From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wind power plants in Xinjiang.
Heavy
smog in Southern China.
China has achieved some significant improvements to its environment during the recent years. According to the World Bank, 'China is one of a few countries in the world that have been rapidly increasing their forest cover. It is managing to reduce air and water pollution.'[1]
As part of US$498 billion economic stimulus package of November 2008 (the largest in China's history), the government plans to enhance sewage and rubbish treatment facilities and prevent water pollution, accelerate green belt and natural forest planting programs, and increase energy conservation initiatives and pollution control projects.[2]
Conservation
Conservation in China has become an international issue due predominately to the fate of the Giant Pandas.
Conservation has traditionally had a low priority, but progress has been made in recent years. China's first wildlife refuge, at Dinghu Shan in Guangdong province, was created in 1956, since when the number has grown to over seven hundred nature reserves covering almost six percent of the country. The government agencies managing these reserves have collaborated with a variety of external organizations since 1980, when the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) helped establish a giant panda conservation program. UNESCO counts ten Chinese reserves among its international network, a status which has encourage international funding for further conservation projects.
Spurred by the growing international focus on China through its entry into the WTO, the government itself has shown a growing commitment to conservation in recent years, for instance by earmarking several millions of US dollars for the creation of some two hundred or more new wetlands reserves over the next decade.
Climate change in China
The People's Republic of China is an active participant in the climate change talks and other multilateral environmental negotiations, and claims to take environmental challenges seriously but is pushing for the developed world to help developing countries to a greater extent. It is a signatory to the Basel Convention governing the transport and disposal of hazardous waste and the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, as well as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the Kyoto Protocol, although China is not required to reduce its carbon emissions under the terms of the present agreement. On June 19, 2007, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency announced, on the basis of an analysis of fossil fuel consumption (including especially the coal power plants[3]) and cement production data, that China surpassed the United States as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, putting out 6,200 million tons, in comparison with America's 5,800 million.[4]
China can suffer some of the effects of global warming, including sea level rise and glacier retreat.
Effects of the Gobi Desert
China has seen 3,600 km2 (1,400 sq mi) of grassland overtaken every year by the Gobi Desert.[5] Dust storms, which were once a rarity, are springing up all over China, and could cause even further damage to China's agriculture economy.
Environmental protection
Pollution control
Protection of forests and control of desertification
Although China's forest cover is only 20%,[6][7] the country has some of the largest expanse of forested land in the world, making it a top target for forest preservation efforts. In 2001, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) listed China among the top 15 countries with the most "closed forest," i.e., virgin, old growth forest or naturally regrown woods.[8] 12% of China's land area, or more than 111 million hectares, is closed forest. However, the UNEP also estimates that 36% of China's closed forests are facing pressure from high population densities, making preservation efforts that much more crucial.
According to the Chinese government website, the Central Government invested more than 40 billion yuan between 1998 and 2001 on protection of vegetation, farm subsidies and conversion of farm to forests.[9] Between 1999 and 2002, China converted 7.7 million hectares of farmland into forest.[10]
Desertification remains a serious problem, consuming an area greater than that taken by farmlands. Although desertification has been curbed in some areas, it still is expanding at a rate of more than 67 km² every year. 90% of China's desertification occurs in the west of the country.[11]
Plastic bag reduction efforts
Beginning on June 1, 2008, for the entire country of China, all supermarkets, department stores and shops are prohibited from giving out free plastic bags. Stores must clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags and are banned from adding that price onto the price of products. The production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags - those less than 0.025 millimeters, or 0.00098 inches, thick - are also banned. The State Council calls for "a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets."[12] This ban, however, does not include the widespread use of cardboard shopping bags at clothing stores or the use of plastic bags at restaurants for takeout food.[13] Since the ban, there has been ten percent fewer plastic bags thrown away.[14]
Environmental ratings
- The top five environmentally friendly cities: Haikou, Zhuhai, Zhanjiang, Guilin, Beihai[15]
- The top five cities with most effective pollution controls: Nantong, Lianyungang, Shenyang, Suzhou, Fuzhou[15]
- The 10 cities with worst air quality: Linfen, Yangquan, Datong, Shizuishan, Sanmenxia, Jinchang, Shijiazhuang, Xianyang, Zhuzhou, Luoyang[15]
- The Chinese cities Linfen and Tianying are the two world's most polluted cities according to Time Magazine[16]
See also
- People
References
- ^ "Can China be green by 2020?". BBC. 2009-04-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7972125.stm.
- ^ http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/09/content_10332422.htm
- ^ Coal power plants in China Map +oil use
- ^ "China now no. 1 in CO2 emissions; USA in second position". Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. 2007-06-19. http://www.mnp.nl/en/service/pressreleases/2007/20070619Chinanowno1inCO2emissionsUSAinsecondposition.html.
- ^ WorldChanging: The Fall of the Green Wall of China retrieved March 19, 2007
- ^ "China's forest coverage exceeds target ahead of schedule "
- ^ Liu, Jianguo and Jordan Nelson. "China's environment in a globalizing world", Nature, Vol. 434, pp. 1179-1186, June 30, 2005. Accessed April 2, 2008.
- ^ "International Effort To Save Forests Should Target 15 Countries," United Nations Environment Program, August 20, 2001. Accessed April 2, 2008.
- ^ “Protection of forests and control of desertification” Accessed April 2, 2008
- ^ Li, Zhiyong. ”A policy review on watershed protection and poverty alleviation by the Grain for Green Programme in China”. Accessed April 2, 2008.
- ^ HAN, Jun "EFFECTS OF INTEGRATED ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT ON LAND DEGRADATION CONTROL AND POVERTY REDUCTION." Workshop on Environment, Resources and Agricultural Policies in China, June 19, 2006. Accessed March 26, 2008.
- ^ "China bans free plastic shopping bags", AP Press via the International Herald Tribune, January 9, 2008
- ^ Personal observation in Shanghai and Beijing, August 2009
- ^ David Biello, Scientific American, Does Banning Plastic Bags Work?, August 13, 2009.
- ^ a b c Qin, Jize (2004-07-15). "Most polluted cities in China blacklisted". China Daily. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-07/15/content_348397.htm.
- ^ TIME, The World's Most Polluted Cities
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