Speech at the News Conference in the State Council Information Office
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Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning！I am very happy to meet our friends in media today. The news conference today mainly makes public the state of the environment of China in 2009. Relevant information has been distributed to you. For more detailed information, please refer to the 2009 Report on the State of the Environment of China. Now I would like give a brief introduction.
The annual average concentration of permanganate value of surface water sections under national monitoring program in 2009 was 5.1mg/l, down by 10.5% compared with that of 2008 and 29.2% compared with that of 2005. The annual average of urban air SO2 concentration was 0.035 mg/m3, meeting Grade II national air quality standard, same as that of 2008 and down by 16.7% compared with that of 2005. However, we clearly see that environmental situation in China is still grave with arduous task in environmental protection. It is reflected by the followings: 1) relatively heavy pollution of surface water across China; 2) coastal marine waters under light pollution; 3) acid rain pollution in some cities still relatively heavy; 4) relatively heavy road noise pollution during night; 5) rural environmental problems become increasingly pre-eminent.
Some environmental quality indicators enjoyed continuous improvement in 2009 with deepening of pollution prevention and control, gradual enhancement of ecological conservation and nuclear and radiation safety under effective control, which is mainly attribute to great progress of environmental protection.
First, the comprehensive role of environmental protection in optimizing economic growth has been brought into full play. Last year, Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) approved the environment impact statements of 400 construction projects with total investment of 2.7 trillion Yuan RMB. MEP has rejected, returned or tentatively suspended the approval of the environment impact statement of 49 construction project with total investment of 190.5 billion Yuan. It has facilitated environment impact assessment of plans and taken environment impact assessment of regional plans as the pre-condition for accepting and reviewing environment impact statement of projects with high energy consumption and heavy pollution within the administrative region. MEP has carried out special law enforcement campaigns in industries with heavy pollution, investigated and sanctioned 1824 projects beginning construction without approval, 3167 projects not meeting the requirement for “three synchronizations” and urged them to make corrections within a given period of time.
Second, the achievements of pollution reduction are better than our expectation. In 2008, there were increase of 13.30 million t/d in sewage treatment capacity and 102 million kW of coal-fueled power generating units with desulphurization facilities. COD discharge and SO2 emission in China went down by 9.66% and 13.14% compared with that of 2005. The SO2 emission reduction target of the “11th Five-Year Plan” was met one year ahead of schedule. And it is expected that COD reduction target will be met according to the plan.
Third, new progress in the prevention and control of water pollution in major river basins and regions. The General Office of the State Council has distributed the Provisional Measures on Examination of the Implementation of Special Plan for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution of Key River Basins. The system of examination of water quality of trans-provincial boundary sections in key river basins has been established and become an important tool for prevention and control of water pollution of key river basins. By the end of 2009, 1762 of 2714 pollution control projects identified in the “11th Five-Year Plan” had been finished accounting for 64.9％. The total planned investment were 169.1 billion Yuan, 98.74 billion Yuan were actually in place, taking up 58.4%. Among 156 water sections under national water quality monitoring program, 125 sections met national surface water quality standard, accounting for 80.1%. Eco security assessment of nine big lakes and reservoirs has been finished with collection of 820,000 pieces of data. More than 4000 urban collective drinking water sources were under environmental management. The authority carried out activities to ensure good air quality for Shanghai Expo and the forthcoming Asian Games in Guangzhou and has made overall arrangements for joint prevention and control of pollution in the Yangtze River delta and Pearl River delta regions.
Fourth, some striking environmental problems affecting public life have been addressed. Last year, MEP and nine departments of the State Council carried out special inspection on enterprises with heavy metal pollution with 9123 enterprises checked, 2183 with environmental infringements sanctioned, 231 banned or shut down and 641 stopped operation to make correction. MEP and eight departments including National Development and Reform Commission have conducted 2009 national environmental protection special campaigns on correcting enterprises that discharge pollutants against the law and safeguarding public health. A total of 2.42 million person•times of environmental law enforcement workers have been mobilized with over 980,000 enterprise•times under inspection, more than 10,000 environmental infringements investigated and sanctioned, 2587 cases in name list under supervision and the responsibilities of 119 people responsible invested. In addition, MEP carried out follow-up supervision on drinking water source protected areas. As a result, 3177 drinking water source areas were checked, 831 enterprises were banned and shut down, 220 direct pollutant outlets were removed and 780 illegal structures have been demolished.
Fifth, wide implementation of rural environmental protection activities facilitated by the “employing award to facilitate pollution control” policy. With the establishment of special fund for rural environmental protection, the central government invested 1.5 billion Yuan to support comprehensive environmental control and eco demonstration work of 2160 villages, driving 2.5 billion Yuan local investment with 13 million farmers enjoying direct benefits. 30 provinces (autonomous regions or municipalities) have finished data collection and primary review in terms of national soil pollution survey.
Sixth, fruitful achievements in the three fundamental and strategic projects. The first national census on pollution sources has been completed with flying colors with mobilization of over 570,000 people and 5.92 million targets of four categories such as industrial sources, agricultural sources, domestic sources and collective pollution control facilities investigated, which fully understands basic situation of discharge of pollution sources in China. The Study on Macro Strategy for Environment of China has finished the scheduled tasks and obtained a series of important achievements including comprehensive report on strategic study and topic reports. It has put forward key subjects like exploration of new path to environmental protection with Chinese characteristics. The special research on control of pollution of water systems in China has entered the stage of comprehensive implementation with completion of registration and review of all projects and subjects. A total of 230 research projects in 32 programs have been launched, taking up 96.6% of the total projects that should be launched during the “11th Five-Year Plan” period.
Seventh, new breakthrough in implementing environmental protection plan and capacity building. The implementation of National Plan for Environmental Protection during the “11th Five-Years” met the schedule for the first time with some target meeting the requirement ahead of schedule. It is expected that main planned targets will be met according to the plan and the “11th Five-Years Plan” be one of the plans with good implementation up to know. The accumulated funds for the development of the “three key systems” for statistics, monitoring and examination of pollution reduction has reached 6.06 billion Yuan since 2007. As a result, 110501 sets of monitoring & law enforcement equipment, 6114 vehicles (ships or boats), 31,668 sets of information equipment have been equipped with across China. A total of 306 pollution source monitoring centers have been established with more than 12,000 enterprises under automatic monitoring.
This year, under wise leadership of the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council and focusing on the exploration of new path to environmental protection with Chinese characteristics, MEP will address pre-eminent environmental problems threatening public health and do well the main work in the following six areas. First, do well our work in pollution reduction and strive for greater achievements in pollution reduction based on meeting the scheduled targets; second, accelerate shift of economic growth mode and adjustment of economic structure with such measures as strengthened environment impact assessment and improvement of environmental standards; third, make more efforts in supervision on environmental law enforcement, emergency response management and supervision on nuclear safety and address pre-eminent environmental problems like heavy metal pollution that threaten public health; fourth, carry out examination on the implementation of special plans and joint prevention and control of pollution at regional level, facilitate prevention and control of water pollution in key river basins and regions; fifth, further implement “employing award to facilitate pollution control” policy and facilitate environmental protection and ecological conservation in rural areas; sixth, fully absorb the findings of national census on pollution sources and the study on macro strategy for environment of China, and promote the development of China National Environmental Protection Plan in the “12th Five-Years” in an all round way.
Next, I am happy to answer you questions.
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