For clean air, we need concerted efforts

Stringent long-and short-term policies must be enforced if we are to conquer the menace of pollution

President Xi Jinping has reiterated the importance of combating air pollution and emphasized that a blue sky also brings happiness. To improve the quality of air we breathe, emission control technologies have to be improved to target the source of pollutants, for which more financial input is needed. Also, there is an urgent need to strike a balance between environmental protection and economic development.

Since China had a planned economy for decades before the reform and opening-up policy was implemented in the late 1970s, the country needs a longer time to coordinate its environmental policy with the market economy system, whose requirements are varied and ever-changing.

In other words, China has to have in place both short-term and long-term environmental policies that will also take economic development into consideration, in order to improve air quality. Of course, the main focus of those policies should be long-term environmental governance.

Long-term air quality management must focus on controlling pollution, both manmade and natural, at source. Manmade sources include stationary origins such as power plants and factories, mobile sources like motor vehicles, aircraft and marine vessels, and disposal of waste in landfills and incinerators. Natural sources include dust, wildfires and the methane emitted by animals.

To control pollution from stationary sources, coordination between law-enforcement agencies, administrative departments in charge of environmental protection and enterprises has to be strengthened. And to control pollution from mobile sources, the authorities need to develop cleaner energy and eco-friendly vehicles such as "zero-emission" cars.

Pollution is also caused by sewers and hydrological modifications (rainfall and melting ice), for which tracing to a single source is difficult. And since such pollution is hard to measure, only a holistic approach can be used. This will ensure action to improve air quality does not depend solely on pollution data.

On the other hand, short-term pollution control measures must gradually fit into the overall, long-term strategy to combat air pollution. Short-term measures should include emergency management of air quality and minimizing the use of coal. Emergency management should include temporarily shutting down polluting plants and restricting the use of cars in certain regions on days when the wind is not strong enough to diffuse the pollutants.

To minimize the use of coal, the authorities should take measures to substitute it with clean energy such as natural gas and electricity, and promote the use of high quality coal and clean coal technology. To formulate a long-term air pollution control strategy, the authorities should establish a regional air quality evaluation system, divide the regions into qualified and substandard areas, and focus on pollution control measures.

They should also establish a management system to regulate stationary polluting sources and set national emission standards for different industries, by classifying them into subgroups depending on the manufacturing and pollution-control technologies they use.

The authorities should also have in place a unified licensed permit system, distinct from the existing dispersed management system, for pollution discharge and control.

The author is a professor at the School of Environment and Natural Resources, and a research fellow at the National Academy of Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/01/2017 page11)