and punished, of which 2,609 enterprises were forced to stop or close.Last month, SEPA threatened to shut down 11 companies and 10 factories, including metal furnaces and chemical plants located along the Songhua River if they could not control contaminants.

This year, SEPA and the Ministry of Supervision will oversee the investigation of four major environmental pollution cases, including the Hai Lam beer distillery. At the same time, China will conduct an environmental assessment with 127 petrochemical plants with a total investment of nearly 55 billion USD. These are the key factories of the Chinese petrochemical industry. However, these 21 factories have violated environmental protection and have been fined.

Last May, SEPA asked nine factories in the ore and paper industry to improve waste treatment equipment.Currently, these 9 factories have met wastewater treatment standards.In September last year, SEPA announced 14 wastewater treatment plants that have malfunctioned or stopped working.So far, 5 of the 14 factories have returned to full capacity.