China has been taking relevant steps to ensure that pollution in the country’s skies are reduced to the minimum.
This has led the government taking drastic steps to making its air space clean.
Once regarded as one of the world’s worst-polluted cities, China’s steel making hub of Tangshan now frequently experiences blue skies.
The Chinese government’s declaration of “war on pollution” has resulted in the closure of many of the smog-prone city’s steel mills, but for some, the experience hasn’t been so rosy.
Despite the efforts by local governments across Northern Hebei province to curb slowing heavy industries over the past few years, the government’s pollution battle appears far from over.
Beijing-based Greenpeace campaigner Huang Wei said local governments need to restructure their economies, otherwise the current measures will grow “less and less effective”.
Huang Wei said;
“Going forward, as the authorities’ management of these industrial polluters in Hebei province becomes less and less effective, if they want to get better results at controlling emissions, they still need to continue to restructure the economy so that this region really can achieve blue skies.”
While the government has set more pragmatic targets based on actual economic conditions, Liu Youbin, a spokesman for the environmental ministry, said it is “one-sided” and “inaccurate” to say China will relax pollution-cutting measures.
“So we think that the view that this year’s target has eased our enhancement of pollution prevention measures is one-sided, inaccurate, and a misinterpretation of our set goals. Some comrades worry whether we would ease the intensity of our pollution controls for some external reasons, which in turn would lead to an increased number of smoggy days, and worsening pollution, we believe that this kind of worry is unnecessary.”
In Bejiing, the number of smoggy days has been dropping, While some residents say authorities aren’t doing enough, others question whether the push for bluer skies is really worth it.
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