China Environ Prot (EP) Industry, Technology, Solid Waste Mgt, Liquid Treat: News & Discussions

[JSCh]

A clearer path to clean air in China | Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Formaldehyde – not sulfur dioxide — may be the key to China’s stubborn problem of wintertime air pollution

By Leah Burrows
October 18, 2018

For more than 15 years, the Chinese government has invested billions of dollars to clean up its deadly air pollution, focusing intensely on reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal-burning power plants.

These efforts have succeeded in reducing sulfur dioxide emissions, but extreme pollution events are still a regular wintertime occurrence and experts estimate that more than 1 million people die per year in China from particulate air pollution.

New research from Harvard may explain why. It shows that a key to reducing extreme wintertime air pollution may be reducing formaldehyde emissions rather than sulfur dioxide.

The research is published in Geophysical Research Letters.

“We show that policies aimed at reducing formaldehyde emissions may be much more effective at reducing extreme wintertime haze than policies aimed at reducing only sulfur dioxide,” said Jonathan M. Moch, a graduate student at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences(SEAS) and first author of the paper. “Our research points towards ways that can more quickly clean up air pollution. It could help save millions of lives and guide billions of dollars of investment in air pollution reductions.”

Moch is also an affiliate of Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

This research was a collaboration between Harvard University, Tsinghua University, and the Harbin Institute of Technology.

Measurements in Beijing from days with especially high particulate air pollution, known as PM2.5, have shown a large enhancement in sulfur compounds, which have been typically interpreted as sulfate. Based on these measurements, the Chinese government has focused on reducing sulfur dioxide (SO2 ), the source of sulfate, as a means to reduce air pollution. As a result of these efforts, SO2 over eastern China has decreased significantly since 2005. The problem is, particulate air pollution hasn’t followed the same path.

Moch collaborated with SEAS graduate student Eleni Dovrou and Frank Keutsch, Stonington Professor of Engineering and Atmospheric Science and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. They found that the instruments used to analyze haze particles can easily misinterpret sulfur compounds as sulfate when they are, in fact, a molecule called hydroxymethane sulfonate (HMS). HMS is formed by the reaction of SO2 with formaldehyde in clouds or fog droplets.

Using a computer simulation, the researchers demonstrated that HMS molecules may constitute a large portion of the sulfur compounds observed in PM2.5 in winter haze, which would help explain the persistence of extreme air pollution events despite the reduction of SO2.

“By including this overlooked chemistry in air quality models, we can explain why the number of wintertime extremely polluted days in Beijing did not improve between 2013 and January 2017 despite major success in reducing sulfur dioxide,” said Moch. “The sulfur-formaldehyde mechanism can also explain why polices seemed to suddenly reduce extreme pollution last winter. During that winter, significant restrictions on SO2 emissions brought concentrations below levels of formaldehyde for the first time, and made SO2 the limiting factor for HMS production.”

The primary sources of formaldehyde emissions in eastern China are vehicles and major industrial facilities such as chemical and oil refineries. The researchers recommend that policymakers focus efforts on reducing emissions from these sources to reduce extreme haze in the Beijing area.

Next, the team aims to directly measure and quantify HMS in Beijing haze using modified observation systems. The team will also implement the sulfur-formaldehyde chemistry within an atmospheric chemistry model to quantify the potential importance of the sulfur-formaldehyde chemistry that creates HMS across all of China.

“Our work suggests a key role for this overlooked chemical pathway during episodes of extreme pollution in Beijing,” said Loretta J. Mickley, Senior Research Fellow in SEAS.

This research was co-authored by J. William Munger, Senior Research Fellow in Atmospheric Chemistry, and Daniel J. Jacob, Vasco McCoy Family Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Engineering at SEAS. It was also co-authored by Yuan Cheng, Jingkun Jiang, Meng Li, Xiaohui Qiao and Qiang Zhang.

The work was funded by an award to the Harvard-China Project from the Harvard Global Institute, by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and by the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation.

 

[TaiShang]

China claims world's planted forest record

China Plus Published: 2018-10-22


The size of planted forest in China has reached 69.93 million hectares which is the world's largest, claims the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Based on its most recent national forest resources survey, the forest coverage rate in China reached 21.66 percent as of the end of 2013, making China the country with the most rapid growth rate of forest resources in the world.

Photo taken on October 21, 2018 shows the planted forests on the Pofeng Ridge in Beijing's Fangshan District. The Pofeng Ridge, which was famous for the exploitation of limestone for the production of cement, has been turned into a tourism resort following reforestation. [Photo: IC]

Xiao Wenfa, vice dean of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, says China has made significant progress in replenishing forest lands over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up.

