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

[Mangus Ortus Novem]

A Community of Prosperity...shares knowledge and experience.

Great going Dragon...keep up the good work.

 

[ahojunk]

Relocating hazardous chemical factories will just move the problem to another place.
Invest more R&D to make them less hazardous or replace these chemicals altogether.

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Beijing doles out cash rewards for exiting chemical plants

Source: Xinhua 2016-07-28 19:32:41


BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Beijing is offering cash rewards as an incentive for chemical plants that leave the nation's capital. Eighty hazardous chemical plants should be out of the city by 2018, the local work safety watchdog said on Thursday.


The watchdog said it had asked plants to relocate voluntarily and offered a cash bonus, calculated on a set of criteria including the size of the facility, number of employees, tax contributions, safety record and production process. Early applicants will get extra rewards.

The watchdog aims to wave goodbye to 60 plants this year and 20 more between 2017 and 2018. It did not disclose the exact amount of rewards it would pay out.

The removal of chemical plants is the latest measure to rid the capital of polluting industries to improve the environment and optimize the industrial makeup toward more tech-driven and service-based sectors.

Smaller chemical plants with simple production process, poor management and high risk storage will be first to go, the watchdog said, adding that the removal of the facilities should not disrupt the city's supply of hazardous chemical goods.

 

[ahojunk]

This concerns food safety. Hope the authorities pay more attention to this!

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Antibiotic resistance poses fatal threat
By Shan Juan (China Daily)Updated: 2016-07-21 07:54

Regulations on the use of antibiotics in animal feed are not strictly enforced in China, and the country has no maximum residue limits for antibiotics detected in animal products such as meat and milk. TAn Kaixing / For China Daily


Experts warn that excessive use of drugs designed to kill bacteria could result in millions of deaths every year. Shan Juan reports.

As the use of antibiotics at China's healthcare facilities comes under increasingly strict control, public health experts at home and abroad are turning their attention to agriculture and calling for enhanced management to prevent potential overuse in the sector.

Every year, 50 percent of the antibiotics employed in the world are used in China, with 52 percent of them used to treat animals bred for food, according to the latest report on international antibiotic use, led by Jim O'Neill, former chief economist at Goldman Sachs who was an adviser to David Cameron, the former prime minster of the United Kingdom.

The report, called the Global Review on AMR (antimicrobial resistance), warns that by 2005, antimicrobial resistance could be responsible for killing 10 million people across the world every year, the equivalent of one person every 3 seconds - higher than the annual global death toll from cancer.

It also estimates that by 2050, AMR could result in 1 million premature deaths every year in China.

AMR occurs when microbes evolve to become increasingly, or fully, resistant to previously effective antibiotics. The term also covers antibiotic resistance, which applies to bacteria and antibiotics.

"China could suffer an enormous loss of GDP because of that," O'Neill wrote in an email exchange with China Daily.

He added that the government recognizes the issue as one of crucial importance and has made efforts to curb excessive antibiotic use, particularly for medical purposes.

Statistics from the National Health and Family Planning Commission show that antibiotic use in China's hospitals has fallen by 40 percent since 2012, when the commission imposed measures - including stricter controls, prescription-only access and health education - to curb long-term excess use.

However, the report notes that the lack of stringent supervision in the agricultural sector must also be corrected.

Xiao Yonghong, a professor at the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology at Peking University and a member of the commission's rational drug use committee, echoed those concerns, saying that while the abuse of antibiotics has almost been eliminated at large hospitals in cities, a lack of surveillance data means it's difficult to assess the scale of the problem at grassroots-level clinics.

"Antibiotic abuse in animal farming is still widespread in China," Xiao said, adding that the country has no maximum residue limits for antibiotics detected in animal products, such as meat and milk.

Unscreened residue

"The antibiotic residue is not screened before animal products hit the market," Xiao said, pointing out that regulations on the correct use of antibiotics in animal feed are not enforced strictly enough.

Su Jiufu, a duck farmer in Pucheng county, Weinan city, in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, said he doesn't think there is a problem: "I often eat the meat and eggs of the ducks on my farm."

He generally sells his produce to grocery stores in the local township. "Storekeepers have never asked me about antibiotic use," he said.

As an experienced farmer, Su acknowledged that antibiotic use is relatively common at duck farms because the birds are prone to diseases.

The most commonly used antibiotics are Ciprofloxacin and Jinsaiwei, which are regularly added to the ducks' food, he said.

"That's not only for treatment, but prevention. Otherwise ducks can easily contract viral hepatitis, duck plague and fowl cholera, which spreads quickly, causing deaths and a loss of income for the farmers," he added.

Zeng Xiaoxiang, who owns a chicken farm in Meizhou, Guangdong province, sells about 100,000 fowls a year. She said white-feathered breeds of chickens commonly seen on market stalls need to be given antibiotics almost every day to treat and prevent diseases such as bronchitis and enteritidis, a type of salmonella.

"The drugs, mainly antibiotics, such as penicillin and amoxycillin, and vaccines cost 150,000 yuan ($22,400) every year," she said. "The doses are usually increased during winter, when chickens are at greater risk of disease."

