http://www.boston.com/dailynews/156/world/China_warns_of_grave_environme:.shtml

China warns of grave environmental degradation

By Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press, 6/5/2001 08:00

BEIJING (AP) China's top environmental official warned that degradation of its air, water and soil is progressing faster than efforts to stop the ruin.

Deserts are spreading and nearly half of Chinese river water supplies don't meet safety standards, Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said Tuesday.

''The damage is occurring much faster than our actions to help prevent damage and help the environment recover,'' Xie said at a news conference.

Waste-water recycling, the closure of polluting factories and a switch to unleaded gasoline have helped. But ''the absolute amount of pollutants remains very high,'' and is much greater than what the environment is capable of handling, he said.

A report issued by Xie's agency said only 57 percent of river water met basic standards for purity and ground water is heavily polluted. Underground water supplies are being depleted by pumping to supply booming demand by cities and farming.

Xie's annual assessment is aimed at raising public awareness after years of indifference to environmental damage in the haste to industrialize.

Some 90 percent of grasslands, which cover about 40 percent of China's territory, have been degraded, leading to worsening desertification and salting of the land, the report said. Deserts in the northwest are gradually encroaching on populated areas, worsening sand storms that strike cities.

A lack of environmental awareness among Chinese contributes to the problem, Xie said.

''People have to get the sense that protecting the environment is directly linked to their own personal well-being,'' he said.

The report did point to some successes, especially improvements in air quality from closing older, heavily polluting state factories.

Between 1995 and 2000, levels of sulfur dioxide from coal burning fell by 15 percent, while gas and dust in the air fell by 33 percent, it said.

Beijing's environment has improved markedly under a 10-year, $12 billion program to improve air and water quality in hopes of being picked to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Xie also noted China's planting of forests and grasslands, improvements in energy efficiency and exploitation of alternative power sources such as hydropower and nuclear power.

He said such steps will reduce outputs of carbon dioxide, the gas blamed for global warming, by the equivalent of 550 million tons over five to 10 years.

''We're a developing country, but we also try to make a contribution,'' Xie said.

Xie repeated Chinese China criticism President Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol on global warning, calling that action ''irresponsible.''

The agreement committed industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average 5.2 percent by 2012 from 1990 levels. Developing countries such as China had no obligations under the treaty.

''We appeal to the United States to return to the correct path, take real action to reduce emissions and carry out its commitments,'' Xie said.

-- Anonymous, June 05, 2001

Answers

Response to CHINA - warnings of grave environmental degradation

Well, with 4 times the population of the US, and a rapidly growing need for oil and industry, China should just set the example and forget about sniping at the US about pollution. They have enough problems as is, it seems, and need to clean up their own act, fast.

-- Anonymous, June 05, 2001

Gee, Gordon, China is already successfully sending its air pollution this way. You'd think that would be revenge enough.

-- Anonymous, June 05, 2001

If I were more organized, I would save articles like this to shove at people who say it is arrogant to think that humans are capable of significantly trashing their environment. I happen to think it's arrogant to claim otherwise.

-- Anonymous, June 05, 2001

Funny how attention has turned to China's environmental problems. What about the rain forests in Indonesia, Thailand and elsewhere? I'm sure logging and burning is still going on but you don't see those reports these days.

-- Anonymous, June 05, 2001