A series of projects are being carried out in China, including the Fast-Growing Forests Base in south China, Three-North Shelter Forest Program and the Shelter Forest along the Yangtze River. Chinese authorities claim the Saihanba National Forest Park, covering an area of nearly 75,000 hectares in Hebei Province, is currently the world's largest planted forest.

Chinese forestry officials say planted forests play a significant role in China's wood resources. Between 2009 and 2013, over 85 percent of the wood supplies harvested in China came from the planted forests.

The release of the information comes ahead of the 4th International Congress on Planted Forests, which is being held in Beijing on October 23-27.

http://chinaplus.cri.cn/news/china/9/20181022/199253.html

@+4vsgorillas-Apebane

 

[JSCh]

Across China: Canadian designer turns ocean waste into profits for villagers
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-23 13:58:54|Editor: mym


SANYA, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- At first, villagers thought Craig Anderson was strange. He had long hair, a foreign face, and collected garbage as his hobby. Over time, they became friends; and now, he is helping the villagers make extra money with his hobby.

In February, Anderson, a Canadian, moved to the West Island with around 4,000 people in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province.

Locals thought he was a scavenger when he first arrived, as almost every day he wandered around the beach, picking up driftwood, plastic bottles, shattered glasses, and rusty pieces of iron.

"When I arrived as a foreigner, they were a little bit unsure (why I was here)," said Anderson, "After several months and meeting a lot of the locals, they invited and accepted me into the community."

The locals also learned he is a designer who uses recycled materials to make artwork.

Anderson has been living in Asia for 25 years. He loves scuba diving, which he says has helped him understand that the world underwater is much more fragile than the one above.

"Any little change in the environment can greatly affect the underwater environment," Anderson said, "I love the ocean, and I want to protect it."

In his studio, he has mobile phone stands made from driftwood, curtains made from a fishing net, slippers made from an old tire, and paintings made using scrap metal and broken bricks.

Sanya has banned inshore fishing to protect the environment. As part of efforts to help the fishermen on the West Island, the local government invited Anderson to train them in making artwork from recycled materials and sell them as souvenirs to tourists.

The first product they worked on was a hat made with coconut leaves, making use of the coconut trees seen everywhere on the island and combining the popular local hat design.

"It is sustainable material," Anderson said, "we only use two branches from the large trees and one from the small, so the tree can regenerate and grow."

Zhou Guanggu, 48, and one of Anderson's students, said she can make seven to eight such hats each day. "I've sold 38 hats that I made in my spare time and made more than 700 yuan (around 100 U.S. dollars)."

Anderson is also planning to teach the former fishermen to reuse the fishing accessories they have cast aside for making bags or other typical tropical island items like hammocks.

Anderson's first class had about 30 villagers. "The class got bigger and bigger as we went along, they were very eager and enthusiastic," he said.

Zhou said she has also signed her niece up for the class.

With the support of the local government, Anderson is also setting up a recycling center to address waste management problems on the island and motivate the locals to change their habits of waste disposal.

"I think we need to get people enthusiastic, to clean up the environment and be more conscious about what they do with their garbage," he said.

Locals can bring recycled materials to the center to receive credits that can be exchanged for gifts in the future. Those who have participated in learning how to reuse the materials can also receive credits.

"As time goes on, we can reach more people and groups, and progress more," Anderson said, "Once we officially get the recycling center open, they will realize there is a place they can take their garbage to do something good."

 

[JSCh]

China to deepen environmental protection reform
By Liu Yang, Bao Hongwei
2018-10-31 22:31 GMT+8

While China's clean energy usage continues to grow, the nation is still fighting with pollutions, due to a heavy reliance on coal and fossil fuels. Now, China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) is rolling out new measures to purify air quality and better protect other aspects of the environment, with an aim to deepening environmental protection reform and promoting cooperation on climate change.

The ministry announced the measures will deepen environmental protection reform, strengthen the supervision of ecological and environmental law enforcement and enhance the capability of construction in the carbon market.

"The goal is to cut heavy pollution days by three percent in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta region. Targets are set based on China's current industrial structure, energy structure, and current progress in air quality improvement," said Liu Youbin, a spokesperson of MEE. "It's not easy to accomplish the goal. It will take tremendous efforts to win the battle.”

