US donation to help reduce rural air pollution
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-09-20 22:48

The United States Environmental Protection Agency made a total of US$300,000 of donation Monday to help implement innovative, community-based programs to reduce indoor air pollution from household energy use in China.

The donation was offered to the Institute for Environmental Health and Related Product Safety (IEHS) of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the China program of The Nature Conservancy of the United States, respectively, with each receiving US$150,000.

Within the next two years, the IEHS will implement a project in Guizhou and Gansu to help improve health through affordable, reliable, clean, safe and efficient household energy use.

Meanwhile, The Nature Conservancy will use the grant on a rural alternative energy program in Yunnan to help reduce local fuel wood use by 75 percent in the next ten years. The Nature Conservancy also hopes to use alternative energy to meet the rural communities' energy needs to achieve dual biodiversity and health benefits.

The grants are being made available as part of the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air that was launched by the US Environmental Protection Agency and other partners at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002.

Over 70 public and private organizations have joined the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air so far with a common goal to save lives and provide practical solutions.

The Partnership's mission is to reduce exposure to indoor air pollution from household energy use for five million people by 2010 so that they can live healthier, more productive and better quality lives.

According to the World Health Organization's World Health Report (2002), indoor smoke from solid fuels is a major risk factor contributing to the global and regional burden of disease. More than two billion people still burn traditional fuels like firewood, coal, crop residues and dung indoors for home cooking and heating. This widespread use results in the premature deaths of an estimated 1.6 million people annually.

In remote Chinese rural areas, indoor air pollution was mainly caused by cooking stoves without venting facilities and the shortage of environment-friendly energy such as biogas.

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