Environment Degradation in China - Essay Example

appears here] appears here] appears here] appears here] Environment Degradation in China Abstract This report delves into the environmental issues facing China. The predicament is that China's remarkable development has come to the detriment of similarly stunning environmental degradation. Ever since the start of reforms, the most frequently precise forms of environmental pollution in China are namely, Water shortage and pollution, Air pollution and Land degradation & deforestation. Environment Degradation in China: An Overview Following are some of the salient features of China's Environmental statistics: The most polluted cities in the world are now situated in China In 1995, ambient concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in over half of 88 Chinese cities monitored, exceeded World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for safety. 85 of 87 cities exceeded WHO guidelines for total suspended particulate matter (TSPs); in many cities the concentrations were two to five times safety levels given by WHO guidelines. The percentage of arable land affected by acid rain increased from 18 percent to 40 percent between 1985 and 1998. China now releases 13 % of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This is second to only the United States (23 percent). With the increase in auto usage in China and development in general, this number is increasing speedily. China will soon reach the top position if development tendency persist.. The annual economic loss from water pollution in China reaches 1.5-3 % of China's GDP. Environment Degradation in China: An Introduction China has faced an enduring and remarkably quick economic development since its liberalization in 1978. Despite the fact that having considerably improved the lifestyle of the large part of the population, the economic progress has resulted in severe environmental predicaments, such as widespread water and air pollution, solid waste accumulation, high air pollution and water scarcity in urban areas. The situation of the environment is still deteriorating and posing, in several areas, problems to economic development. Water Economic expansion in China has been associated with a considerable increase in demand for water. Between 1980 and 1993 urban water use soared by 350 % and industrial consumption twice over the period (World Bank, 2001)1. Demand for water has been growing at the time when several regions of China faced water scarcity, major water pollution, and reduced groundwater tables besides flood and famine damage. These factors have deteriorated the deficiency of water resources, augmented costs of water purification, and in cases where suitable infrastructure has not been present, endangered the safety of drinking water, consequently the health of the population. They also had critical impacts on the safety of industrial and agricultural manufacture and led to losses in fishing business. It is expected that the yearly economic loss from water pollution in China reaches 1.5-3 % of GDP, having more major impact than floods and famine (Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2000)2. These issues are especially severe in northern China and in the catchments of the three rivers namely Huai, Hai and Huang. These three catchments comprise around 35 % of total GDP and include the economically and politically vital Beijing-Tianjin region. Yet the major causes of water pollution are industrial wastewater release, raw municipal sewage discharge and non-point pollution from agriculture. Of late, non-point water pollution, which emanates from fertilizer and pesticide overspill, and release from intensive animal production businesses, is becoming critical and can be expected to rise even further. Quality of Surface and Coastal Water & Groundwater The chemical and organic quality of the surface water is normally low. The main pollutants are raw material from domestic and industrial sources, industrial hydrocarbons, light lubricating oil, plant nutrients and heavy metals. Bacteriological pollution is perhaps common and extensive although not commonly examined. In China Since 1996 to 1998, the water quality in nearly all seven main river basins worsened. Among these river basins, the raw pollution in Liao River, Hai River and Huai River is considered very severe. For example, in the Hai River the proportion of monitoring sections with water quality grouped as Class I to III reduced from 58.9 % in 1996 to 28 % in 1998, at the same time as the share of the sections with Class IV and below jumped from 41.1 % in 1996 to 