Liu Youbin, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment /CGTN Photo

Researchers attribute China's emissions reduction to changes in the industrial structure, a decline in the share of coal used for energy, and decreasing energy usage. Experts also found that China's emissions peaked in 2013, then declined by 4.2 percent in the following three years. According to analysts, carbon levels fell by 46 percent from 2005 to last year. The figures show the government is on target to meet its 50 percent goal by 2020, reversing rapid growth in carbon emissions.

At the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to further strengthen South-South Cooperation on climate change.

Currently, 29 developing countries are using energy saving mechanisms, like solar power and photovoltaic power generation systems. Regarding this year's Climate Change Conference, Li Gao, director of the Department of Climate Change, said the issue of funding has always been at the core of negotiations.

“For China, we look forward to working with all parties to promote the success of the conference. One sign of the success is the completion of negotiations on the Paris Agreement, which can be implemented after 2020. We will comply with the relevant provisions of the Paris Agreement.”

Li added that experts must recognize the vast differences between developing nations and developed ones, which will impact implementation details. Experts said changes in industrial activities, coal use and energy efficiency are rooted in the changing structure of China's economy and long-term government policies.

 

[TaiShang]

Nov 02, 2018 06:05 PM

China Isn't Relaxing Its War on Smog, Environment Ministry Says

By Zhou Tailai and Ren Qiuyu


Last month, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) announced that it had revised the pollution reduction targets for the Oct. 1 to March 30 period to 3%, down from 5% in draft plans released earlier this year. This is typically the smoggiest time of year. On Wednesday, MEE spokesman Liu Youbin denied media reports that the lower target reflected a relaxation in China’s fight against air pollution, saying that they were a “misunderstanding.”

Liu said that last year, the reduction target was met due to hard work and help from the weather. According to experts’ estimates, Liu said, favorable weather conditions accounted for about one third of the overall drop in PM2.5, or about 8.5% of the 25% target. “Under normal weather conditions, we must ensure that the air quality does not deteriorate year-on-year,” he said. Greenpeace analysts told Caixin that good weather could have accounted for as much as half of the improvement seen last year.

Air pollution is measured by the concentration of PM2.5, hazardous particulate matter under 2.5 micrometers per cubic meter. Major causes of PM2.5 include burning coal, emissions from heavy industry, and emissions from cars and trucks. Last year, the government banned the use of coal to heat homes in 28 cities in northern China and imposed strict production caps in order to curb air pollution.

After the announcement, some media outlets suggested that the target may have been revised, which Liu denied. Citing weather forecasts that indicate conditions may not be as favorable this winter, Liu said that “the task of hitting the 3% improvement target this autumn and winter will still be rather arduous.”

“While the regional air quality has significantly improved, the space for emissions reduction has narrowed,” Liu said, adding that optimizing infrastructure in industry, transportation, and land use is a long-term project in which results do not come overnight. “In the future it will be increasingly difficult to reduce one microgram,” he said.

On Monday, the MEE announced that a further 11 cities in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces would be required to switch from coal to natural gas for household heating supply, in addition to the 28 cities required to make the switch last year. The MEE also set a PM2.5 concentration reduction target at 4% for the October to March period for the 11 cities, which are known for their coal, coke and steel industries – and poor air quality.

The MEE’s plan also required heavy industry to implement production restrictions during the period or risk getting shut down. Unlike previous years, this year individual cities are expected to set their own production restrictions in order to meet reduction targets, rather than blanket bans set by the central government.

https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-1...smog-environment-ministry-says-101342153.html

 

[JSCh]

West needs new tech as more nations reject being dump sites
By Zhang Hui Source:Global Times Published: 2018/11/22 22:13:40

West needs tech as more nations reject being dump sites

The kilotons-scale demonstration plant for waste PET degradation Photo: courtesy of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Western nations, who are scrabbling for a way to handle their solid waste, especially plastic waste, since China refused to be their dumping ground in early 2018, can turn to the nation again for new technology in plastic waste recycling.

Scientists from Beijing Key Laboratory of Ionic Liquids and Clean Process at the Institute of Process Engineering of Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by director of the institute Zhang Suojiang, have developed a new technology to recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which can effectively reduce production costs and energy consumption.

Established in 2015, the kiloton-scale demonstration plant uses functional ionic liquids as the catalyst, which could completely degrade waste PET, reduce degradation duration by 82 percent, cut the use of fresh water by 75 percent and shorten the whole process by 30 percent, according to a press release the institute sent to the Global Times on Thursday.

