Severe air pollution ‘top priority’ to be addressed in north China
Print Edition
CHINA still faces an urgent and formidable task in combating air pollution, which is a persistent “affliction to people’s hearts and lungs,” an official said yesterday.
Recent bouts of severe air pollution in Beijing are reminders of the grim situation concerning environmental protection, Zhao Yingmin, vice minister of environmental protection, said at a press conference.
The national observatory continued yesterday to issue warnings for moderate to heavy smog in northern and central China, with some areas in Beijing, Hebei, Henan and Shaanxi issuing orange alerts, the second highest in a four-tier warning system.
The top priority of air pollution control should be addressing severe air pollution, especially pollution in north China this winter, Zhao said. “China should strive to resolve the affliction to people’s hearts and lungs in the shortest time possible,” he added.
The fundamental reason for frequent heavy smog is excessive pollutant emissions, although smog-trapping weather conditions also played a part, Zhao said. “Without help from nature, people should make more efforts to fight pollution.”
The country would push to revamp industrial and energy structures in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas, home to about half of China’s coal consumption and steel production capacity, Zhao said.
China would also reduce pollutant emissions by acting on highly polluting companies, promoting clean use of coal, and cracking down on vehicles with excessive emissions. Zhao added that China would also improve the accuracy of air quality forecasts, reinforce government supervision and enhance regional coordination in extreme weather conditions.
Encouraging figures have been released by the ministry. In 338 large Chinese cities, 81.4 percent of days in the first 10 months had good air quality, slightly higher than last year.
A national guideline on environmental improvements for 2016-2020 was approved at a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday, specifying targets for reducing air, water and land pollution, as well as producing a sounder ecological system.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
