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2011年国内十大热词盘点(组图)_新闻中心_新浪网

周生贤主持召开环境保护部常务会议_新闻中心_新浪网

广东省公布PM2.5监测时间表–社会–人民网

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Bloomberg

January 11, 2012, 10:02 PM EST

By Natasha Khan

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) — Hong Kong, facing criticism over its air quality, will measure pollutants smaller than 2.5 micrometers at all its monitoring stations by March, a week after Beijing pledged to make publicly available similar data.

Hong Kong is testing sampler monitors at nine stations, adding to the five that are already measuring the fine particulate pollutants, Environment Secretary Edward Yau said in a written reply to questions from lawmakers today. Yau didn’t say if the data would be released to the public.

The former British colony’s delay in updating a 25-year air quality standard is drawing criticism from lawmakers and academics, as cities including Beijing and Taipei pledged to improve their monitoring and disclosure of pollutants. PM2.5 particulates are more dangerous than larger ones because they may interfere with gas exchange inside the lungs when inhaled, according to the World Health Organization.

“In terms of the government’s proactive approach to inform the public of pollutants, Hong Kong is lagging behind Beijing,” said Erica Chan, campaign manager for Hong Kong-based advocacy group Clean Air Network. “We need to know PM2.5 levels in real-time to protect our health. If it’s really high I should avoid going outside.”

Beijing will publish its PM2.5 data before Jan. 23, the official Xinhua News agency said Jan. 6. The announcement came after the U.S. embassy in the Chinese capital started releasing its data via Twitter, and state-owned China Daily newspaper said in a Dec. 8 editorial that the government’s initial plan to make data on PM2.5 available by 2016 was “too slow.”

Roadside pollution in Hong Kong was the worst ever last year, the South China Morning Post reported on Jan. 9, citing data from the government’s environmental protection department.

Final Proposal

The Hong Kong government is working on a final proposal to update its air quality objectives, last set in 1987, and plans to submit it to the Legislative Council for discussion “as soon as possible,” Yausaid today. An earlier draft indicated the government will withhold building and operating licenses to companies should they be unable to meet emission controls.

The city’s current air quality standards are too lax and pollution exceeds recommended levels by WHO, Clean Air’s Chan said.

Hong Kong’s central business district has fine particle level worse than 558 cities surveyed by the WHO, the South China Morning Post reported Nov. 25. The WHO survey, which didn’t consider Hong Kong, looked at 565 cities.

“PM2.5 is probably the most lethal thing next to incinerator dioxins that you could breathe,” James Middleton, chairman of Hong Kong-based charity organization Clear the Air, said in an e-mailed response to questions.

Safe Levels

Clean Air Network has purchased a monitor and will begin publishing data on PM2.5 levels from 5 p.m. today via its Twitter and Facebook page, Chan said.

WHO’s air quality guidelines set as safe an annual level of 10 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter. Hong Kong’s 2010 PM2.5 levels were 36 micrograms per cubic meter in the Central district, according to data from the Environmental Protection Department.

Each 10-microgram increase above WHO guidelines boosts emergency room visits for cardiovascular ailments by as much as 7 percent, a 2009 study by the Peking University School of Public Health found.

Hong Kong’s environmental department has been working with the government in nearby Chinese province Guangdong to cut emissions in the region, spokesman Y.F. Chau said in an e-mail statement. The efforts yielded a 26 percent reduction in annual PM2.5 concentrations from 2005 to 2010, he said, citing an average taken from five monitoring stations.

–Editors: Tan Hwee Ann, Allen Wan

To contact the reporter on this story: Natasha Khan in Hong Kong at nkhan51@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hwee Ann Tan in Hong Kong athatan@bloomberg.net

http://mobile.shanghaiist.com/2012/01/06/shanghai_to_purchase_pm25_monitorin.php

Jan 6, 2012

By Benjamin Cost

Shanghai will finally install PM2.5 air-quality monitoring equipment after more than two months since it pledged to do so.

