China

Submitted by admin on Jan 13th 2013, 12:00am

News›China

ENVIRONMENT

Shi Jiangtao in Beijing jiangtao.shi@scmp.com

Pollution levels off the scale in Beijing, and with no wind, conditions could get even worse

People across much of northern China were warned to stay indoors yesterday to avoid air polllution that, in the Beijing area area at least, was among the worst for a decade.

Thick smog that has blanketed a dozen provinces in the north, cente and east in recent weeks intensified, with environmental advocates describing it as the worst they could recall.

In Beijing, pollution readings by the local environmental watchdog, as well as the US embassy, blew past the upper limit of “hazardous” early yesterday afternoon and stayed there for the rest of the day.

US embassy pollution data published hourly on Twitter showed the level of health-threatening PM2.5 – or particles smaller than 2.5 microns – had reached 886 micrograms per cubic metre at 8pm. Its Air Quality Index, which includes PM2.5 and ozone, had surged past the maximum rating of 500 to 755, or “beyond index”.

With no wind forecast to bring more favourable conditions in the next three days, experts said the worst may be yet to come.

“It’s so awful that I find it really difficult to breathe,” said Zhou Rong , a Greenpeace campaigner in Beijing. “It’s the most polluted day I can remember.”

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said its own figures showed PM2.5 levels had exceeded 700 micrograms per cubic metre since early afternoon. That pushed the Air Quality Index to its maximum of 500 for the first time since real-time air pollution updates began on New Year’s Day.

Under the mainland’s newly revised standards, a level above 200 is considered heavy pollution and unhealthy to those with lung or heart diseases. Readings above 300 are deemed “hazardous for the entire population”.

State television and local media warned people to avoid going outdoors as much as possible, quoting forecasts that suggest winds will not arrive to clear the choking smog until Tuesday.

Beijing Children’s Hospital said heavy pollution was largely to blame for the number of children being treated for respiratory ailments hitting a five-year high in the past week, with more than 7,000 patients a day.

Exacerbated by heavy fog, pollution in Chengdu , Jinan , Wuhan , Xian , Zhengzhou and many other cities has worsened significantly in recent days. Visibility fell to less than 50 metres in many areas, forcing the closure of dozens of highways and the cancellation of dozens of flights.

Topics:

Environment

Smog

Beijing

China

Environmental Health

Air Pollution

Smog obscures the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. The capital saw some of its worst air pollution in a decade. With fog making things worse, roads were closed and flights hit elsewhere. Photo: Xinhua

More on this:

Smog in north shows problem is being ignored, say activists [1]

Links:
[1] http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1126726/smog-north-shows-problem-being-ignored-say-activists

Submitted by admin on Jan 3rd 2013, 12:00am

News›China

POLLUTION

Shi Jiangtao in Beijing jiangtao.shi@scmp.com

Stricter air quality measurements on mainland are seen as step forward in government transparency, but only five of 120 cities hit standard

Only five of 120 mainland cities logged “blue-sky days” on New Year’s Day as the first up-to-the-hour air quality readings were reported under tougher pollution standards.

Data posted on the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s website yesterday showed that most cities saw “moderate” levels of sulphur dioxide and PM10, or large particulate matter, with 29 cities showing slight pollution.

In Beijing, even the chilly winter winds failed to clear the smog, with most of its 35 monitoring stations showing “moderate” air pollution. The 24-hour reading of PM2.5 fine particulates in the southern area of Yizhuang stood at 153, or moderate pollution.

The outskirts of the city seemed to fare the worst. The remote Liulihe monitoring station in the southwestern suburbs of Fangshan district recorded the worst air quality index (AQI) in the city, 210. Several cities that are near the capital, such as Baoding, Shijiangzhuang and Tianjin, saw the worst pollution in the country.

The environmental ministry warned last year that at least two out of three of cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou would fail to meet the revised air quality standards, which still lag behind World Health Organisation recommendations.

