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Industrial Pollution in China and Remedial Policies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

This paper presents an analysis of the adoption and implementation of Chinese environmental policies and pollution abatement measures. It sketches the role of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and the recently adopted Five-Year Plan for the years 1996–2000 in coping with China's increasing problems of water, air and soil pollution. Remedial measures, which could be legal, administrative or economic, are analysed both as part of more general programmes of legal and economic reform, and as specific designs for local or sectoral problems. In previous articles, I have discussed several major environmental concerns: environmental damages, scarcity of water, control over emissions by township and village enterprises (TVEs), investments and management methods. The present contribution will focus on wider political issues, such as participatory policies, differences in implementation between regions and sectors, and most recent developments in industrial pollution problems and abatement measures. This survey cannot be complete: the limitations of space and the need to give some concrete examples make it necessary to be selective. Therefore, while some problems will be highlighted – such as water treatment in the Huai River basin, sulphur dioxide emissions, and pollution by TVEs – other problems such as noise pollution will be omitted.

Type
China's Environment
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1998

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References

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28. Staffing problems are most serious in underdeveloped inland areas such as Yunnan and Guizhou, where many counties have only one or two people, sometimes less, in charge of environmental protection. However, the same is true for some counties in the developed coastal provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In Sichuan and some other provinces, most counties and municipalities do not have an independent environmental protection organization. See NEPA (eds.), Documents from the Fourth National Conference, p. 324. Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, Tibet and Anhui have less than half the national average of environmental staff per capita, according to data from State Statistical Bureau, China Statistical Yearbook 1995 (Beijing: China Statistical Publishing House, 1995), pp. 60 and 691.Google Scholar

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31. In 1991, more than 4 million hectares of farmland in the Huai River basin were flooded, striking more than 50 million people and causing direct economic losses of more than 30 billion yuan. The next year, the river's main stream was seriously polluted by a wastewater spill of 150 million cubic metres, making the water unusable for industry and drinking. Nevertheless, more than a million residents in three cities had to drink seriously polluted water for more than half a month. The pollution lasted for two-and-a-half months, affecting 350 kilometres of the river's course as well as part of the Hongze Lake. See Tiensheng, Pan etal., “Inspection of and reflection on the ecological background of Huai River calamity during 1991–1992,” in China Population and Environment Society (eds.), China Population and Environment, pp. 125129.Google Scholar

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40. By the end of 1995, 61% of the new industrial projects initiated at the county-level and above went through EIA, and 87% applied the “three-synchronous” procedure. 480 cities (out of 640) registered discharges of pollutants, of a total of 77,000 enterprises; 240 cities (out of 640) issued discharge permits to a total of 14,000 enterprises. NEPA, (eds.), Documents from the Fourth National Conference, p. 290.Google Scholar

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42. The first indicators are encouraging. 1995 and 1996 realized investments in pollution abatement measures financed from technical transformation funds were 5.4 and 6.2 billion yuan, respectively, increasing from 1.6 to 1.7% of total expenditures from these funds. However, the share of energy saving projects declined from 2.3% to 2.1%. See State Statistical Bureau, A Statistical Survey of China 1997, p. 43.Google Scholar

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60. The quantities emitted by TVEs in 1995 had to be estimated, as they were not included in regular statistical reporting, and the scope of data differed between provinces. When it was decided to control emissions by the year 2000 at the 1995 level, the problem of measurement of the base year became acute. In 04 1996, a new control plan was drawn up. See China Environmental Yearbook Editing Committee and Society (eds.), China Environmental Yearbook 1996, p. 115.Google Scholar

61. Between 1990 and 1996, energy consumption, almost 75% of which was in the form of coal, increased by 41.4% and energy elasticity of demand was 0.4 (calculated from A Statistical Survey of China, 1997, p. 109). The share of coal is expected to drop to 71.6% of primary energy, and its elasticity from the present 0.38 to 0.32 by 2000. Xinhua, 28 May 1997.Google Scholar

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63. Planning Department of the Ministry of Energy, Ibid. pp. 10–15; Zhang, Kunming etal., “Woguo nengyuan huanjingdi xingshi yu duice,” pp. 24.Google Scholar

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66. Zhongguo xinwenshe (China News Service), 28 08 1997.Google Scholar