With the system’s launch, the city will join a league of regions spanning Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Yangtze River Delta, Zhujiang River Delta and elsewhere preparing to employ the PM2.5 monitor this year. Next year, the standard will encompass 113 new cities and by 2016, all of China will be covered.

What was the big holdup? According to Ministry of Environmental Protection authorities, their bellyaching over the exorbitant expense of implementation was the main hindrance to following through with the project:

One set of PM2.5 equipment cost at least 80,000 yuan (US$12,710), while the most expensive could cost 380,000 yuan. Provinces haven’t included the cost in their 2012 budget as PM2.5 and ozone monitoring was only recently mentioned by the ministry.

Zhu (a ministry official) said the country’s investment on such equipment could total more than 2 billion yuan.

Fu Qingyan, chief engineer of the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center, said the city hasn’t included the equipment in this year’s budget but the city government has already agreed on the extra expenditure.

Not only has Shanghai smog failed to fall in line with the PM2.5 threshold since 2005, but the watchdog (a bullshit-su, we assume) has been about as transparent as Shanghai air when it comes to relaying the present system’s readings.

Monitoring PM2.5 particles or those measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter is a bigger deal than their microscopic nature would suggest. For all you laymen out there (which by now probably only includes fresh Shanghai arrivals), PM2.5 particles are microscopic pollutants able to infiltrate our respiratory and circulatory systems and cause long-term health issues and even premature fatalities. The current system in place in Shanghai only measures PM10 particles.

But thankfully, Shanghai officials have, albeit begrudgingly, prioritized the public’s health and safety above cost considerations – something that the city has struggled with for what seems like an eternity. Now, if only their pollution reports couldactually line up with those of the PM2.5 system itself.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/7685519.html#

By Guo Kai (Global Times)

08:10, December 23, 2011

The Chinese government has released a four-step schedule to monitor the PM2.5 pollution indicator in the next five years, the minister of environmental protection announced Wednesday.

In a speech at a national environment protection conference, Minister Zhou Shengxian said that indicators for PM2.5, ozone and carbon monoxide will be added to the national standard.

To fulfill the monitoring of PM2.5 and ozone, Zhou gave a four-step plan: from next year, PM2.5 and ozone will be monitored in Beijing, Tianjin and HebeiProvince, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, municipalities and other capitals.

In 2013, 113 key cities and environmental protection model cities will be added. In 2015, all prefecture-level cities will come into the program before a 2016 nationwide rollout.

Zhou said the country will also improve a joint mechanism on air pollutants in key areas and a warning system will be set up to advise the public when heavy pollution shrouds the skies.

PM2.5, particles with a diameter less than 2.5 microns, aroused public attention in late October after different results of air quality monitoring tests were simultaneously released by Beijing’s weather forecast station and the US embassy in Beijing.

“At that time, I dared not to go outside, as the haze covered the city, but the official data said the pollution was not so heavy,” Chen Zhenyun, a resident in Beijing, told the Global Times yesterday.
It is good news that the government will follow the new standard, commented Pan Xiaochuan, a professor at Peking University, on his microblog yesterday.

“It is reasonable to bring in these new changes in steps, because some regions have better technical and economic conditions to carry out the monitoring,” Pan said while answering Web users’ questions on the PM2.5 measurement on Weibo.

The World Health Organization (WHO) ranges the PM2.5 measurement from 10 to 35 ug/m3 (microgram per cubic meters), and China will adopt the 35 ug/m3 standard, which is commonly used for developing countries, Pan said.

Technically, it is not difficult to monitor PM2.5 as it is similar to the PM10 monitoring principles, Zhu Jianping, deputy director of environmental monitoring department, told the Beijing Times.

However, Zhu said that the biggest problem is financing. “PM2.5 monitoring equipment costs between 80,000 yuan to 380,000 yuan ($12,620-$59,943).

“A preliminary estimate shows that more than 338 prefecture-level cities have to invest more than 2 billion yuan on the equipment,” said Zhu.

“It would be a simple way for the public to judge the concentration of PM2.5 on the basis of visibility,” said Pan.

The hazard of PM2.5 is from the toxic chemical substances absorbed by the particles which can cause cancer and metal poisoning.