Environmental issues in China
[1] The Chinese government has acknowledged the problems and made various responses, resulting in some improvements, but western media has criticized the actions as inadequate.
[5] Since the 2010s, the government has given greater attention to environmental protection through policy actions such as the signing of the Paris climate accord, the 13th Five-Year Plan and the 2015 Environmental Protection Law reform [6] From 2006 to 2017, sulphur dioxide levels in China were reduced by 70 percent,[7] and air pollution has decreased from 2013 to 2018[7] In 2017, investments in renewable energy amounted to US$279.8 billion worldwide, with China accounting for US$126.6 billion or 45% of the global investments.
China has signed, but not ratified, the Kyoto Protocol (but is not yet required to reduce its carbon emission under the agreement, as is India) and the Nuclear Test Ban treaty.
China has responded by measures such as rapidly building out the water infrastructure and increased regulation as well as exploring a number of further technological solutions.
However, the UNEP also estimates that 36% of China's closed forests are facing pressure from high population densities, making preservation efforts especially important.
These major landslides included two incidents in May 2009 when somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 cubic metres (26,000 and 65,000 cu yd) of material plunged into the flooded Wuxia Gorge of the Wu River.
[24] Loss of natural coastal habitats due to land reclamation has resulted in the destruction of more than 65% of tidal wetlands around China's Yellow Sea coastline in approximately 50 years.
[29] In Inner Mongolia, to mitigate the financial impact on families from desertification, women are taught traditional embroidery techniques which they then use to create additional income.
As of 2013 Beijing, which lies in a topographic bowl, has significant industry, and heats with coal, is subject to air inversions resulting in extremely high levels of pollution in winter months.
[37] In response to an increasingly problematic air pollution problem, the Chinese government announced a five-year, US$277 billion plan to address the issue.
Northern China will receive particular attention, as the government aims to reduce air emissions by 25 percent by 2017, compared with 2012 levels, in those areas where pollution is especially serious.
“Because coal is the primary fuel used to power China’s industrial sector, it is responsible for about 40 percent of the deadly fine particulate matter found in China’s atmosphere.” [39] In January 2013, fine airborne particulates that pose the largest health risks, rose as high as 993 micrograms per cubic meter in Beijing, compared with World Health Organization guidelines of no more than 25.
[45] In her 2004 book The River Runs Black, she wrote, "China's spectacular economic growth over the past two decades has dramatically depleted the country's natural resources and produced skyrocketing rates of pollution.
[47] According to a 2005-2006 survey by Peter J. Li, many farming methods that the European Union is trying to reduce or eliminate were commonplace in China, including gestation crates, battery cages, foie gras, early weaning of cows, and clipping of ears/beaks/tails.
He also mentioned that China is the biggest fur-producing nation, and — while the government had been trying to standardize slaughtering procedures — there were cases where fur animals have been skinned alive or beaten to deaths with sticks.
[49][50][51] In 2012, over 70 Chinese celebrities took part in a petition against an IPO application by Fujian Guizhentang Pharmaceutical Co. due to the company's selling of bear-bile medicines.
[28] Some natural disasters in China are "closely related to human environmental impacts", especially: dust storms, landslides, droughts and floods.
[59] After the 2007 address, polluting industries continued to receive inexpensive access to land, water, electricity, oil, and bank loans, while market-oriented measures, such as surcharges on fuel and coal, were not considered by the government despite their proven success in other countries.
project, whereby China's gross domestic product was adjusted to compensate for negative environmental effects; however, the program lost official influence in spring 2007 due to the confronting nature of the data.
The project's lead researcher claimed that provincial leaders terminated the program, stating "Officials do not like to be lined up and told how they are not meeting the leadership’s goals ...
[60] In March 2014, CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping "declared war" on pollution during the opening of the National People's Congress.
[61] Lawmaker Xin Chunying called the law "a heavy blow [in the fight against] our country's harsh environmental realities, and an important systemic construct".
[65] During COP26 the United States and China agreed on a framework to reduce GHG emission by co-operating on different measures, including lowering the use of methane, phasing down the use of coal and increasing protection of forests.
China has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but as a non-Annex I country was not required to limit greenhouse gas emissions under terms of the agreement.
In September 2020, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping announced that China will "strengthen its 2030 climate target (NDC), peak emissions before 2030 and aim to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060".
[100] In 2006, Zhou Ping of the National People's Congress introduced the first nationwide animal-protection law in China, but it didn't move forward.
[99] In 2016, the Chinese government adopted a plan to reduce China's meat consumption by 50%, for achieving more sustainable and healthy food system.
[109] The world and scholars all over have been interested in ENGOs given their existence in an authoritarian state and position that some expect will “counterbalance environment-unfriendly economic forces”.
This happened during the 2005 Huashui protest targeting factory pollution that took place in Zhejiang Province where organizers framed the issue as illegal land acquisition.
[121] Shifting blame away from the government, “reduced the chance of activists’ protest being repressed.”[121] Being aware of possible repression is important when engaging in any kind of action in China.
