China in 1998 has been tagged to be housing seven of the world’s 10 most polluted cities. Blame the country’s rapid development and a consequent increase in the consumption of primary energy led by burning coal. China’s development model has led to this devastatingly increasing polluted environment.
According to World Bank, about 460,000 Chinese die prematurely every year either from breathing dirty air or drinking polluted water.
Of late, the country’s government seems to have realized the vulnerability China’s environment has reached. So, be aware companies and local officials defying pollution limits.
In defiance of a crackdown on pollution, China has frozen its planned industrial projects in cities and regions across eight provinces. Not just that. It has vowed to clean up its lakes, which are dangerously contaminated and blackened by many factories, which in turn are polluting the waterways.
The clean-up initiative was launched following an inspection by the State Environmental Protection Administration, which led to the suspensions that companies and local officials challenging the country’s pollution limits.
Disappointingly, 15 of 22 factories inspected in Baiyin city in the northwestern province of Gansu are found to be dumping waste illegally in the Yellow River.
Joining hands in worsening the country’s environment, two thirds of projects in an industry development zone near the province capital Lanzhou were found to have not done environmental impact studies.
If the administration keeps up with its drives, it would surely meet its promise to cut its major industrial pollutants by 10 percent by 2010, although it failed to meet the annual target last year.
