Environmental Protection
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-05 10:27
IV. Protection of the Urban Environment
The urbanization ratio of China grew from 29.04 percent in 1995 to 41.76
percent in 2004. To tackle environmental problems arising from rapid
urbanization, the Chinese government has adopted a series of comprehensive
measures to gradually improve the urban environment. As a result, the
environment in some cities has been remarkably improved. Compared with 1996, in
2005 the proportion of cities with air quality reaching Grade II of the state
standard increased by 31 percentage points, while that of cities with air
quality lower than Grade III decreased by 39 percentage
points.
Considering the capacity of the urban environment and the ability
to guarantee resource preservation, many Chinese cities have laid out and
implemented general urban planning and planning to fully attain required
standards for urban environmental quality based on functional districts, measure
the capacity of the atmospheric and water environments, determine city size and
the orientation of development in a rational way, adjust the structure and
distribution of urban industries, and gradually optimize the division of
functional districts. Many large and medium-sized cities have carried out the
strategy to phase out secondary industry and promote the tertiary sector; local
governments have shut down some enterprises with serious pollution problems,
moved some such enterprises out of the city center through the use of land
pricing, and implemented technological transformation and concentrated control
of pollution based on the principle of "keeping industry in industrial parks and
concentrating on pollution control." Some cities have combined the
transformation of old cities with the adjustment of city layout to change the
dirtiness, disorderliness and insanitariness characteristic of old urban areas
and improve the living environment of urban residents. They have made great
efforts to adjust urban energy structure, and actively advocated clean energy
and central heating, so as to reduce pollution caused by burning coal.
Ready-mixed concrete is introduced in urban construction, and concrete mixing is
prohibited in city centers of the municipalities directly under the Central
Government, the cities directly under provincial governments, some large and
medium-sized cities, and tourism cities, so as to reduce dust pollution caused
by construction.
Governments at all levels in China have taken the
construction of urban environmental infrastructure as the focus of financial
input, pushing forward the construction of facilities dealing with sewage and
waste. By the end of 2004, the rate of urban sewage treatment had reached 46
percent; that of innocuous disposal of house refuse, 52 percent; and consumption
of clean energy in city centers, 40 percent. In recent years, the vehicle
emission standards have proceeded from Phase I to Phase II, and Phase III
standards have been drawn up. Some cities have started a clean vehicle campaign,
actively promoting the use of low-pollution vehicles fueled by natural gas and
liquefied petroleum gas. Since July 2000, leaded gasoline has been prohibited
throughout China, reducing lead emission by 1,500 tons each year.
The
quantitative examination system for comprehensive urban environmental control
has been introduced in over 500 Chinese cities. The system gives quantitative
standards for the quality of the urban environment, pollution control and
construction of urban environmental infrastructure, and thus will help to
comprehensively assess the environmental protection work of city governments.
Since 1997, the Central Government has started a campaign to build
environmental-protection model cities as required by economic development,
social progress, facilities amelioration and e nvironmental improvement. At
present, more than 100 cities (districts) are building themselves into
environmental-protection model cities, among which 56 cities and five districts
in municipalities directly under the Central Government have succeeded in
meeting the required standards. These model cities enjoy 80 percent of the total
number of days a year with air quality reaching or above Grade II, city sewage
treatment rate is higher than 70 percent, the rate of innocuous disposal of
house refuse higher than 80 percent and greenery coverage rate higher than 35
percent -- all above the national average. And "azure sky, blue water, green
land, tranquility and harmony" have become prominent features of these model
cities.
In recent years, the Chinese government has made great efforts in
city afforestation, so as to landscape cities and improve the environment for
human settlement. At the end of 2004, the coverage of green areas in Chinese
cities was 31.66 percent, 3.51 higher than in 2000; the greening rate was 27.72
percent, a growth of 4.05 percent compared to 2000; and the per-capita public
green area was 7.39 sq m, or double the 3.7 sq m of 2000. So far, the State has
named 83 national-level garden cities, four garden city districts and 10
national-level garden county towns, and honored 12 cities with the "Human
Settlement Environment Award."