"The demonstration plant, although not widely used in China over economic concerns, was built after 10 years' research and development, and it offers the ultimate solution to degrade PET waste," Lü Xingmei, a principal investigator at the institute, told the Global Times on Thursday.

A type of thermoplastic polyester, PET has wide applications in electronic devices, films, fibers and food packaging.

The annual global consumption of PET exceeds 50 million tons.

Currently high-temperature incinerators are used to degrade PET waste, and those that are not fully degraded will have to wait for natural degradation that may take hundreds of years, Lü said.

"New technology is urgently needed in many Western nations," said Lü, adding that more developing countries may no longer agree to be garbage dumping grounds.

Some European companies have reached the institute for technology exchange. The UK-based Green Lizard Technologies company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the institute in October, and planned to build an industrial plant to degrade their PET waste.

Western countries which will turn to China for the recycling of PET waste shows that they have to degrade their own garbage, and also indicates that China would like to cooperate with them in dealing with global environmental issues, Lü said.

Chinese scientists plan to establish a 10-kiloton-scale plant to promote the technology nationwide.

China started to ban imports of 24 types of solid waste, including plastics, unsorted scrap paper, discarded textiles and vanadium slag from January.

Thailand announced a ban on foreign plastic waste in 2021, and Vietnam and Malaysia have also taken measures to crack down on imports of foreign garbage, the Telegraph reported in October.

 

[JSCh]

Scientists Develop Integrated Multi-scale Approach for Restoring Degraded Forest Ecosystem
Nov 29, 2018

Natural forest degradation caused by human activities is one of the most serious problems that threaten human wellbeing and biodiversity conservation. Although great efforts have been paid, there are yet no general and effective solutions for linking planning at a landscape scale and implementation at an ecosystem scale.

The main reason is that most plans for forest landscape restoration projects make "top-down" policies or decisions at a larger scale, in which landscape structure, regional ecosystem services are the primary concern. On the other hand, the implement of forest landscape restoration is a "bottom-up" process, which focuses on restoring several specific ecosystems to gain target ecosystem structure and function.

To explore solutions to the mentioned challenges, Dr. QI Lin from the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues developed a new restoration approach that considers stand conditions based on recent-historical forests in combination with an assessment of several potential forest landscape structure indexes to identify potential restoration plans at multiple scales.

The researchers tested the approach in the management of forests in Changbai Mountains. They identified 14 local native primary forests that in response to different topographies in the study area with data from previous studies and forest inventory data. Then they extracted stand condition data from a digital elevation model and forest inventory data.

Combining the topography data with the native primary forests, they identified the forest types for restoration in each forest stand. Based on the landscape structure analyses, the optimal arrangement of forest types for restoration at landscape scale was determined. Integrating landscape restoration target and potential forest types for restoration of each sub-compartment, the locations and species for restoration were finally determined.

Their approach emphasized the inclusion of habitat-based targeted forest type selection combined with goals to benefit landscape structure and functions, and provided an important bridge from stand scale implementation of actions to landscape decision-making processes.

Published in Ecological Engineering, this study provides a significant baseline for forest restoration and increase restoration effects.

The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Technologies R&D Program of China, and CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program.

Fig. 1 Framework of identifying the community for restoration at an ecosystem scale based on stand condition. DEM: Digital elevation model; FSCM: Forest sub-compartment map. (Image by QI Lin)

Fig.2 Optimal arrangement of restored forests at landscape scale. (Image by QI Lin)

Fig.3 Forest management map (Image by QI Lin)


Scientists Develop Integrated Multi-scale Approach for Restoring Degraded Forest Ecosystem---Chinese Academy of Sciences

 

[JSCh]

China's Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program brings forest coverage to 13.57 pct
Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-30 18:58:52|Editor: Li Xia


BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Forest coverage has grown to 13.57 percent from 5.05 percent in 1977 in areas where China's Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program was implemented, according to a meeting on the program held in Beijing Friday.

The program has effectively curbed the expansion of desertification and become a "Green Greatwall" to prevent sandstorms, conserve water and soil and safeguard agriculture, according to the meeting on the 40th anniversary of the launch of Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program.

Launched in 1978, the project consists of forestation in northwest, north and northeast China, in order to hold back the aftermath of sandstorms and soil erosion. The eight-phase project, covering 13 provincial regions, is expected to be completed by 2050.

In the past four decades, over 7.88 million hectares of windbreak trees have been planted, 336,200 square kilometers of desertification land has been fixed, and more than 10 million hectares of desertified grassland have been protected and restored, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Meanwhile, the grass and forest coverage in the Loess Plateau, which is the major focus of the program, has been raised to 59.06 percent. In addition, a massive 400 million tonnes of silt to the Yellow River has been reduced annually.