Resistance gene

Excessive antibiotic use has already taken a toll. In 2011, researchers detected the MCR-1 resistance gene - which renders colistin, a so-called last-line antibiotic, ineffective - in 5 percent of chicken and pork samples collected from markets around the country.

However, by the end of 2014, the proportion had risen to 25 percent. Late last year, a study led by Liu Yiyun, a professor at South China Agriculture University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, was published in the renowned UK medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases. The study found that the MCR-1 resistance gene had been identified in a number of samples provided by hospital patients in the province.

"The gene can pass around among certain types of bacteria that exist in both animals and humans," said Huang Liuyu, director of the Institute for Disease Prevention and Control with the People's Liberation Army.

According to Huang, excessive antibiotic residue in animal products could be transmitted to humans via the consumption of meat, eggs and milk, increasing the possibility of increased resistance to antibiotics.

Also, the problem may "travel" and contaminate people in other parts of the world as a result of increasing international travel and interpersonal exchanges, he said.

Globally, antimicrobial drugs are becoming less effective and the world is not developing enough new antibiotics to replace those that are now almost redundant, according to the UK report.

O'Neill, the leader of the UK study, emphasized the need for measures to tackle the problem. "It's a serious global challenge, and thus it needs a global solution," he said.

 

[ahojunk]

Tue Aug 2, 2016 7:04am EDT
China's 'mosquito factory' aims to wipe out Zika, other diseases

Every week, scientists in southern China release 3 million bacteria-infected mosquitoes on a 3 km (two-mile) long island in a bid to wipe out diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and Zika.

The scientists inject mosquito eggs with wolbachia bacteria in a laboratory, then release infected male mosquitoes on the island on the outskirts of the city of Guangzhou.

The bacteria, which occurs naturally in about 28 percent of wild mosquitoes, causes infected males to sterilize the females they mate with.

"The aim is trying to suppress the mosquito density below the threshold which can cause disease transmission," said Zhiyong Xi, who is director of the Sun Yat-sen University Centre of Vector Control for Tropical Diseases and pioneered the idea.

"There are hot spots," Xi said. "This technology can be used at the beginning to target the hot spots ... it will dramatically reduce disease transmission."

Mosquito-borne diseases are responsible for more than one million deaths worldwide every year and Zika has become a concern for athletes at this year's Olympic Games, which open in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.

Some athletes, including the top four ranked male golfers, have declined to take part.

An outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil last year has spread through the Americas and beyond, with China confirming its first case in February.

U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies.

The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.

Sun Yat-sen's Xi said that several countries had expressed interest in his experiments, especially Brazil and Mexico.

In the laboratory, mosquito eggs are collected from breeding cages containing 5,000 females and 1,600 males and injected with the wolbachia bacteria. Xi's facility has the capacity to breed up to five million mosquitoes a week.

While a female mosquito that acquires wolbachia by mating is sterile, one that is infected by injection will produce wolbachia-infected offspring. Dengue, yellow fever and Zika are also suppressed in wolbachia-injected females, making it harder for the diseases to be transmitted to humans.

Xi set up his 3,500 square meter (38,000 sq ft) "mosquito factory" in 2012 and releases the males into two residential areas on the outskirts of Guangzhou.

Xi said the mosquito population on the island has been reduced by more than 90 percent.

One villager on the island, 66 year-old Liang Jintian, who has lived there for six decades, said the study was so effective he didn't have to sleep with a mosquito net any longer.

"We used to have a lot of mosquitoes in the past. Back then some people were worried that if mosquitoes were released here, we would get even more mosquitoes," he said. "We have a lot less mosquitoes now compared to the past."

(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Clare Baldwin; Editing by Robert Birsel)

A researcher releases the mosquitoes on Shazai Island.

 

[Three_Kingdoms]

Beijing is joining the list of "sponge cities" in China.
This is getting interesting.

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Beijing plans 73 floodwater collection sites, eyes 'sponge city'
2016-07-27 11:15 | Ecns.cn | Editor: Mo Hong'e

(ECNS) -- Beijing is planning to add 73 sites to collect excess rainfall and integrate flood control in its urban planning, Beijing Morning Post reported.

The sites will serve as parks generally and be used to collect water during the flood season. They will be large enough to store 10 million cubic meters of water, the equivalent of five Kunming Lakes in Beijing.

They are expected to directly reduce flooding in downtown areas or prevent floodwater from entering main roads, the report said. Facilities will also be built to relieve floodwater in areas near the south fourth and third ring roads, frequently hit by flooding.

An official from Beijing's urban planning commission said the capital city will have a total of 273 waterways designed for flood control and drainage.

Beijing plans to construct five new reservoirs in its mountainous areas, which together with the current 88 existing ones are expected to account for 83 percent of the drainage area in those locations.

Beijing is also drafting a "sponge city" plan to use the full potential of rainwater. According to the plan, the city will not only be able to deal with too much water, but also reuse rainwater to ease thirst when confronted with shortages.

Rainfall in most cities usually makes its way to the nearest rivers and lakes through the underdeveloped drainage system, leading to flooding during heavy rainfalls.

Seventy-seven people died when the worst downpour in six decades hit Beijing on July 21, 2012, promoting calls for effective flood prevention.

