A senior official said in Beijing Friday that the emission of major
pollutants has dropped sharply over the past five years despite a
high average economic growth rate of 7.7 percent.
Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental Protection
Administration, told a news conference that the overall quality of
water and atmosphere environment has remained stable, the
environment of some cities and areas has been improved, the
protection of biological environment has been reinforced and
nuclear and radiation safety has been secured.
Statistics show that compared with 1998, the emission of sulfur
dioxide and chemical oxygen demand both dropped 10.3 percent in
2002, while the discharge of solid industrial waste was down by
58.9 percent.
He
said that the World Bank has estimated that in the past 10 years,
China contributed half of the world's total decreased waste that
may cause damage to the ozone layer.
Nonetheless, he said, China still faces a severe environment
situation as its total emission of waste is still far too much for
the environment to bear.
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2003)
|
