ENVIRONMENT-CHINA: Smog Hangs Over Spring

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING, May 11 1998 (IPS) - “Springtime used to be best time in town, but we haven’t seen nice weather and blue skies now for weeks,” observes Liu Hongli, a 68-year-old native of Beijing.

“Every day is a smoggy day and sometimes I wonder if I’m in Beijing or in Chengdu, known as the misty city of China,” Liu says.

For her part, Dong Ruili is worried about losing her youthful charm: “Look at my skin, the complexion is so unhealthy and no matter what I put, it cannot recover. I think it is all because of the pollution. We never had such bad air.”

Dong is one of many Beijing residents who have only recently realised how bad air quality here has become. But many believe air pollution is today taking a heavier toll than even most severe critics of environmental damage could have predicted.

Beijing, this ancient capital once famed to have the brightest, bluest sky in the world, is now no more than a city with one of the most polluted air.

A World Bank study shows that air pollution levels in Beijing are coming dangerously close to that of Mexico City, the world’s most polluted capital.

“The overall pollution index is lower than in Mexico City but on some days in winter when Beijing burns lots of coal, the air is worse,” conceded Qu Geping, chairman of the National People’s Congress Environment and Resources Protection Committee.

Many blame the government for hiding for too long the level of pollution in the Chinese capital.

Beijing’s air pollution index was long regarded as a state secret for fear that the truth would harm the city’s international image, curtail foreign investment and even cause a social outcry.

In 1989, the central government passed a law requiring the submission of environmental reports by all levels of the Chinese government. But this was largely ignored until May 1997, when 27 cities began making weekly air-quality reports.

“Concealing facts about environmental quality from foreign investors is cheating and it will damage Chinese credibility,” Qu warned last year in ‘China Environmental News’, which is published by the National Environmental Protection Agency.

Beijing was the last to join the club of cities publicising their air quality nearly a year later. Since the capital published its first air pollution report on Feb. 28 this year, environment and pollution have become fashionable topics for the general public and local newspapers.

Along with issuing air pollution reports, Beijing has also set up a a hotline to give people a chance to air their concerns about pollution concerns and gather environmental information.

“It is alarming to learn that our city is in such a dreadful state of air pollution,” said Zhao Liming, a university teacher who called the hotline and whose remarks were reported by Xinhua news agency.

Beijing officials admit that the capital’s air quality ranks among the 10 worst among 50 cities participating in a worldwide air quality monitoring programme.

While the situation has not deteriorated as much as Benxi, a small city in China’s industrial belt that was so polluted it disappeared from satellite maps several years ago, one wonders what will happen in the years to come.

A major concern is the fact that in the next five years, the number of vehicles in Beijing, a city of more than 10 million people, is expected to double.

China’s rapid economic growth has come with rapid motorisation as well, even as many shun bicycles that are often associated with lack of progress and modernisation.

The number of motor vehicles here has already reached 1.3 million, many of them are highly pollutive due to outdated designs and poor emission standards. Chinese statistics published in ‘Science and Technology Daily’ show that nitrogen oxide levels from motor vehicle exhaust are rising by 52 percent a year.

The China Energy Development Report, published last year, put the level of total suspended particulates (TSP) in northern China at an average 392 microgrammes per cubic metre, far above the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended level of 60 to 90 microgrammes per cubic metre.

The average amount of dust falling per square kilometre in Beijing has also risen steadily from 18.7 million tonnes in 1991 to 20 tonnes in 1995 — three times the maximum standard set by WHO.

By every other measure, Beijing’s air pollution continues to exceed maximum WHO levels by many multiples. In February, former energy minister Huang Yicheng put the sulphur dioxide level in Beijing’s air at 100 microgrammes per cubic metre, or five times the WHO maximum safe levels.

But finally, the government seems to be admitting that pollution has become so bad that it needs to enlist citizens’ help if an urban environmental crisis is to be averted. The leadership is hoping for public pressure on polluters and local governments to clean up their act and enforce regulations.

“Treating the Chinese people like opponents in a guerrilla war is no way to build trust in the government,” Qu has argued in an interview with the local press.

He added: “If there are any achievements, we want to tell the people about them; but if there are difficulties we need to explain to the people about them.”