We are doing it very well here having had similar projects completed successfully or or under constructions in our various city districts:


Infrastructure Development and Real Estate-related Services (IRES)

Hong Kong Gushes with Urban Solutions

Hong Kong’s innovative solutions and expertise in controlling urban flooding are seen as a model for other flood-prone metropolitan areas.

27 March 2015

At a Glance:

• Hong Kong has decades of accumulated experience dealing with urban flooding.
• Innovative and award-winning technology developed over the years by Hong Kong service providers have effectively combatted the threat of annual flooding in urban areas.
• Hong Kong offers the latest expertise and know-how for urban cities, particularly in flood-prone Asia, looking for innovative solutions.

More people are affected by floods than by any other type of natural disaster – and the risk is rising. New analysis from the World Resources Institute (WRI) shows that approximately 21 million people worldwide are affected by river flooding every year – a figure that the report predicts could increase to 54 million in 2030 due to climate change and socio-economic development.

In Southeast Asia, which is one of the worst-affected regions, where monsoons claimed hundreds of lives last year – an estimated 15 million people will be affected, experts say. And along with the human cost comes a massive economic toll: flooding at the current level exposes US$96 billion in global GDP annually, rising to US$521 billion by 2030, according to the WRI report.

While the risks may be escalating, the report also notes that public and private sector decision-makers can do more to prevent catastrophic damage before it happens. Adept at dealing with the serious flooding it faces every summer, Hong Kong has devised solutions that are efficient, cost- effective, and replicable both in emerging and mature urban environments.

Happy Valley Underground Stormwater Storage Scheme - First-phase Commissioning showing Stormwater Onflow into the Flood Storage Tank

In busy urban hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore, the solution is complex, notes Kelvin Lau, Associate Vice President and Senior Project Director, Black & Veatch, a global engineering company, which has delivered many iconic drainage works in Hong Kong. For below the streets, pipelines often many decades old criss-cross the service corridors with other modern utilities, all competing for the same space. “This makes expansion or repair of existing facilities challenging physically and technically,” he says.

Building Smarter Cities

“Given increasing density and climate uncertainties, we can no longer always simply throw wider and deeper drains at the problem. We need to be smarter and rethink how we manage torrential downpours in the urban setting.”

To alleviate problems in the heavily-trafficked, flood-prone hubs on both sides of the harbour, Hong Kong’s Drainage Services Department (DSD) devised a series of underground stormwater storage schemes, and tunnels to intercept surface runoff from uphill catchments. Together, these solutions allow the existing drainage systems to adequately cope with severe rainstorms, without the need for extensive upgrading works, explained Cheng Hung-leung, Assistant Director/Projects and Development, Drainage Services Department.

“Given increasing density and climate uncertainties, we can no longer always simply throw wider and deeper drains at the problem. We need to be smarter and rethink how we manage torrential downpours in the urban setting.”

Mr Lau explained how, in one solution, an underground storage tank installed beneath Hong Kong’s famous Happy Valley racetrack intercepts and attenuates peak stormwater flows to take pressure off the existing infrastructure. “It also means the problem isn’t simply passed on to further down the drainage system.”

At its heart is Hong Kong’s first example of a movable crest weir system, together with Supervisory and Data Acquisition (SCADA) real-time monitoring of water and tidal levels. With intelligent data feedback, the volume of water within the storage tank can be monitored and adjusted to prevent either pre-mature or late overspill of stormwater, factoring in rising or lower sea levels.

Innovation Awarded

Still under construction, the Happy Valley Underground Stormwater Storage Scheme has already been recognised by several prestigious awards, including Winner of the East Asia Region of the International Water Association Project Innovation Awards 2012 in the Planning Category.

AECOM Asia Company Ltd is engaged in formulating the Lai Chi Kok Drainage Tunnel (LCKDT), an integral part of the overall flood control strategy for West Kowloon.

Commissioning of the award-winning Lai Chi Kok drainage tunnel

The scheme involves a 3.7-kilometre long, 4.9-metre diameter drainage tunnel intercepting surface run-off from the West Kowloon hinterland for discharge directly into Victoria Harbour. “By diverting the upland flow to the drainage tunnel, extensive drainage upgrading works in the congested lower catchment urban areas can be substantially reduced,” said Tim Lee, Technical Director, AECOM Asia.

The LCKDT is another well-recognised project to win regional and global honours, including the Design category of International Water Association Project Innovation Awards 2014.

Mott MacDonald Hong Kong Ltd drew on its expertise to modernise outdated stormwater infrastructure in the densely-populated urban districts of Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung.