 

[JSCh]

PUBLIC RELEASE: 26-NOV-2018
A water treatment breakthrough, inspired by a sea creature
YALE UNIVERSITY

Illustration of Actinia. CREDIT: Huazhang Zhao
​

Inspired by Actinia, a sea organism that ensnares its prey with its tentacles, a team of researchers has developed a method for efficiently treating water.

The research, a collaboration of the labs of Yale's Menachem Elimelech and Huazhang Zhao of Peking University, used a material known as a nanocoagulant to rid water of contaminants. By removing a broad range of contaminants in a single step, the discovery promises to significantly improve on the centuries-old use of coagulants for water treatment. The results are published today in Nature Nanotechnology.

When added to water, conventional coagulants such as aluminum sulfate and other metallic salts remove larger particles from water by causing them to group together into larger formations and settle. Because these coagulants don't remove smaller particles dissolved in water, additional treatment methods are necessary. Employing multiple technologies for water treatment, however, is costly, energy-intensive and can require a large amount of land. Creating an efficient and easy-to-operate technology to remove all contaminants from water is key to addressing global water scarcity.

The research team synthesized a novel, highly stable nanocoagulant different from conventional coagulants in structure, performance and behavior. In additional to removing suspended particles, this nanocoagulant also removes small dissolved contaminants.

"The behavior of the nanocoagulant is controlled by its structure," said Ryan DuChanois, a Ph.D. student in Elimelech's lab. "Under certain conditions, the nanocoagulant maintains a structure that allows for it to be stored over time."

Actinia is a sea anemone with a spherical body that has tentacles that retract while resting and extend while catching its prey. With this marine predator as their model, the researchers synthesized the coagulant, using organic and inorganic components to replicate the structure of Actinia.

Similar to Actinia, the nanocoagulant has a core-shell structure that turns inside-out in water. The shell destabilizes and enmeshes larger suspended particles, while the exposed core captures the smaller, dissolved ones. It removes a broad spectrum of contaminants, from trace micropollutants to larger particles - many of which elude conventional methods and pose significant public health concerns.

"The ability to remove nitrate was quite surprising, as traditional water coagulants exhibit negligible removal of nitrate," said Elimelech, the Roberto C. Goizueta Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering. It's also critical to water treatment, since nitrate contamination is associated with 'blue-baby' syndrome, a potentially fatal condition that affects young children in some parts of the world.

Because it's a one-step process, professor Huazhang Zhao of Peking University said, the work holds promise for replacing current water treatment methods and greatly reducing the operating costs of water treatment. "It also opens doors for fabricating 'smart' materials that can transform configuration and function in response to its environment," he said.


A water treatment breakthrough, inspired by a sea creature | EurekAlert! Science News

Jinwei Liu, Shihan Cheng, Na Cao, Chunxiang Geng, Chen He, Quan Shi, Chunming Xu, Jinren Ni, Ryan M. DuChanois, Menachem Elimelech, Huazhang Zhao. Actinia-like multifunctional nanocoagulant for single-step removal of water contaminants. Nature Nanotechnology (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-018-0307-8​

 

[JSCh]

China Focus: Qinghai-Tibet Plateau adopts diverse measures to address climate change
Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-10 10:54:51|Editor: mmm


XINING, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- When Nyima Cering left for the Polish city of Katowice to attend the UN Climate Change Conference, he was well aware of the importance of protecting the ecology in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

It was the first time he attended such an important international meeting. He felt a sense of mission.

Nyima Cering, secretary of the CPC Committee of Chengduo County in west China's Qinghai Province, was invited as a representative from a special ecological area with a unique culture during the pavilion events of the ongoing Katowice Climate Change Conference.

An ethnic Tibetan, He shared his ideas about the adaptation to climate change on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and grassland management.

Located in western China, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is about 2.6 million square kilometers in area, and most of it lies at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters above sea level. The Plateau covers the entire Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province, in addition to parts of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Xinjiang.

Also hailed as the "roof of the world" and the "water tower of Asia," the Plateau contains the headwaters of three major rivers: the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang (Mekong) River. It is also a natural habitat for rare animals and a gene pool of plateau life.

Nyima Cering's hometown sits at the headwaters region on the Plateau.

"The ecosystem of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is highly vulnerable. Rising temperatures and rainfall changes caused by global climate change can have impacts on grassland productivity and water conservation. Therefore, the local government and herdsmen work together to protect the grassland," he said.

