Environmental Issues of China

1
Environmental Issues of China
2
EnvironmentalIssues in East Asia(Fig. 11.2)
3
Environmental Consequences

• Grassland degradation
• Soil erosion
• Overgrazing
• Salinization
• Water pollution and shortage
• Freshwater
• Groundwater depletion
• Oceans
• Loss of biodiversity increase in invasive
  species

• Chinas environmental problems are among the most
  severe of any major country and are getting
  worse
• Air pollution
• Land Degradation
• Cropland losses
• Desertification
• Disappearing wetlands

4
Deforestation

• Other East Asian Environmental Problems
• Forests and Deforestation
• Little conservation of forests in China much
  more in Japan
• Reforestation programs have been unsuccessful
• Substantial forests found in the far north and
  along Tibetan border
• China may need to import wood products for
  development

5
Deforestation

• Chinas natural forests have been declining over
  the last 50 years
• Deserts are forming quickly due to this
• A desert in China will bury an area the size of
  New Jersey every five years
• Since 1949, the area that was covered by trees in
  China was about 14.4 million Mha
• A few years ago, the forested area in China was
  only .7 Mha
• Lumber production has grown to accommodate the
  demands for the growing population to make
  furniture
• Despite a logging ban passed in 1999, the damage
  has already been done
• China suffers from soil erosion and flooding

6
Impacts 2/3 of Chinas Forests Lost, Leading to
Floods and Deserts
Image Sources The Guardian, BBC News, True
Health.
7
Impacts 25 of Chinas Land Becoming Desert
Image Sourcse BBC News, New York Times, World
Bank.
8
Desertification

• This is common in China
• During 2003, Chinas EPA reported that the Gobi
  Desert had grown by 52, 400 km
• About 900 square miles of land each year become
  desert in China
• This is due to drought, overgrazing, incorrect
  use of ground water, and logging
• Due to this, dust storms and sandstorms are more
  common
• Expanding deserts cause China to lose about 1
  million acres of land each year

9
Desertification

• Every time the desert grows by 2,500 km, China
  loses about 2 to 3 billion dollars annually
• In 2001, a new law was passed to try to control
  desertification
• It asked that land occupants plant trees in areas
  where deforestation had already occurred
• And this has begun to slowly help

10
Over grazing- increase in number of goat, sheep
and cattle
Increasing desertification, the Gobi desert
expanded by 52,400 km2 from 1994 to 1999 Winter
storms create enormous dust storms affecting
Korea and Japan
11
Water Shortage

• Unevenly distributed North only 1/3 of South
• 100 cities suffer from severe shortages, halting
  industrial production. 300 cities out of Chinas
  617 Cities suffer from shortage
• 2/3 from groundwater mining salt water
  intrusion in coastal areas and subsidence in some
  cities
• Worlds worst cessation of river flows. Yellow
  river stopped flowing during 20 of the years
  1972-1997
• Number of days without flow up from 90 in 1980 to
  230 in 1997

12
Water shortage

• Competition rural
• urban intensifying
• Residential use incr.
• from 31 to 134 bil. tons
• from 1995 to 2003
• while industrial use
• Incr. from 52 to 269 bil.
• ton
• Farmers can not
• compete economically
• 1000 ton of water in
• agriculture 200
• while in industry it
• 14,000 of profit.
• Virtual water?

The farmer holds a small irrigator used to lift
water out of a canal using small buckets
13
Impacts Water - Shortage and Pollution

• More than 100 of China's 660 cities face extreme
  water shortages.
• China supports 21 of the world's population with
  just 7 of its water supplies.

Image Sourcse CNN.

• Nearly 90 of China's cities and 75 of its lakes
  are impacted by water pollution.
• Coastal waters suffer from urban run-off, red
  tides, and biodiversity loss.

14
Water Shortage Pollution

• Hard to meet the water needs of the rising
  population, especially when such large numbers of
  people are concentrated in the cities, further
  straining water supplies.
• This water shortage prevents the river from
  flushing its heavy load of pollutants into the
  Yellow Sea. At the same time, the quantity of
  wastewater dumped into the river from nonindustry
  sources has increased, resulting in
  ever-deteriorating conditions (Karasov 2002).
• Some areas are categorized as not even fit to be
  touched by people (Karasov 2002).

15
Water Pollution

• Mainland China has only a per-capita share of
  2700 cubic meters per annum, ¼ of the world's
  average. 2/3 of China's 660 largest cities face
  water deficits.
• Beijing is among the cities most affected.
• "Surface water pollution across the country is
  still relatively grave 59.9 percent of rivers
  were grade 3 or better, 23.7 percent of rivers
  were grade 4 or 5 and 16.4 percent failed to meet
  any grade standard. (China State of the
  Environment 2010)

16
Pollution

• Other East Asian Environmental Problems (cont.)
• Mounting Pollution
• Chinas development causing water pollution,
  toxic waste dumping, and air pollution from the
  burning of high sulfur coal
• Japan, Taiwan, South Korea have implemented
  stringent pollution controls and established
  pollution-generating industries outside of their
  countries to reduce pollution
• