Society

China's major river systems in light pollution

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-03 20:06

China's general environmental situation is still grave, facing many difficulties and challenges despite of sporadic signs of improvement in 2010，a top environment official said on Friday.

Li Ganjie, vice minister of environmental protection, summarized the country's existing problems in seven aspects at a press conference in Beijing Friday:

First, surface water pollution remains a rather serious issue, as the seven major water systems - Yangtze River, Yellow River, Pearl River, Huai River, Hai River, Songhua River and Liao River - are moderately polluted. Second, offshore water in general suffers a slight degree of contamination. Third, although the air quality in most cities is good, some are badly polluted. Fourth, the sound environment in the cities is relatively good. Fifth, radiation environment is in general satisfactory. Sixth, eco-systems have been enhanced but some major questions remain. The declining trend in bio-diversity has not been curbed effectively, with resources increasingly being wasted and lost. Seventh, rural environment is deteriorating, with the emission of agricultural waste keeping climbing at a faster pace and the land potentially becoming a disposal for the urban waste.

Li expressed his concerns especially over the seventh problem and said tackling rural environment problems should be a priority. He also pointed out three major challenges: the serious status of the rural environment pollution; the lagging of rural infrastructure construction and the poor management and supervision systems.

Li also mentioned that China has actively adopted an incentive policy to ensure tangible results from the environmental campaign. The policy has been playing a positive role in the process and has helped greatly mitigate the negative effects of the contamination. Li stated that since the adoption of the policy, the total amount of money allocated by the central government has reached 4 billion yuan ($617 million), and the funds raised by local governments and various social channels have amounted to approximately 8 billion yuan, covering 6,600 cities, with 24 million people benefiting directly. Li said that the central government will continue to increase their budget expenditure on this policy to achieve more good results.