Chengduo County has 1.5 million hectares of natural grassland, which has been well-preserved since 2005. He brought his successful experiences to the attendees.

"We worked out a solution with a combination of grassland construction, ecological protection and poverty alleviation," he said.

Over the past few years, the county has been making efforts to restore overgrazed grassland, increased the return of grazing land to grassland and encouraged more and more herdsmen to participate in the protection of the ecological system on the Plateau.

A growing number of herdsmen in the county, as well as on the Plateau, have been given subsidies and bonus for their efforts, while many have been provided new jobs after giving up grazing.

"We discovered a way of grassland protection in areas with high altitudes and extremely cold climates. And what is more important is that we realized grassland management scientifically and on the basis of traditional ideas of Tibetans about protecting the environment," he added.

According to a white paper issued by the Chinese government in July, the Plateau is still one of the cleanest regions on earth.

However, Chinese experts believe that the Plateau is facing a series of ecological challenges due to increasing climate change and human activities, such as glacier retreat and permafrost degradation.

"The glaciers on the Plateau have been melting because of greenhouse gas and black carbon emissions, which are also global issues and can transmit without boundaries," said Kang Shichang, a researcher with Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

To protect glaciers on the Plateau, China has been reducing emissions and carrying out international cooperation, Kang added.

In 1994, China's first Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) baseline station was launched at the top of Mt. Waliguan in Qinghai. It is one of the world's highest GAW observatories at an altitude of over 3,800 meters above sea level. The observatory has been sharing its data with international meteorological organizations since its operation.

"Dealing with global climate change on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau will be a long-term task. The government should enhance top-level system designs and overall coordination, promote scientific, technological and institutional innovation in order to build a better ecological environment on the Plateau," said Shen Yongping, a researcher with CAS.

 

[TaiShang]

China is sharing how it succeeded in reversing rocky desertification

By Gong Zhe
2018-12-13 14:27 GMT+8

When talking about desertification, we usually mean soil turning into sand.

But in southwest China, there is a special type of desertification in which the soil simply disappears, revealing the rocks underneath.

Since we cannot grow most crops on rocks, this type of desertification is a serious issue.

China has been trying to reverse this kind of desertification for several years and has begun making progress.

On Thursday, the country's forestry administration released its latest statistics in Beijing.

Officials from China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration releases data on the country's efforts on reverting rocky desertification in Beijing, Dec. 13, 2018. /SCIO Photo

"The third round of monitoring started in April 2016 and ended in September 2017, with more than 4,000 technicians setting up 100,000 monitoring points," Liu Dongsheng, deputy head of the administration told reporters in an official press release.

"We collected 190 million entries of data and understood the desertification situation from 2012 to 2016," he added.

In this period, the total area of rocky deserts has been shrinking at an yearly average speed of 3.45 percent.

This means more than 16 percent of rocky deserts have been reverted in the five-year period.

If China can keep up with the speed, the total area will be halved by 2030.

Human efforts

What's more, the progress is speeding up.

Sun Guoji, head of the desert greening works, named two major efforts China from the past five years.

"It's mainly human efforts, especially afforestation that contributed to 65.5 percent of efforts," Sun said.

Head of China's desert greening works Sun Guoji ‍explains the country's efforts in combating rocky desertification in Beijing, Dec. 13, 2018. /SCIO Photo

"Another effort is population reduction, which means inviting local people to move their home," Sun added. "This part accounts for 24.4 percent."

Sun explained that there used to be too many people living in rocky desertified areas. The land could only feed half the population. That's why relocating people had been conducted in these areas.

Other efforts include shifting the main energy source from firewood to others in southwest China, strictly obeying the laws and large engineering projects.

Sharing the experience

China has also been sharing its afforestation methods with other developing countries under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

China has been teaching technologies and investing funds to support fellow developing countries to repair their ecosystems.

"The most recent effort is an international knowledge base on desertification to be built in Ningxia (in northwest China). We hope to export our knowledge about deserts to the world," Sun told reporters.

(Top photo: Deputy head of China's forestry administration Liu Dongsheng explains the country's efforts in combating rocky desertification in Beijing, December 13, 2018. /SCIO Photo)

 

[JSCh]

Researchers Develop A High-performance Measuring Instrument to Look into the Haze
Dec 14, 2018

Chinese scientists at Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (AIOFM), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science have developed a high-performance instrument to track Gaseous nitrous acid (HONO) and NO2, both playing the important role in haze formation.