“The districts’ decades-old drainage system was capable of dealing with routine storms, but didn’t have the spare capacity to handle the additional runoff arising from rapid urbanisation,” explained Chris Howley, Divisional Director, Mott MacDonald Hong Kong Ltd. History had shown the need: an exceptional deluge of 1997 overwhelmed the existing system, causing chest-high flooding in many areas, and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

Mega-project Proven

The biggest flood prevention project implemented in downtown Hong Kong is the Hong Kong West Drainage Tunnel (HKWDT), an 11 kilometre-long main tunnel extending from Tai Hang to Cyberport. It was commissioned by DSD in 2007 to relieve flooding risk in the low-lying northwest Hong Kong Island, where during heavy rains in 2005, 2006 and 2008, floodwater reached waist level, causing damage to shopowners running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“HKWDT is designed to intercept the excess runoff from upland during severe rainstorms and protect the downstream catchments of Wan Chai, Central District and Western District,” explained Dr Daman Lee, Director, Arup, the project’s consultant. Innovative construction methods shortened the construction period by 26 months, while the tunnel was used to transport the spoil offsite, avoiding congestion and pollution associated with conventional truck transport.

Since its commissioning in 2012, Dr Lee said, there has been no major flooding incident in these districts. “During the severe rainstorm on 8 May 2014, no major flooding incident was reported at the downstream areas, which demonstrates that HKWDT functions effectively as per design.”

Environmental Initiatives

Merely intercepting the entire flow would have an adverse environmental impact downstream, particularly within the ecological park at Tso Kung Tam.

“The tunnel project was thus conceived to extend the service life of the downstream drainage system,” Mr Howley said. “Run-off from three major local rivers is intercepted near mid-course and diverted to the 5.1 kilometre-long tunnel through vertical intake shafts, bypassing the town before being discharged directly to the sea.” The system effectively creates a defensive line that will protect the districts against flooding for up to 50 years.

Time and again, DSD and its consultancy partners have demonstrated innovative, cost-effective solutions at the cutting edge of flood control. In another example, a drainage master plan review for Yuen Long and North District, involving Mott MacDonald consultancy, was among the first to take into account the impact of climate change on inland drainage systems. “It was also the first master plan using one- and two-dimensional hydraulic models to simulate flood plain flow,” Mr Howley said.

In planning for the future, DSD has conducted pilot schemes to adopt the concept of blue-green infrastructure, which generates a multitude of environmental, ecological, socio-cultural and economic benefits, with a goal of building sustainable drainage facilities and providing a better environment.

Interior of the Tai Hang Tung stormwater storage tank

Planning for the Unthinkable

Managing storm water events, mitigating flooding and optimising the way precious urban land is used remain issues faced by many urban centres throughout the world. As Kelvin Lau of Black & Veatch points out, the industry has moved beyond designing solutions for predictable events – “we now have to plan for the unthinkable.”

Innovative, multi-pronged solutions are needed to safeguard lives and minimise economic loss – solutions that Hong Kong has perfected over time.

Having implemented territory-wide drainage improvement projects costing some HK$24 billion, and eliminated some 120 flooding blackspots across the city, Hong Kong is well-placed to roll out its resilient, cost-effective and proven systems to mature and developing cities across the region

- See more at: http://www.hktdc.com/mis/ires/en/s/hk-gushes-with-urban-solutions.html#sthash.989mxSAr.dpuf

An overview of he construction plan in Happy Valley, HK (under the race course)

http://www.water-technology.net/projects/happy-valley-underground-stormwater-storage-scheme/

 

[ahojunk]

Great that China, a developing country is reducing its use of coal.

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China sees effects of coal capacity cuts: top economic planner
Source: Xinhua 2016-08-08 12:29:45

BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's top economic planner said on Monday that the country has made progress in reducing excess coal capacity by advancing economic structural reform.

Coal output declined 9.7 percent year on year to reach 1.63 billion tonnes in the first half of 2016, widening from a 5.8-percent drop recorded in the same period last year, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on its website.

Coal enterprises and major electric power plants saw their coal stockpiles drop as of the end of June, down 8.6 percent and 16.6 percent, respectively, according to the NDRC.

The decline in coal stocks resulted in a narrowed decline for major coal business profits, reaching 3.5 billion yuan (525 million U.S. dollars) in the first five months, down 73.2 percent year on year, compared with a 92.5-percent drop in the first quarter.

The NDRC attributed the progress to the government's continued efforts in reducing production output, eliminating outdated capacity and promoting mergers, reorganization, and industry upgrades.

Meanwhile, coal consumption nationwide edged down 5.1 percent year on year to reach 1.82 billion tonnes in H1, according to the NDRC.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of steel and coal. The two industries have long been plagued by overcapacity and felt the pinch even more in the past two years as the economy cooled and demand has fallen.

The Chinese government made reducing excess capacity a top priority in late 2015 at the Central Economic Work Conference and put it at the center of the 13th Five-Year-Plan.

China plans to cut steel and coal capacity by about 10 percent -- as much as 150 million tonnes of steel and half a billion tonnes of coal -- in the next few years, with funds set aside to help displaced workers.

 

[ahojunk]

This is good news for renewable energy.

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China's wind power capacity keeps growing
Source: Xinhua | 2016-07-27 23:05:38 | Editor: huaxia

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Installed wind power capacity in China had jumped 30 percent year on year by the end of June amid increasing government efforts to boost clean energy, official data showed Wednesday.

China had 137 gigawatts of installed wind power capacity as of the end of June, with 7.74 gigawatts added in the first half of the year, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).

However, wind-power use fell due to wastage. The average usage of wind power in the first half was 917 hours, 85 less than the same period last year, the NEA said.