72 % in 1998. It is anticipated that 25 % of all lakes in China is being badly affected by eutrophication which is caused by heavy organic pollution and extreme pollution by nutrients from agricultural production and urbanization. In 1999, the watershed of Tai Lake was at medium level of eutrophication as Chao Lake and Dianci Lake were hyper-eutrophic. The main impact of eutrophication are shifts in the biological structure in standing waters, production of toxins potentially poisonous to fish, cattle and humans and bigger costs of water cleansing. Air Pollution Air pollution is influencing both human health and environment and it will remain to be key environmental issues in China in the future. Researches performed by the World Bank have linked the high occurrence of early death in China to severe ambient and indoor pollution. About one third of the country of China is influenced by acid rain, which can hinder forest and crop increase and imperil marine life. Coal burning is the major contributor to ambient and indoor air pollution in China, however air pollution from motor vehicle emissions is rising rapidly and is expected to become a main and prevalent urban pollution issue over the next couple of decades. Re-suspension of surface dust from the production sites and dilapidated soil is a significant factor influencing air quality in many northern cities, namely Beijing and Xi'an. Urban Air Quality The main air pollutants in Urban areas are total suspended particulates and sulphur dioxide. Ambient concentrations of these pollutants in Chinese cities are among the world's highest. In 1998, seven Chinese cities, that include Taiyuan and Beijing stood the first and third respectively, were among World Health Organization list of world's 10 most polluted cities regarding air quality (UNDP, UNEP, WRI, and World Bank, 1998)19. In 1995, more than one half of 88 cities checked for sulphur dioxide were above the WHO guidelines and virtually two of 87 cities monitored for TSP far surpassed the WHO guidelines (NEPA, 1996)3. On the other hand, rapid increase of motor vehicle fleets in large cities has increased ambient pollution by carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and associated pollutants which have a factor to the worsening of the urban air quality by causing severe local photochemical smog pollution. The pollution of nitrogen oxides in some major cities with a population of over 1 million is increasing exceeding the Class 2 standard by factor 2. Amongst 60 cities with reported monitoring data, total human exposure to ambient nitrogen oxides levels above the Class 2 level soared about 60 % between 1991 and 1998. Almost all of the increase happened in the 32 largest cities. Ambient levels of other pollutants namely carbon monoxide, ozone and lead are not scientifically controlled. Indoor air pollution is also a severe problem as approximately 80 % of China's people still uses solid fuel, namely coal, firewood and crop stalks for cooking and space heating. Burning this fuel in poorly ventilated households causes severe indoor air pollution. Acid Rain Human-induced acid rain deposit in China is mostly related with sulphur dioxide emissions emanating from burning coal with high sulphur content preponderates the fuel mix. China is ranked the world's three main acid rain regions after Europe and the North America. After a rapid increase in the areas influenced by acid rain pollution in the 1980's the conditions has stabilized in recent years. The severe acid rain pollution, which impacts 30 % of the country territory, takes place in some regions of central China, represented by cities namely Chansha, Zhuzhou, Ganzhou and Nanchang (SEPA, 2000)4. Impacts of Air Pollution Various Chinese cities have concentrations of fine particulates and SO2 that are the highest in the world. Founded on dose-response functions, it was projected by the World Bank that just about 178,000 fatalities annually or 7 % of all deaths in urban areas in China could be averted if air pollution were decreased to standard levels. As well, 346,000 hospitalizations annually were found linked with the extra levels of air pollution in urban areas. Main impacts of air pollution consist of respiratory infections, asthma and chronic bronchitis. The acute health impacts of indoor air pollution caused by combustion of coal have been recorded in several analyses in China. The deterioration of forests and crops, damage to buildings and fabrics are forms of acidification. In one of the study performed by the environmental authorities in 1994, the yearly economic loss from acid rain in China is