This instrument, they call it incoherent broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectrometer (or IBBCEAS), could detect an extremely small amount of key trace gas in atmosphere and the experimental results would be obtained in a very short time of only several seconds.

At the same time, it could operate fully automatically without chemical pollution.

The team thought that the IBBCEAS would become a new method to research the formation mechanism of haze.

According to the team, they also conducted an inter-comparison studies outdoors to verify its performance and the results were satisfying.

In addition to its stable high-performance, the team also made a further attempt to make a car loaded with the facility and then to realize real-time monitoring.

HONO, an important source of OH radical which helps scientists to find out how haze forms, however, still remains unclear, especially for its daytime sources.

This instrument was developed by QIN Min and DUAN Jun.

These works are financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.The research results have been published online in Atmos. Meas. Tech.

The role of HONO in atmospheric chemistry. (Image by DUAN Jun)
​

Researchers Develop A High-performance Measuring Instrument to Look into the Haze---Chinese Academy of Sciences

 

[JSCh]

Xinjiang oilfield closed to protect endangered animals
By WANG KEJU/MAO WEIHUA | China Daily | Updated: 2018-12-19 09:03

An employee collects data at Tarim oilfield in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

An oil production operation in a nature reserve in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has been closed despite the loss of annual output worth hundreds of millions of yuan in order to better protect desert wildlife.

Zhundong Oil Production Plant, a branch of Xinjiang Oilfield of Petro-China that is located in the Junggar Basin, closed 284 oil wells with annual production of 70,000 metric tons of oil in the Kalamayli Nature Reserve, home to endangered animals including the Przewalski's horse, which has first-class national protection. The annual oil output was valued at more than 300 million yuan ($43.5 million).

The Przewalski's horse is the last surviving subspecies of wild horse. There are currently 2,000 remaining worldwide.

"Xinjiang Oilfield has completely stopped production in the reserve, and has finished the sealing and dismantling of the oil wells and restored the environment," said Ling Lisu, deputy director of the company's safety production department.

According to Xie Jianyong, deputy director of the Zhundong Oil Production Plant, the company invested over 800 million yuan in exploration and facilities construction in the reserve over the past few decades, and found proven oil reserves of 12 million tons. It has cost another 200 million yuan to close the wells.

Xie said the company produced a detailed plan to make sure that no pollution would affect the nature reserve during its exit. The company sent all the pumping equipment and other such materials to local recycling centers to ensure they would not damage the environment.

It also repurposed some parts of the pumping facilities' foundations to serve as basins where water can collect for the animals, Xie added.

Sun Quanhui, a scientist with the international NGO World Animal Protection, applauded the move. "With the closing of oil wells and restoration of the environment in the reserve, human production activities have greatly decreased and the habitats of wild animals have begun to recover, which is of great help to their survival and reproduction," Sun said.

Native to China and Mongolia, the Przewalski's horse was on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature from the 1960s to 1996. Its status was then reassessed as critically endangered following successful reintroductions.

China imported 18 of the horses in 1985 from several countries and built a breeding center for their preservation. The Wild Horse Breeding Center in Xinjiang now has 411 horses.

In recent years, scientists have been releasing young wild horses into the reserve, a move critical to the animal's protection. Scientists say the presence of the wild horse in natural habitats helps enlarge the gene pool and improves its ability to survive.

 

[JSCh]

China releases 40-year assessment of the Green Great Wall
By Ding Qian
2018-12-24 14:33 GMT+8

The authorities in China have reported continuing progress in a massive effort to stem desertification in the north of the country in what has become known as the Green Great Wall project.

The Three-North Afforestation Program (TNAP), which has been ongoing for 40 years, is said to be the world's largest tree-planting project covering more than 95 percent of China's wind-sand damaged areas and 40 percent of areas hit by soil erosion.

China's State Council Information Office on Monday released the latest update on the program in the north, northeast and northwest regions in which it was also acknowledged that execution challenges remain.

TNAP /VCG Photo

Achievements of TNAP

According to the assessment, the forest area of TNAP has increased by 21.56 million hectares since 1978. The completed afforestation areas have been up to 46.14 million hectares, amounting to 118 percent of the planned afforestation tasks in the same period. Since 2000, desertification has overall been under control and key areas have been significantly improved, the report said.

Plus, the areas of soil erosion by water in the TNAP regions have been reduced by 67 percent in total. The total value of forest ecosystem services in the TNAP regions increased from 4.8 billion yuan (around 695 million U.S. dollars) in 1978 to 234.47 billion yuan (about 34 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017.