It noted that 32.3 billion kilowatt hours of wind power had been wasted, an increase of 14.8 billion kilowatt hours from a year earlier.

China is promoting non-fossil energy including wind power to power its economy in a cleaner and more sustainable manner. The government aims to lift the proportion of non-fossil energy in energy consumption to 20 percent by 2030 from the current level of around 11 percent.

China's energy mix is currently dominated by coal.

 

[TaiShang]

Across China: Growing tiger population a menace to China villagers
Xinhua, August 11, 2016

Conservationists have applauded the rebound in China's Siberian tiger population, but villagers who count the cats as neighbors are not so happy.

In late July, life in a small mountain village in Hunchun City, Jilin Province, was disrupted when a wild Siberian tiger cub was found in the village.

The cub was seen wandering in a corn field by several villagers, and many found its footprints in their courtyards.

Hunchun, near the Russian and DPRK borders, is near the wild tigers' natural habitat. Zhou Yamei, 62, said it is the first time she has seen a tiger enter the village.

"I'm so afraid that I don't dare go to the field," she said. For almost two weeks, her family has not touched any farm work.

A police car was parked on a road connecting the village to a mountain. Police said the tiger cub is probably in the mountains and they were there to dissuade villagers from heading into the hills.

According to the provincial forestry department, forest covered some 9.4 million hectares in Jilin, or about 43.9 percent of the province, in 2016. The wild Siberian tiger population in the province has grown from nine or fewer in 1998 to the current 27, thanks to conservation measures.

Some villagers are considering moving. Zhang Yujie has been living in the village for some 20 years. "I want to move away, but it is hard for me to leave the village where I have so many relatives and friends."

Not far from the village is a pasture that has been haunted by the ferocious felines since May.

Yin Zhaohai rents the pasture, where he raises more than 100 cows for the villagers. "So far, six cows have been bitten by tigers and died, and another 20 have gone missing," he said, sighing.

"We are not allowed to kill tigers since they are a rare animal, but our own safety is really in danger," he said.

According to the forestry department of Jilin, injuries and economic losses due to wild animals have been on the rise. Last year, over 5,400 cases of injuries or loss were confirmed in the province, compared to around 2,600 in 2009.

In 2006, the province issued a document stipulating compensation for people who have suffered injuries or economic losses caused by wild animals. By the end of 2015, a total of 120 million yuan (18 million U.S. dollars) in compensation had been granted.

Xiao Wanjun, an official with the department, said a planned national forest park for Siberian tigers and Amur leopards may help solve the problem.

The park will include tiger and leopard habitats in Jilin and neighboring Heilongjiang Province. The government will relocate residents and industries in designated areas to ensure safety and protect the animals, Xiao said.

 

[ahojunk]

The Beijing Meteorological Bureau is very confident of their weather forecast.

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Exact 1 km-radius weather forecasts to hit Beijing by 2020
2016-08-12 16:14 | Ecns.cn | Editor: Mo Hong'e

(ECNS) -- Beijing will greatly improve the accuracy of weather forecasts during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), including exact information for every 1,000 meters, said Qu Xiaobo, deputy director of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.

According to a plan, the capital will make technical breakthroughs in the 12-hour advance weather warning system and provide information updated every 10 minutes with data at a 1-kilometer resolution instead of the current 3 kilometers.

Qu said the accuracy of five-day forecasts for temperature and rain would increase by 5 percentage points from current levels, while one-day advance rainfall predictions will be 93 percent correct.

Beijing will ensure all residents can get timely weather alert information through multiple channels, such as TV broadcasts and outdoor screens, in several languages by 2020.

The city also plans to increase the artificial rain rate, using cloud seeding to lessen the impact of droughts, from the current 15 percent effectiveness to at least 17 percent in five years.

Warnings of meteorological disasters, including rainstorms, thunder and lightning, are expected to be issued one hour earlier, it was stated.

But Qu said weather forecasting capabilities still can't meet the social and economic development requirements of Beijing.

 

[TaiShang]

Energy intensity (amount of energy used to generate a unit of GDP) is declining in China, which is a good news in terms of high-quality growth and which corresponds well with China's economic transition.

**

China to step up support for green sector: top economic planner
(Xinhua) August 13, 2016

A truck transfers containers at Qingdao port in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Aug. 8, 2016.(Xinhua/Yu Fangping)

China's top economic planner has pledged more efforts to support the green sector after the country fulfilled its energy-saving targets and saw the environment improve in the first half of this year.

A national plan will be drafted on the development of energy-saving and environmentally friendly industries for the 2016-2020 period, according to a latest statement from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The government will encourage more qualified companies to issue green bonds, the NDRC said.

It will also consider setting up a fund to support the green industry and attract private investment.

Tax breaks will continue for firms using energy-saving and environmentally friendly equipment, the NDRC noted.

It said China made headway in energy saving and environmental protection in the first six months, with the energy consumption per 10,000 yuan (1,500 U.S. dollars) of GDP dropping 5.2 percent year on year, exceeding the annual target of 3.4 percent.

The country also saw lower emissions of major pollutants, with the density of PM2.5, a type of particulate matter that causes hazardous smog, falling 9.3 percent year on year.

