Old habits blamed for China's poor ecology

The deteriorating situation is due to citizens' widespread disregardfor environmental protection

By David Hsieh
STRAITS TIMES CHINA BUREAU

BEIJING - China's ecology is deteriorating, not because of a lack of effort by the government to stop it, but because of die-hard practices and the enormity of the pollution problem.

Mr Xie Zhenhua, Minister of State for the Environmental Protection Administration (Sepa), said yesterday that the quantity of pollutants being discharged in China was still very high and that all its environmental projects could only make incremental gains.

Still, the total emissions and discharges had been cut down, he said.

But what irked him most was the widespread disregard for environmental protection among the people.

To uplift public consciousness on the topic, Sepa, with the help of other government departments, yesterday opened an exhibition at Beijing's Military Museum to showcase China's deplorable environmental situation.

Yesterday, in conjunction with the World Environment Day, he officiated at the release of a report on China's environment last year.

At the press conference, Mr Xie, underscoring China's environmental woes, said: 'Despite efforts over the last five years, we still have a serious situation.'

He said that one major problem faced by his office this year was the resurgence of pollutions discharged by small paper and cement plants, some of which were shut down last year.

Also, through undercover investigations, his department found that 15 to 20 per cent of medium and large companies were generating pollutants beyond stipulated limits this year as they increased production.

To combat the trend, Sepa has set up an inter-ministerial task force.

In Shanxi province, for example, 76 people have already been charged with spawning illegal discharges, including government department heads and senior executives of state companies.

Sepa has even set up a whistle-blower reward system in eastern China and a website to monitor and deter the worst polluters.

But Mr Xie admitted that lax enforcement of the law, corruption and power abuse were problems.