about 14 billion Yuan that include loss of agriculture and forests products. Air pollution is also harming visibility in the cities through light scattering. In Beijing, partially as a result of complexities of fine particulate and the effect of photochemical smog, low air visibility is common in winter. In Guangzhou, visibility dropped from 30 km in 1960s to 18km in 1990s, and the annual sunshine time has also dropped by over 800 hr in the last 30 years. Nature and Land Land Degradation China's expansion and growth is having an important influence on its land systems. China is currently thought as one of the most critically eroded countries in the world. The Chinese Academy of Sciences predicts that in the early 1990s some 375 million hectares, or just about 40 % of the country, were influenced by modest to critical erosion and desertification. The biggest problems are water and wind erosion after salinity. As a result of over-intensified employment of marginal lands, wrong use of pesticides and fertilizers, and unsuitable irrigation methods, several agricultural environmental problems have taken place. China is facing a constant loss of cultivated area. The CAS has estimated that the total cultivated land area is reducing by more than 300,000 hectares annually. Desertification is taking place most clearly in the agro-pastoral zone in northern China. In this area, the most major provider to this development over the last half century was disproportionate land retrieval during the 1960s and 1970s, together with an extreme upsurge in cattle in the 1960s. Both were impacted by the government's push for food self-reliance. Normally, it seems that the desertification development all over the country has gradually deteriorated throughout the 1980s and possibly into the 1990s, in spite of government control efforts in the late 1980s and 1990s (World Bank, 2001)5. Forests Prior to 1998, China's forests supplied about 40 % of the country's rural energy, nearly all the panels and lumber for the construction industry, and raw material for the pulp and paper industry. China was the third largest user of timber in the world, and was already facing an enlarged disparity between supply and demand for wood products. Before 1990s the forestland area in China was 260 million hectares and the forest area was 130 million ha (SEPA, 2000)6. The per capita forest area was 0.11 h, about 17.2% of the world average figure. At the rate of extraction that spread over until 1998, the forest resources had less than 10 years of remaining life (World Bank, 2001)7. Yet these circumstances changed after the destructive floods in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and in northeast China in the summer of 1998, which many local ecological analysts claimed were resulted by at least to some extent by deforestation in the catchments of the rivers in these regions. Thus, the State Council forced a compulsory ban in 1998 on logging in natural forests. The opening of new lands to the detriment of forests was forbidden, all construction projects on forestland were halted for one year; and a new condition for direct cabinet approval for any job of forested land was embarked. Besides, a key new investment program (Natural Forest Protection Program-NFPP) was started to develop natural forest management, covering just about 95 million hectares of state-owned forests in 17 provinces. Lastly, a new land-use law was introduced to encourage more efficient use of land and improved afforestation (World Bank, 2001)8. The Cost of Pollution The social and economic costs of this ecological pollution are fairly lofty. The World Bank reckons that air and water pollution cost China US$54 billion annually that is about 8% of her Gross Domestic Product. The Bank further predicts that, annually, just the air pollution is above China's own air quality standards cause 6.8 million emergency room visits, 346,000 hospitalizations and 178,000 early deaths. As well, air pollution causes some 7.4 million work-years to be lost annually. The figures here are uniformly large that they become a bit stunning. Anyone who has ever been to China can confirm to the very real ways in which environmental pollution impacts the quality of lifestyle. Pollution has other economic hazards too. For instance, SO2 emissions have produced acid rain, with harmful effects on agriculture, forest ecology, in addition to human health. The World Bank estimates that acid rain brings about crop and forest losses of $5 billion annually. Of international apprehension is China's contribution to "global warming." Future Energy Consumption Trends