China remains smog-bound
2001-11-26 12:21
Beijing - A leading UN agency on Monday urged the Chinese government to take
tough economic-based measures to curb urban air pollution, saying
Chinese cities remained some of the most smog-bound in the world.
"China's major cities have been characterised by some of the
highest levels of air pollution in the world, often with pollutant
concentrations at multiples of the levels considered safe for human
health and the environment," a UN report said.
"Urban Air Pollution Control in China," a lengthy study issued
by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in association
with several Chinese institutes, stressed the need for "market
oriented solutions based on the rule of law" to address the
problem.
Recommendations made to the government were based on six UNDP
air pollution projects across China that aimed to reduce acid rain
caused by widespread coal burning and industrial and vehicle
pollution.
"Rather than being subsidised, fuel prices should reflect the
pollution externalities associated with their usage, and
electricity prices should reflect the marginal costs ... of
pollution control systems," it said.
The report cited a UNDP project in Guiyang, capital of the
southern province of Guizhou, that found increased energy
efficiency and the burning of cleaner coal could help reduce acid
rain by 30 percent.
Acid rain among the worst in the world
Acid rain in Guizhou, mainly attributed to the high sulphur
content in the region's coal reserves, is among the worst in the
world, and besides posing a health hazard to people also destroys
soil fertility.
Deeper market reforms to China's traditional state-run
industries would also bring greater economic efficiency and less
waste, especially as China enters the World Trade Organisation, the
report said.
Laws on industrial polluters should be strongly enforced, while
fines for excessive pollution emissions should create a real
deterrent to the polluter instead of an acceptable production cost,
it said.
Vehicular emissions, which constitute up to 60 percent of air
pollution in some urban centres like Beijing and Guangzhou, could
also be curbed through better traffic administration and enforced
vehicular maintenance.
In major urban centres already "saturated" with cars, the
government should issue new car licenses only to those that have a
private parking space so as to limit numbers, the report said.
According to China's annual environmental report, "The State of
the Environment in China 2000", published earlier this year, China
has had some recent success in decreasing pollution but
environmental degradation continued to be severe.
"Although the total amount of pollution discharge has fallen,
the absolute amount is still higher than what the environment can
bear ... this is to say there is still more damage than recovery,"
Xie Zhenhua, head of the State Environmental Protection Agency
said. - Sapa/AFP
- SAPA