Radio France Internationale (RFI) recently reported that serious air pollution continues to be a major challenge for the Chinese government. The central government asked 28 cities in Northern China to lower the air pollution particles by 15 percent between November and next March. However, the Chinese Minister of Environment Protection, Li Ganjie, admitted during his visit to a few northern provinces, that it will be “very challenging” to deliver on the pollution control goal within that time frame. Li reported that air pollution improvements have been slowing down since the beginning of the year. In some places, the process has even reversed. He emphasized that his ministry will be focusing on mounting serious pressure on local governments to enforce environmental protection laws and regulations. Based on recent monitoring data, 13 cities around Beijing saw worse air quality than at the same time last year. The official numbers that the Ministry of Environment Protection provided also showed that, in the first half of the year, 328 large cities across China suffered worse air quality compared to last year.
Source: RFI, October 5, 2017
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