Al Guo in Beijing – SCMP – Updated on May 12, 2008
The newly established Ministry of Environmental Protection has banned burn-offs of crop stubble in nine provinces and municipalities in North China from May to September, a clear attempt to improve Beijing’s air quality ahead of the Olympics.
Air pollution from post-harvest burn-offs has long been recognised as a major environmental problem but provincial governments have never totally banned the activity because there no other cost-effective alternatives for farmers wanting to clear their land of crop residue.
In a statement published at the ministry’s website today, the environment watchdog ordered nine provinces and municipalities â Liaoning, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces as well as Beijing and Tianjin â “must reinforce an all-around crop stem burning ban” during the period.
Top provincial and city officials will be appointed to monitor the ban’s implementation and those who fail to act with an iron first would be punished, according to the statement.
Satellite-assisted monitoring results from 2004 to last year revealed that every administrative region on the list major crop stubble burn-offs which “polluted the environment, harmed people’s health and negatively affected traffic,” the ministry statement said.
The ban is believed to be only one of a series of measures taken to improve Beijing’s air quality as the August Olympic Games fast approaches.
Critics of the games have long complained that Beijing’s air pollution is so bad that it poses a threat to athletes during outdoor competition.
To improve air quality, Beijing plans to order at least half of the vehicles off the street during the Olympic Games to reduce vehicle exhaustions. Water trucks will also spray city streets on a regular basis to keep dust down.
Beijing’s neighbours, especially Hebei province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, had been ordered to plant trees in large-scale in the past few years to stop dust from being blown to the capital.
A wide-ranging smoking ban has also been imposed in Beijing since May 1 to keep even a whiff of smoke out of public places.