China's sustained economic development will need ever increasing use of energy. The government in recent times restated its vigorous plans for national economic development. China's plan for the next half century is to double its GNP, and by 2050 to make per capita GDP "reach the level of intermediately developed countries. China's energy use still has much opportunity for development. In spite of fast escalation in energy use, China's per capita energy use remains well under much of the rest of the world. Per capita commercial energy use is only a tenth of the USA and below half of the world average. The vision of a China that use energy at the same pace as industrialized nations is rather alarming, in view of the levels of environmental degradation that already exist there. Environment Degradation in China: An Analysis China environment has become a major concern both nationally and globally. Air and water quality degradation, deforestation, and soil erosion are only a few matters on a long list of environmental challenges experiencing China these days. Economy (2004)9 reported China had most environmentally polluted cities in the world in 2000. The health damage and economic costs from air pollution is the most horrible in the world (Bolt, Dasgupta et al. 2001)10. China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) estimates that industrial pollution comprises over 70% of the national total. Thus, SEPA has announced control of industrial pollution to be a main concern for Chinese regulators. As regards environmental standards and regulations, China has a very centralized system. Nevertheless, as execution is concerned, local environmental protection bureaus (EPBs) are the main parties in charge for environmental protection in China. As a consequence of the lower EPBs within government hierarchy their decisions may be dominated by more prevailing government agencies for example industrial bureau. Weak institutional power of local EPBs and weak enforcement of environmental policies have been identified as major predicaments in realizing better performances (Qu, 199111; Sinkule and Ortolano, 199512; Dasgupta and Wheeler, 199713; Lieberthal, 3-814; Ma and Ortolano, 200015; Dobridge, Ying et al, 200116; Shapiro, 200117; Chen and Uitto, 67-8018; Hopkinson and Stern, 19-3619; Morgenstern, Anderson et al, 200220; Wang and Di, 451-46621; Economy, 200422; Morgenstern, Abeygunawardena et al, 2004)23. EPB executives make environmental regulatory assessments in their routine work. Intellectuals and the ordinary people similarly have seen pervasive administrative discretion by EPB officials. For instance, Wang et al. (2003:543-579)24 found the bargaining power of Chinese factories in enforcing pollutant discharge depends on nature of ownership, profitability, and public pressure. Wang and Wheeler (2003:451-466)25 studied the determinants of differences in execution of China's pollution levy system across metropolitan areas. They found efficient levy rates are responsive to local ambient quality, local frequency of pollution-related objections, factory productivity, ownership, production sales, and sector. Evidence of administrative discretion can also be found in the research by Wang et al. in 2002. They calculated townships' environmental performance by amount of township leaders' firm visits and if towns offer environmental services. Moreover they found their environmental performance is reliant upon upper level government environmental performance, GDP, percentage of adult population hired in industries, salaries of workers, public pressure, and environmental value (Wang and Di, 451-46626; Wang and Jin, 2002)27. In summary, given the serious environmental degradation, invasive administrative options of EPB executives, and weak implementation of environmental regulations in China, focus is needed to the institutional capacity of EPBs. Institutional capacity together with intention of EPB executives establishes the content, practicability, and outcomes of an environmental policy in implementation. Also the studies on assessment of institutional capacity of EPBs make possible constant effort towards better performance, advantageous policy outcomes and quality in environmental protection. Conclusion The problem is that China's remarkable development has come to the detriment of likewise stunning environmental degradation. Ever since the start of developments, the most frequently measured forms of environmental pollution have enlarged to critical levels. Bibliography Bolt, K., S. Dasgupta, et al. "Cleaning the Air in Developing Countries", 2001, Forum For Applied