67. One author estimates that TVEs will be responsible for about 35% of industrial emissions of SO2 in 2000, implying a total of 8.4 million tonnes. Cao, Fengzhong, “Woguo xiangzhen qiye daqi, shui wuran ji duice” (“Air and water pollution by our country's TVEs and remedies”), Huanjing baohu (Environmental Protection), No. 5 (1997), pp. 36. This estimate may have been based on the findings (so far, unpublished) of the 1995 national survey of pollution by TVEs, which came too late to be incorporated in the Ninth Five-Year Plan.Google Scholar

68. Even in Shanghai, about half of all households still use small coal stoves to cook their meals. “This contributes to chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema, and lung cancer,China Environment News, 08 1995, p. 7.Google Scholar

69. Report by Premier Li, Peng “China's policy on energy resources,” Xinhua news release dd. 25 05 1997, tr. in BBC FE/2956 S1. The electricity price was raised to 0.36 yuan per kWh in May 1997.Google Scholar

70. NEPA (eds.), Documents from the Fourth National Conference, pp. 311323.Google ScholarBoth had already been proposed by NEPA chief Qu Geping in 1991: see his series of articles in Huanjing baohu (Environmental Protection), Nos. 3–5 (1991).Google Scholar

71. Huanjing baohu (Environmental Protection), No. 1 (1997), p. 41; China Environmental Yearbook Editing Committee and Society (eds.), China Environmental Yearbook 1996, pp. 154155.Google Scholar

72. China Environmental Yearbook Editing Committee and Society (eds.)Google Scholar, Ibid. pp. 483–85.

73. Ibid. pp. 483–88.

74. Zhao, Jiarong, “Nuli kaizhuang ziyuan zonghe liyong gongzuodi xin jumian” (“Strive to make a break-through in comprehensive utilization of materials”), Huanjing baohu (Environmental Protection), No. 2 (1997), pp. 3637. The author sees major problems with awareness and understanding, stagnating legislation, weak management (notably on standardization, inspection and reporting) and the absence of an information network.Google Scholar

75. NEPA (eds.), Documents from the Fourth National Conference, p. 411.Google Scholar

76. Hu, Xiuren, “Feiqi boli huishou liyongdi diaocha yanjiu” (“Investigation of recovery and use of waste glass”), Huanjing baohu (Environmental Protection), No. 1 (1997), p. 43.Google Scholar

77. Huanjing baohu (Environmental Protection), No. 2 (1996), pp. 4345.Google Scholar

78. Huanjing baohu (Environmental Protection), No. 7 (1997), pp. 1617. The survey has data for individual cities.Google Scholar

79. According to a 1995 study, compliance rates for implementation of the “three-synchronies” varied between 95.2% for provincial-level projects to 90.4% and 84%, respectively, for municipal- and county-level projects. Of those where it was implemented, 95% of the provincial-level projects were up to standard, but only 84 and 82%, respectively, of municipal- and county-level projects. China Environmental Yearbook Editing Committee and Society (eds.), China Environmental Yearbook 1996, p. 37.

80. Guojia, huanbaoju ziran baohusi, Zhongguo xiangzhen gongye huanjing wuran jiqi fangzhi duice (Environmental Pollution by Township and Village Industries and Remedial Treatment Policies) (Beijing: Zhongguo huanjing kexue chubanshe, 1995), pp. 1819.Google Scholar

81. China Environmental Yearbook Editing Committee and Society (eds.), China Environmental Yearbook 1996, p. 172.Google Scholar

82. In August 1996, the State Council ordered local authorities to close down small paper factories (output below 5,000 tonnes/year), leather factories (output below 30,000 hides/year), dyeing factories (below 500 tonnes/year), and chemical, electroplating, asbestos and other factories with antiquated polluting technologies. Local leaders of government and companies were threatened with prosecution if they did not comply. Huanjing baohu (Environmental Protection), No. 9 (1996), pp. 24.Google Scholar

83. Cao, Fengzhong, “Air and water pollution by our country's TVEs and remedies,” pp. 36.Google Scholar

84. 17,000 enterprises were shut down in Henan province alone. 259 seriously pollutive larger industries (mostly in paper and alcohol) in the Huai River basin were warned that if they could not meet discharge-standards before a certain date, or if they “illegally change their names, or shift the pollution problems to other enterprises, people can report them to the local EP bureaus.Xinhua, 6 01 1997 and 17 March 1997.Google Scholar

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