In the first half, 338 cities saw the number of days with good air quality reach 76.7 percent of all days in the period, up from 72.7 percent a year earlier, NDRC figures showed.

 

[TaiShang]

Unpopulated Altyn Mountains nature reserve: paradise for plants and wild animals
(People's Daily Online) August 16, 2016



Photo: Yang Cheng

A recent activity in Xinjiang, termed the "Loulan Walk," attracted more than 70 media outlets and over 100 journalists and authenticated Weibo users from around the country. The group had the honor of passing through the Altyn Mountains nature reserve on Aug. 15.

The reserve was founded in 1983. It was first included on the list of China's national nature reserves in 1985, and it is the first plateau ecological reserve in China. Praised for its fresh, potable water and naturally cool climate, this treasure trove of wild plants and animals also holds a high value when it comes to research. With an average altitude of 4,580 meters, the 46,800-square-kilometer reserve is classified as an arctic-alpine depopulated zone.

In the past 30 years, the population of three important species have benefited from the protected environemnt of the Altyn Mountains. The populations of Tibetan antelopes, wild yaks and Asiatic donkeys have already grown to between 60,000 and 90,000. The different species of advanced vertebrate animals in the area have increased from 146 to 204, and even plant varieties have increased from 241 to 386. The reserve is considered a kind of paradise for wildlife.



Photo provided by the Altyn Mountains nature reserve


Photo: Yang Cheng


Photo: Yang Cheng


Photo: Yang Cheng


Photo: Yang Cheng


Photo provided by the Altyn Mountains nature reserve

Photo provided by the Altyn Mountains nature reserve

 

[Jlaw]

Unpopulated Altyn Mountains nature reserve: paradise for plants and wild animals
(People's Daily Online) August 16, 2016



Photo: Yang Cheng

A recent activity in Xinjiang, termed the "Loulan Walk," attracted more than 70 media outlets and over 100 journalists and authenticated Weibo users from around the country. The group had the honor of passing through the Altyn Mountains nature reserve on Aug. 15.

The reserve was founded in 1983. It was first included on the list of China's national nature reserves in 1985, and it is the first plateau ecological reserve in China. Praised for its fresh, potable water and naturally cool climate, this treasure trove of wild plants and animals also holds a high value when it comes to research. With an average altitude of 4,580 meters, the 46,800-square-kilometer reserve is classified as an arctic-alpine depopulated zone.

In the past 30 years, the population of three important species have benefited from the protected environemnt of the Altyn Mountains. The populations of Tibetan antelopes, wild yaks and Asiatic donkeys have already grown to between 60,000 and 90,000. The different species of advanced vertebrate animals in the area have increased from 146 to 204, and even plant varieties have increased from 241 to 386. The reserve is considered a kind of paradise for wildlife.



Photo provided by the Altyn Mountains nature reserve


Photo: Yang Cheng


Photo: Yang Cheng


Photo: Yang Cheng


Photo: Yang Cheng


Photo provided by the Altyn Mountains nature reserve

Photo provided by the Altyn Mountains nature reserve

China is blessed to have so many beautiful natural scenaries. You don't really need to travel outside of China to experience mountains, deserts, national parks, etc.

 

[TaiShang]

【Cute Alert】 Twin South China tiger cubs born at Nanchang Zoo

Xinhua, August 23, 2016

​

Twin cubs of South China tiger have fun at Nanchang Zoo in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi province, Aug 22, 2016. The newly born twin cubs of South China tiger in Nanchang Zoo live through the observation period smoothly recently. [Photo/Xinhua]

The cubs were born on May 13 and have passed the 90 to 100 days of observation period.

"Both of the twins are male and now weigh nearly 10 kg," said Song Guoshou, a zoo veterinarian.

The mother is from Nanchang Zoo and the father is from Luoyang Zoo in Henan Province.

The indigenous Chinese tiger is listed as highly endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

As of the end of 2015, there were only 131 South China tigers worldwide, all in captivity, according to Chinese zoologists.

Nanchang Zoo is home to the highest number of South China tigers.

​

A feeder examines a little South China tiger at Nanchang Zoo in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi province, Aug 22, 2016. The newly born twin cubs of South China tiger in Nanchang Zoo live through the observation period smoothly recently. [Photo/Xinhua]

Twin cubs of South China tiger have fun at Nanchang Zoo in Nanchang, capital of East China's Jiangxi province, Aug 22, 2016. The newly born twin cubs of South China tiger in Nanchang Zoo live through the observation period smoothly recently. [Photo/Xinhua]

***


Environment probe snares 2,000 officials
Xinhua, August 23, 2016

More than 2,000 officials from Party and government departments have been punished for malpractices related to environmental policy implementation.

Last month, inspectors were sent to eight provinces and autonomous regions — Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Henan, Guangxi, Yunnan and Ningxia — to review the work of local governments.

In Ningxia, officials from Yongning County were held liable for failing to shut down a metalware factory that had been the subject of public anger because of smoke and dust emissions. The official line was that the factory had ceased production in August 2015, but it appeared to have continued to operate right up to July 2016.

The officials had to apologize and were removed from their posts.