Research and Public Policy 16(3). CEA (Chinese Academy of Engineering). Comprehensive Report on Water Resources Strategy for China's Sustainable Development, 2000. Chen, S. and Uitto, J. I. "Governing Marine and Coastal Environment in China: Building Local Government Capacity Through International Cooperation"2002:67-80, China Environment Series (6). Dasgupta, S. and D. Wheeler Citizen Complaints as Environmental Indicators: Evidence from China, 1997, Policy Research Working Paper 1704, Washington D.C., The World Bank. Dobridge, C. L., T. P. Ying, et al. Background Paper Emissions Trading in China: Opportunities and Constraints, 2001, Hong Kong, Civic Exchange. Economy, E. The river runs black: the environmental challenge to China's future, 2004, Ithaca, Cornell University Press. Hopkinson, L. and R. Stern "One Country, Two Systems, One Smog Cross-Boundary Air Pollution Policy Challenges for Hong Kong and Guangdong"2002:19-36, China Environment Series (6). Lieberthal, K. "China's Governing System and Its Impact on Environmental Policy Implementation." 1997:3-8, China Environment Series (1). Ma, X. and L. Ortolano Environmental regulation in China : institutions, enforcement, and compliance, 2000, Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield. Morgenstern, R., R. Anderson, et al. "Demonstrating Emissions Trading in Taiyuan, China" 2002. Morgenstern, R. D., P. Abeygunawardena, et al. "Emissions Trading to Improve Air Quality in an Industrial City in the People's Republic of China" 2004, RFF Discussion Paper (04-16). NEPA. National Environmental Quality Report, 1991-1995, 1996. Qu, G. Environmental Management in China, 1991, Beijing, United Nations Environment Programme and China Environmental Science Press. SEPA. State of Environment in China, 2000. Shapiro, J. Mao's war against nature : politics and the environment in Revolutionary China, 2001, Cambridge; New York, Cambridge University Press. Sinkule, B.J. and Ortolano, L. Implementing Environmental Policy in China, 1995, Westport, CT: Praeger. UNDP, UNEP, WRI, and World Bank. 1998-1999 World Resources: A Guide to the Global Environment, 1998. Wang, H. and Di, W. The Determinants of Government Environmental Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Townships, 2002, Policy Research Working Paper, Washington, D.C., The World Bank. Wang, H. and Jin, Y. Industrial Ownership and Environmental Performance: Evidence from China. Policy Research Working Paper, 2002, Washington, D.C., The World Bank. Wang, H. and Wheeler, D. "Equilibrium Pollution and Economic Development in China"2003:451-466, Environment and Development Economics (8). Wang, Y., Morgan, R. and Cashmore, M. Environmental impact assessment of projects in the People's Republic of China: New law, old problems, 2003: 543-579, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Vol. 23 (5). World Bank. China: Air, Land, and Water: Environmental Priorities for a New Millennium, 2001. Zhu B. More penalties to Curb Acid Rain, 1995, in China Daily. Appendix Table 1: Income Lost as a Result of Deforestation (Prof. Wang) Effects of Deforestation 1992 Yuan (billions) Reduced Precipitation 81.00 Reduced Lumber Output 19.40 Desertification 18.81 Lost Water Run-off 66.70 Loss of Plant Nutrients to Erosion 41.00 Reservoir and Lake Sedimentation 0.80 Siltation of Previously Navigable Rivers 4.10 Property Loss Resulting from Flooding 13.40 Total 245.20 Table 2: Income Lost as a Result of Pollution (Mr. Xia) Water Pollution 1992 Yuan (billions) Impact on Human Health as a Result of Contaminated Food 2.41 as a Result of Contaminated Drinking Water 16.87 Impact on Industrial Output 13.78 Impact on Crop Yields 1.38 Impact on Livestock and Fisheries 1.16 Air Pollution Impact on Human Health 20.16 Impact on Agricultural Production 7.20 Impact on Materials 16.53 Acid Rain 14.00 Solid Waste Pollution Solid Waste 5.12 Total 98.61 Table 3: Income Lost as a Result of Natural Resource Degradation (Prof. Ning) Arable Land 1992 Yuan (billions) Impact of Farmland Conversion 0.35 Impact of Soil Erosion 16.20 Impact on Reservoir Capacity and Waterways 3.8 Impact of Increased Soil Salinity 0.54 Desertification Impact on Availability of Arable Land 1.80 Impact on Agricultural Land Quality 12.00 Impact on Infrastructure 1.00 Rangeland Impact on Animal Husbandry 3.00 Impact on Quality of Forage 0.20 Total 38.80 Table 4: Total Income Lost as a Result of Environmental Degradation Income Lost as a Result of Deforestation 245.20 Income Lost as a Result of Pollution 98.61 Income Lost as a Result of Natural Resource Degradation 38.80 Total in 1992 Yuan (billions) 382.61 Read More