Chinese Premier Warns of Environmental Toll

Chinese Premier Warns of Environmental Toll

Planet Ark (Reuters) - http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=36051

20th April 2006

BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said the dust storms that whipped Beijing and northern China this week were a sharp reminder of the severity of the country's environmental problems.

Wen told an environmental meeting in Beijing that China needed to intensify efforts to rein in pollution and environmental destruction, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"The succession of dust storms is a warning to us," it quoted Wen as saying on Monday. "Ecological destruction and environmental pollution are creating massive economic losses and gravely threatening people's lives and health."

Conservation group WWF warned that China was doing enormous damage to its environment for the sake of economic growth.

"China is still a developing country and the model of economic development is not sustainable," Peng Lei, WWF policy officer in China, told a news conference on Wednesday. "We are sacrificing the environment for the fast growth of the economy."

WWF said Asia-Pacific population of more than 3 billion was using resources at almost double the rate the region was able to support, and called on China to do more to lessen its impact on the environment.

"China is very important, as it is one of the global manufacturing houses of the world," added Dermot O'Gorman, WWF's chief representative in China.

A sand storm struck the Chinese capital on Monday covering homes, streets and cars in brown dust and leaving the skies murky yellow as northern China suffered the worst pollution in years.

The Chinese Central Meteorological Station estimated that the storms had enveloped one eighth of the country over recent days.

Two workers died several days ago in ferocious storms in the western province of Gansu, Xinhua said.

Strong winds overnight cleared away the dust over Beijing which is trying to clean up its environment as it prepares to host the 2008 Olympics.

But so far this year the city has recorded 56 days with blue skies -- 16 fewer than for the same time last year, Xinhua reported.

Wen said that China has met its economic targets for previous years but fallen short of pollution control goals. In 2005 the country's sulphur dioxide emissions were 27 percent higher than 2000 levels, although the government had set a goal of reducing emissions by 10 percent over that time, he said.

Wen ordered local governments to release information about energy use and pollution output every six months.

An editorial in the People's Daily -- the ruling Communist Party's chief newspaper -- on Wednesday said that despite improvement in some cities, the nation's environmental degradation "remains extremely severe."

"Problems built up over a long time have not been resolved, new ones are emerging, and environmental pollution is dramatically increasing," it said.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Reuters Television)