The new standards announced in March apply to ozone, carbon monoxide and PM2.5 – particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter that are linked to respiratory diseases – along with sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and large particulate matter. Figures are reported hourly from 496 monitoring sites in 74 cities.

More than two dozen cities have begun updating daily PM2.5 readings in the past few months. Several, including Beijing and Guangzhou, are providing real-time PM2.5 data on a trial basis.

But Tuesday was the first time that the 74 biggest cities – mostly municipalities, provincial capitals and affluent commercial hubs in the Pearl and Yangtze river deltas – published hourly and daily pollution readings on government websites.

“It’s remarkable that the number of cities offering public access to real-time PM2.5 data has gone from zero to 74 in just over a year,” said Ma Jun , director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Heeding public concerns over the quality of the monitoring data, Wan Bentai , a chief engineer at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said in a statement that authorities were focused on ensuring minimum interference from local governments during the release of pollution readings.

Environmental officials in Beijing said the adoption of the new standards would also mean the end of the mainland government’s tally of blue-sky days, which had been widely criticised as glossing over the truth about pollution.

Sanya , in Hainan , was among the five cities to get the rating yesterday.

“It is simply unacceptable that local authorities such as those in Beijing have said air pollution will not be brought under control until 2030 given the palpable human toll of smog problems,” Ma said.

“How difficult can it really be to control the sources of pollution and cut emissions?”

Topics:

Pollution

China

air quality measurements

HK Standard

Submitted by john.kennedy on Oct 29th 2012, 12:47pm

News›China

John Kennedy

[1]

The number of major environmental protests in China grew by 120 per cent from 2010 to 2011, according to Yang Chaofei, vice-chairman of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences.

Speaking on Friday at a lecture organised by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the social impact of environmental problems, attended [2] by finance news magazine Caijing, Yang revealed that the number of environmental “mass incidents” has grown an average 29 per cent annually, from 1996 to 2011.

According to Yang, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has handled a total of 927 incidents since 2005, 72 of which were classified as major incidents. He said that incidents involving heavy metal pollution and dangerous chemicals have been on the rise since 2010.

The government stopped releasing most protest statistics several years ago after the annual number of “mass incidents” surpassed 100,000. The latest figure most often cited is from Tsinghua University sociology professor Sun Liping, who estimates there were180,000 protests and riots [3] in 2010.

The Caijing report references recent information from Xinhua and the Beijing News, the latter of which responded to Yang’s claim that only 1 per cent of environmental disputes are resolved in court with an editorial calling for an overhaul of existing environmental law.

Key problems, writes Beijing News, include abuse of protection from environmental lawsuits, and the lack of provisions allowing for lawsuits which seek compensation for environmental damage.

Protests throughout the weekend [4] in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, were successful in stopping plans to expand a local plant producing the toxic chemical paraxylene, or PX. Protests defeated PX plants in Xiamen and Dalian in 2007 and 2011, respectively.

An infographic published by economic news magazine Caixin last week shows there are a total of thirteen PX plants [5] in China, the majority spread along the coastal region.

Articles on previous environmental protests:

Dalian plant to relocate after thousands protest [6]

Factory axed as Shifang heeds protesters’ calls [7]

City scraps waste pipeline after thousands protest [8]

Arrests made in factory protest [9]

Ningbo petrochemical factory protesters win pledge to halt project [10]

Topics:

Ningbo PX Project

Environmental Protests

More on this:

Ningbo factory protesters return despite official pledge [11]

Ningbo petrochemical factory protesters win pledge to halt project [10]

Links:
[1] https://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/2012/10/29/px.jpg
[2] http://politics.caijing.com.cn/2012-10-27/112233970.html
[3] http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1072357/china-grass-roots-democracy-challenge-awaits-new-leaders
[4] http://www.scmp.com/topics/ningbo-px-project
[5] http://economy.caixin.com/2011-10-26/100317256.html
[6] http://www.scmp.com/article/976220/dalian-plant-relocate-after-thousands-protest
[7] http://www.scmp.com/article/1005763/factory-axed-shifang-heeds-protesters-calls
[8] http://www.scmp.com/article/1008010/city-scraps-waste-pipeline-after-thousands-protest
[9] http://www.scmp.com/article/979469/arrests-made-factory-protest
[10] http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1072078/ningbo-petrochemical-factory-protesters-win-pledge-halt-project
[11] http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1072366/ningbo-factory-protesters-return-even-after-official-pledge

