China offers 5 billion yuan reward to fight air pollution in north
Print Edition
China will spend 5 billion yuan (US$818 million) to curb the severe air pollution in north China and aims to slash the PM2.5 density by 25 percent in the region within five years, the Ministry of Finance announced yesterday.
The special fund, mainly to reward effective measures taken by the regional governments, will be used to improve the air in Beijing and Tianjin cities, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces, the ministry said on its website.
“The ministry will reward the governments according to the anticipated pollutants emission, the money used to curb the pollution and the decrease on the PM2.5 density,” the finance ministry said.
PM2.5 refers to airborne particles which are smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. They are the main cause of urban smog and are harmful to human health.
Hebei Province, the most severely polluted area, will be a major target of the campaign.
The northern regions have the worst air quality in China. The air pollution of some surrounding cities, including Shanghai, are also affected by these regions which have more heavy industries.
In August, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei recorded only 30 percent normal air quality days — far behind the Yangtze Delta region and only half of that of the Pearl Delta Region in the southeast, according the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The nation is also facing an uphill battle in curbing a deteriorating environment as one fourth of the land area is suffering from air pollution.
Developed countries took some 200 years to root out pollution problems from their shores. It is now a major challenge for China experiencing rapid industrial development and urbanization, said Wan Bentai, chief engineer with the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The environment is getting worse, Wan said, and pollutants discharged in some regions far exceeded the environment’s ability to cope.
China’s supreme court and procuratorate jointly issued a new judicial explanation, effective from June, listing 14 sorts of environmental pollution that will be considered crimes in an effort to curb the pollution.
These include discharging, dumping or treating radioactive wastes or wastes containing pathogens or toxic substances into sources of drinking water and nature reserves.
Pollution will also be a crime if it results in forcing more than 5,000 people to be evacuated or poisoning over 30 people.
Those who pollute near hospitals, schools and large residential areas will be considered serious offenders and face up to seven years in jail and fines.
The government has also revised its air-quality standards in response to public pressure over pollution and the lack of thorough information about air quality in China.
The new Chinese standards require concentrations of PM2.5 to be kept below daily averages of 75 micrograms per cubic meter, more than twice as lenient as the US standard of 35.
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