"Environmental inspectors mainly focus on provincial and city-level Party and government organs," said Zhai Qing, vice minister of environmental protection.

Malpractice will be reported to the central government and it be considered during the performance assessment and appointment of senior officials, Zhai said.

Inspectors heard from provincial regulators, interviewed officials, carried out field investigations and promoted hotline and e-mail contact channels for the public.

Environmental cases reported by the public mainly covered air pollution, water pollution, noise and solid waste. Most have been dealt with.

So far more than 100 people have been detained by the police for harming or polluting the environment and it is estimated that fines in the eight regions will surpass 100 million yuan (US$15 million).

There are plans to send environmental inspectors to all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities over the next two years.

 

[ahojunk]

Group lauds success with air pollution
China Daily, August 23, 2016

Effective pollution controls adopted in 161 major Chinese cities have greatly improved air quality, a green organization said on Monday.

Of the cities, 90 percent have reached their goals, and 14 have managed to cut their PM2.5 concentration by over 20 percent, said Fu Lu, head of the China office of Clean Air Asia, an environmental group headquartered in Manila, the Philippines, which released an annual assessment of the government efforts to fight air pollution.

Last year, major pollutants such as sulfur dioxide were reduced 21.9 percent year-on-year, and the average PM2.5 reading was lowered by 14.1 percent in the cities, the report said, citing data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

PM2.5 refers to particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 microns that poses risks to human health.

But eight cities saw increases in PM2.5 levels, Fu said.

Among the eight, Zhengzhou and Jiaozuo in Henan province saw PM2.5 increase by 9 percent over 2014, and Yingkou, Shandong province, experienced a 23 percent increase, Fu said.

The other cities with higher PM 2.5 levels were Sanmenxia, Henan province; Zaozhuang and Rizhao, Shandong province; Changchun, Jilin province; and Langfang, Hebei province, the report said.

"Reducing pollution is not a simple issue that only needs strong determination. It also requires scientific and technological support," said He Kebin, head of the School of Environment at Tsinghua University.

Some cities didn't realize the importance of the technology behind their ambitious targets, He said.

For example, Zhengzhou ambitiously moved its 2018 target forward to last year, but failed to reach it.

Controlling pollution becomes more difficult as the easy problems are fixed first, and more complicated issues remain to be solved, He said.

Among the thorny issues is the increasing ground-level ozone, making it the second biggest pollutant in the country, the report said.

Both Fu and He agreed that most of the cities could reach the targets set for 2017.

 

[Three_Kingdoms]

Wetland Restoration: A New Driver for Development in China?
Zach Mortice


The bird viewing corridor is designed to blend into its surroundings, and to reduce impact of pedestrian traffic on bird habitat and activity.
Courtesy AECOM


In China, when it’s time to build a new city—and it’s always time to build a new city in China—there’s usually a clear loser to be pitied: the landscape that gets leveled and paved over. At the moment, the Chinese government is trying to direct the greatest urban migration in human history: 250 million rural migrants in the next decade or so alone. Toward that end, the world’s most populous nation used more concrete in three years than the Unites States did in the 20th century, much of it to eradicate coastal wetlands. (The World Wildlife Fund estimates that in the last 40 years, half of China’s coastal wetlands have been claimed by development.)

Too often we assume that grayscape infrastructural investments must come at the expense of idle wilderness, as a necessary stage of evolution for any developing nation. But at Weishan Wetland park, the preservation of native ecology is considered a critical economic development strategy.

Weishan Wetland Park in the northern China province of Shandong will support the development of the 50,000-person “New Southern Town,” to be built just beyond its northern border. Instead of draining a wetland to help build a city, the park’s designers at AECOM are filling and restoring one.

Completed in 2013, the $42 million park is 15 square miles, and situated in the largest lake wetland area in Asia. Working with the local government, AECOM’s mission was to restore degraded wetlands into a landscape that attracts eco-tourists, hosts environmental education, and works as a vast, natural filtering system for the polluted waterways that feed into the site. Drax Xiong, AECOM senior ecological planner, says this increased environmental awareness came from “the government and other developers’ understanding of the benefits from building a better environment, which will also raise the land value.” Indeed, since the park opened, neighboring urban areas have seen property values increase by 400 percent, according to AECOM.

Weishan Wetland Park is meant to be both an accessible amenity, giving the public access to pristine wetlands’ flora and fauna, and a carefully managed barrier, cleaning water and filtering pollutants that flow in from urbanized areas to the north before they can enter Weishan Lake at the southern end of the park. “By maintaining the existing wetland functions, improving entertainment and service facilities, and providing wetland science education and eco-tourism, we support the development of the city,” says Lian Tao, AECOM project director. “This is a holistic approach we adopted to enable nature and human settlements to thrive.”

By increasing the types of local flora and fauna, the site is restored into a robust diverse landscape suitable for outdoor science education.
Courtesy AECOM


The park has come online as China is taking a wider look at how it develops water infrastructure. As CityLab reported in November, the government has proposed building 16 “sponge cities” that will use porous, green landscape features that absorb, clean, and drain water without relying on inflexible concrete solutions.