SCMP

Submitted by admin on Sep 16th 2012, 12:00am

Sport›China

RIGHT FIELD

Tim Noonan

Forget patriotic lessons, the gents up north could win respect by cutting HK emissions and moving marathon to the city centre

It’s been such a contentious spell around here recently that I feel compelled to have a quick word with my good friends up in Beijing. Gents, I know you have a tough job taking care of 1.3 billion people, and while I certainly can’t say I approve of everything you do, there are a few things I do approve of. I just need a moment or two to come up with them. In the meantime, I have a proposition for you that should help engender the love and respect you so desperately desire from the people of Hong Kong.

The best news is that it’s a sporting proposition and I know how patriotic you guys get over your sport.

But first, whose idea was this forced implementation of a “moral and national” education of mainland history for the people of Hong Kong that conveniently omits a couple of particularly revolting incidents like the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square?

Guys, no matter what your sycophants on the ground here may tell you, you can’t force the people of Hong Kong to like you. The genie is out of the bottle and it ain’t going back in. We have a relatively free press around here and as such a free mind, so when thousands took to the streets over the past few weeks to protest, it could not have been a shock.

Honestly, why not just roll the tanks through the middle of town because it would probably be less threatening than the mandatory teaching of a “moral and national” education? Naturally the outrage was swift and unified, so your boy here decided to shelve national education for now. But here is what you must know; since the people of Hong Kong are the only ones in China who are allowed to publicly protest, they seem to have adopted this fiduciary right to speak up for their brothers and sisters on the mainland who cannot.

Now what could possibly be more patriotic than that? They have a lot of love for the country, just not for the people who run it. But all that could change in a heartbeat and not just for Hong Kong but also for the world in general, which is growing increasingly nervous over your economic and military might. Why not make a profound and significant difference in a completely unthreatening and benign manner?

The way to Hong Kong people’s hearts is through their lungs. We have a first-world economy and third-world air, which is completely unacceptable.

Last year the Hong Kong government had a budget surplus of close to US$10 billion to go along with accumulated reserves of US$300 billion.

You think with that kind of money on hand we would be able to breathe the air around here. But no, because at Hong Kong’s core we have an odious property cartel that is greed personified. There is, according to my friend Mike Kilburn at Civic Exchange, “a moral failure” among the city’s elite to clean the air.

This is where you come in, Beijing. You guys announce that you are going to take US$1 billion out of the swelling reserves to pay for the mandatory change over to catalytic converters on every single bus, mini bus and light goods delivery vehicle – the primary source of urban spew – and then sit back as the sky gets bluer and the streets get truer.

Now the all-important sporting angle comes in when you decide that you need to advertise this thing. Call it the “China Clean Air Initiative,” not Hong Kong – call it China because you are the cats responsible for this. You then make the long overdue move to bring the Hong Kong marathon out of the boondocks and highways of western Kowloon and stick it smack dab in the middle of the city. Tokyo and New York can find a way to run a race through the heart of the city but we can’t? Get over yourselves for one Sunday morning a year Hong Kong and take a detour. One of the most stunning urban vistas in the world with palatable air and blue skies deserves to be front row centre. Now sell this thing hard, Beijing. World-class athletes can run through the city so there should be no worries about walking. Come breathe our fresh air and why not do a little shopping while you’re here.

I don’t see a single possible downside to this thing and even though it’s my idea, I’m happy to let the politicians and property boys take credit for it. So Beijing, if you want to force an education on the people here, start with a clean air education. Believe me, the world will take notice. And, most importantly, the people of Hong Kong will be getting a “moral and national” education they will never forget.

Topics:

Clean Air

Beijing

Sport