China Says Pollution Goals Low As Unveils Ministry
Date: 13-Mar-08
Country: CHINA
Author: Emma Graham-Harrison
Unfettered growth over the past three decades has crippled China's already fragile ecosystems, and the resulting problems have sparked social unrest and are crimping the economy.
Worried, the government has unleashed measures ranging from political shaming to banning environmental offenders from listing on the stock market, hoping to jolt the mindset of officials long taught to value GDP over greenery.
But many have proved resistant.
"Some of the policies put forward by the central government, when they are implemented at the local level, in some places they are not completed or in place," Zhang Lijun, deputy chief of the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), told reporters on Tuesday.
Beijing also announced later in the day an upgrade of the environment agency SEPA to ministry status, although experts say the body would need wider powers and a bigger budget to have more impact than its old incarnation.
And Zhang said that even the targets it is trying to enforce -- a 10 percent cut in some key pollutants between 2005 and 2010 and a boost to energy efficiency -- were not enough to clean up China.
"Even if by 2010 we achieve our goals, the amount of sulphur dioxide and (water pollution) emitted will still be far more than the environment can absorb," he told a news conference on the sidelines of China's parliament, the National People's Congress.
"At the same time, there are other pollutants like ammonia in our water ... that are starting to be very obvious."
Last year over a quarter of the water in major river systems that SEPA monitors did not even reach Grade V, a standard already so polluted that it is unfit for human contact, according to a report handed out at the news conference.
Three quarters of the country's lakes suffered eutrophication, an increase in nutrients often caused by fertilisers that can lead to devastating algae blooms. On dry ground most natural grassland was degrading, the report said.
Environmental problems have even started to threaten China's international reputation, clouding preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games which it hosts in August.
This week marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie, who is asthmatic, said he would not compete in the race because of fears about pollution, the latest in a long line of athletes and officials who have expressed concerns about air conditions.
Zhang said he had full confidence anti-pollution plans drawn up for the Olympics would ensure Beijing met its promises on air quality.
ENERGY WAVERING
The government's headline environment target -- which also aims to assuage worries about energy security -- is a 20 percent cut in energy intensity, or the amount of fuel used to generate each yuan of national income.
That goal, which Beijing also touts as proof it is serious about tackling climate change, is proving a challenge and after a slow start China will now need to notch up a 5 percent annual reduction through 2010 to meet it, another senior official said.
The government is stepping up modest incentives for greener habits, including an extra tariff for power plants that strip sulphur dioxide from emissions, and administrative threats like revoking honorary titles or crushing career prospects.
Zhang touted two provincial governors who had offered to resign if they did not meet efficiency goals, and described a planned electronic monitoring system that would feed pollution data from factories straight to the ministry.
But as the government fights inflation near a 12-year high, it has backed away from the one tool analysts say would rapidly trim growth in demand for polluting energy from gasoline to power -- increases in low, state-set prices.
(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
