A woman wears a mask as she rides her bicycle along a street near Tiananmen Square on the third day of a red alert for pollution in Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images)
China’s State Council released its strictest environmental protection system for the 13th Five-Year Plan Period, with the aim to reduce pollution in cities with poor air quality by 18 percent in the year 2020. Xinhua News Agency reported that this includes environmental improvement plans for cleaning up pollution in air, water and soil.
Zhai Yungmin, the vice minister for environmental protection, said: “The plan will give us strong support to improve environmental quality and carry out the stricter-than-ever environment protection policy.”
The goal of the plan is to set a more environmental and friendly way of living by reducing pollutants and controlling environmental risks that will lead to a sounder ecological system by 2020.
Ma Jun, the dean of The Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs, said: “Unlike previous plans that were aimed at emissions reductions, the 13th plan will focus on overall improvements to environmental quality.”
He pointed out that China strengthened the way it tackled its air pollution problem since Sept. 2013.
He also said that there are about 350,000 to 500,000 people who die prematurely every year due to air pollution in China.
Although the plan is scaled nationally, he pointed out that there are environmental problems that differ depending on the area, which will pose great challenges for the country’s environment management.
Li Zuojun, an environment expert at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said: “The plan is in accordance with the increasing importance the Chinese government has attached to pollution management in recent years, as environmental problems have become one of the main obstacles for the country to achieve sustainable.”
Beijing’s information office released an update with regards to their emergency reverse plans in late November to better address air pollution.
The Hebei Province also passed its regulations last week. Hebei will apply stricter standards on energy consumption and pollutant emissions compared to national standards. This is in addition to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cooperative mechanism in 2013 for a joint emergency response to heavy air pollution.