Most of the pollution that damaged the wetlands came from fertilizer and pesticide run-off used in agriculture. A full suite of bioswales, rain gardens, and treatment wetlands work at removing phosphorus and ammonia from the soil. Riverbanks are protected from erosion by willow branches wrapped around timber piles in a revetment fence. Given time, they’ll grow and sprout, locking barriers in place. AECOM’s project contains more than a half-dozen landscape types (poplar groves, lily-filled wetlands, reed marshes), all native to the site. The park now balances expansive horizons of orderly, tilled agricultural fields with wild, naturalistic experiences of nature, as if visitors are welcomed up to the edge of civilization and invited to cross back and forth. Grey herons and egrets flit about lotus flowers, cattails, pampas grass, and Japanese buttercups.

One of AECOM’s main design challenges was finding a way to get visitors into the park’s wet, marshy landscapes with dry socks while still protecting the sensitive ecosystem. There’s a network of electric car paths, but where solid ground is absent, locally-sourced wooden boardwalks slice through the wetlands. Angular and sharp, they let tourists hover over the undisturbed landscape. (The design won a2015 ASLA Professional Award.)

These pedestrian paths, placed on rails that take you into, but not among, the park’s most dramatic moments, also express something of the ambiguous relationship between the modern Chinese eco-tourist and the primeval rural landscapes that are being urbanized out of existence. It’s a prescribed and voyeuristic way to experience nature, and this sense of voyeurism extends to the park’s neighbors as well—part of the wetlands project included restoring some of the agricultural fields within the park, and tourists are encouraged to “see how farmers use centuries-old methods” to grow their crops, says Tao. Eco-tourist voyeurism seems educational and progressive when you’re Instagramming ducklings navigating their way through a pond of water lilies, but when the theme park ride stops to gawk at people earning a living, their way of life gets uncomfortably fetishized. Something like Iowa’s kitschy but celebrated Living History Farms, sans historical re-enactors. Are these traditional farmers interesting because they’re more adept at working within the constraints of the wetland’s ecosystem, or because their way of life is now an obsolete museum showcase?

China’s historically rapid dislocation from its agrarian past means that any contact between urban and rural dwellers (even if it’s superficial) is better than socio-cultural apartheid. It’s fantastic that AECOM and the Chinese government are finding ways to get urban dwellers into curated natural landscapes. But the best solutions for China’s urbanizing future might do the opposite of this. Instead of bringing tourists into the countryside, they’ll let ecological awareness of the natural cycles happening in the marshes seep into New Southern Town (and other cities) like Weishan Wetlands water through the reeds.

Zach Mortice is a Chicago-based architectural journalist. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter, and listen to his podcast, A Lot You Got to Holler.

A network of timber boardwalks and viewing platforms weaves across the site, providing ample opportunities for diverse landscape experiences through reed beds and poplar groves.
Courtesy Scott Burrows

The timber decks are constructed out of locally sourced materials, as part of the project's low-impact design strategy.
Courtesy Wei Shan Photography Association

Courtesy AECOM

http://www.metropolismag.com/Point-...ration-A-New-Driver-for-Development-in-China/



Massive migratory bird flocks returning China's north

New Zealand, China step up work to protect ancient bird migration routes
English.news.cn 2015-10-28 17:10:16

WELLINGTON, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand and China are to strengthen work on protecting environments used by birds that migrate between the two hemispheres, Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said Wednesday.

Barry met with Chinese Ambassador Wang Lutong at Pukorokoro-Miranda, a North Island bird center, Wednesday to discuss his work to secure protection for vital migratory bird wetland habitats in China's Bohai Bay.

Significant progress had been made on protection of the red knot in China, whose migration formed "an ancient and tangible link between New Zealand and China," she said.

"They rely on wetlands in Bohai Bay as a refuelling stop on their way from the North Island to breeding grounds in Siberia, a 30,000-km round trip," Barry said in a statement.

Wang had worked with the authorities in Hebei Province to gain protection for a significant habitat for red knots and shorebirds, covering more than 3,000 hectares, with other extensive wetland sites under consideration.

"The ambassador is a bird enthusiast who understands the crucial importance of Bohai Bay to conservation and has given generous support to this initiative," Barry said.

Director-general of New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) Lou Sanson would soon travel to China to discuss details of an agreement on protection of migratory bird habitat in both countries.

Sanson said around 5,000 godwits spent their summers at Pukorokoro-Miranda.

"They fly non-stop from Siberia, covering the 12,000 km in eight to nine days," Sanson said in a statement.

DOC and the Pukorokoro-Miranda Naturalists' Trust, which runs the center, were working with the authorities in China on protecting the Chinese sites where godwits and red knots fed during their annual flights.

Trust chair Gillian Vaughan said trust officials had a sister-site partnership with the Yalu Jiang National Nature Reserve in northeast China's Liaoning Province, since 2004.

"The Chinese shores of the Yellow Sea include some key sites that allow species like the bar-tailed godwit and red knot to complete their incredible migratory journeys. Protecting and enhancing areas like the Caofeidian coast and Yalu Jiang National Nature Reserve will be a key to preserving New Zealand's biodiversity," Vaughan said in a statement.

"Shorebirds link our countries together and its essential New Zealand continues to work with China and other countries connected by these birds."