TNAP /VCG Photo

Apart from this, the local economy and social development have been promoted by the forest fruit industry and forest tourism in TNAP regions. At present, the annual output value of forest fruit and forest tourism has reached 120 billion yuan (around 17 billion dollars), absorbing 313 million rural laborers and achieving stable poverty alleviation for about 15 million people.

Besides, farmland shelterbelts effectively improved the agricultural environment. The cumulative increase in grain production contributed by farmland shelterbelts in the past 40 years was about 423 million tonnes.

Problems and Suggestions

Though the project has achieved much success, there remain some challenges. Since most of TNAP regions are arid and semi-arid areas, lack of systematical consideration of the local water resource can lead to the forest decline. The average afforestation rate of TNAP is 47 percent, but about 25 percent of the forests are in an unhealthy state.

Besides, TNAP plays a limited role in reducing severe desertification; the effect of TNAP is far from counteracting the disturbance of human activities.

Villagers in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have contributed to the project. /VCG Photo

On top of this, in the past 40 years, the proportion of investment in TNAP technology was less than 0.5 percent of the total investment. The low level of technologies have restricted the quality of TNAP. Therefore, funds for scientific research and personnel technical training need to be included in the construction of TNAP in the future.

Based on the sustainable development, the TNAP construction tasks should be more diverse, which means TNAP should not only be a forestry project, preliminary work such as planning and regeneration should also be included in the new era.

Growing plants in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regoin. /VCG Photo

Other suggestions include building a comprehensive regionalization system of the "mountain, water, forest, farmland, lake and grass" in the Three-North regions; adjusting the existing land tenure and implementing the unified planning of forest, farmland, and water; and constructing Three-North Ecological Zone based on the TNAP.

Background

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the construction of TNAP. In order to improve the ecological construction effects of TNAP, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was commissioned by China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration to carry out a comprehensive assessment of TNAP as a third-party agency.

TNAP /VCG Photo

The assessment group employed the field observation and survey data of more than 230,000 forest-related plots in the TNAP area, conducted a large-scale field investigation of more than 70,000 kilometers, and analyzed nearly 2,000 scenes of five-phase remote sensing images between 1978 and 2018. Documents, national statistical data, and other materials were also applied.

(Zong Jinyi contributed to this story.)

 

[JSCh]

Balloon station unlocks pollution insights
Li Qian
02:59 UTC+8, 2018-12-25

A new balloon station, built by environmental scientists including a number from Shanghai, has been used to monitor air pollution in north China’s Hebei Province.

The tethered balloon was inflated in Wangdu County on December 15, and reached an altitude of 1,000 meters.

Designed in the shape of an airliner, it is 32 meters long — 1 meter longer than a Boeing 737-500 aircraft.

Filled with helium, it can inflate to 1,900 cubic meters, which allows it to carry measuring devices weighing up to 220 kilograms.

The giant balloon is linked to the ground by a cable, which supplies electricity to measuring devices and transmits real-time data, such as levels of PM2.5.

It can work 24 hours a day, remaining stable despite bad weather.

Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center is one of several brains behind the “super station.”

The first of its kind in China, it will investigate the complicated reasons behind air pollution, said Fu Qingyan, vice director of Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center.

Ti Gong
The balloon station is used by scientists to monitor air pollution in Wangdu County, north China’s Hebei Province.

Fu has already made a discovery after the balloon finished its one-week stretch of monitoring in Wangdu on Saturday.

It is commonly thought that burning coal was the main cause of air pollution in the north. However, it is not the only factor.

“We’ve found that the levels of nitrate, related to industrial discharge, are high at ground level and also at altitude,” said Fu.

“It proves that the whole north China is troubled by industrial discharge, and that air pollutants fly back and forth, which cause chronic air pollution.”

Scientists can adjust the altitude of the balloon for different purposes.

On December 15, the balloon was at different altitudes to track where the air pollution came from.

Real-time figures showed the concentration of PM2.5 increased as the balloon rose, proving that air pollutants were blown in.

Currently, most environmental monitoring centers rely on measuring devices installed at the height of an average person. Only a few in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are at 300 meters.

The balloon has been transported back to the 38th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group, based in Anhui Province.

There are no plans to use it in Shanghai to monitor air pollution in the near future, Fu said.

The balloon was made by Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center, Shanghai Civil Defense Office, 38th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group, East China University of Science and Technology, and Nanjing University.