The Standard: Disaster warning as pollution levels soar

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Disaster warning as pollution levels soar

June 20, 2005

Residents in Zhangjiakou city, Hebei province, are faced with a bleak scene as they walk to the county's power plant Sunday. Pan Yue, a top mainland environmental official, called at the weekend for 'green' growth to prevent ecological disaster. AFP

A top mainland environmental official has questioned whether China should embrace being the "factory to the world'' and called for "green'' growth to prevent ecological disaster, according to state media.

State Environmental Protection Administration deputy director Pan Yue said the mainland "has paid a high environmental price'' for 20 years of rapid economic development, Xinhua News Agency said Sunday.

With the economy expected to quadruple by 2020, China faces an ``environmental crisis'' coupled with social problems unless it corrects its practice of developing first and cleaning up later, he warned.

Speaking at an environmental forum Saturday, Pan warned that at the current pace of industrialization, the mainland will suffer from heavily polluted air and water as well as a depletion of its natural resources.

"The pollution load of China will quadruple in 2020, when the country's GDP quadruples, if the pace of pollution remains unchanged,'' he said.

By then, the mainland would only have reserves of six major mineral resources out of the current 45, according to Pan.

The level of pollution the mainland is experiencing now is far worse than that which developed countries went through when they were at a similar stage of industrial development, he said.

Serious pollution is occurring now in China, where per-capita GDP lingers between US$400 and US$1,000 (HK$3,120 and HK$7,800), whereas it only emerged in Western countries when per-capita GDP reached US$3,000 to US$10,000, said Pan.

In his blunt warning, he questioned whether China should be proud that it has become factory to the world.

As the world's biggest manufacturer, the population giant is using up its resources and polluting its environment to produce goods for countries all across the globe, said Pan.

The mainland ranks first in water consumption and sewage discharges, and second in energy consumption and carbon dioxide discharges, said the news agency.

Its total energy consumption is seven times that of Japan, six times that of the United States and 2.8 times that of India.

Wasteful and damaging development is also leading to a depletion of habitable land.

Since 1949, land suitable for people to live on has shrunk from six million square kilometers to three million square kilometers now, due to serious soil erosion, said Pan. He blasted the commonly accepted strategy of China ``developing first and preventing and controlling pollution later'' as ``absolutely wrong.''

The mainland, he also declared, should instead immediately embark on ``green growth.''AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE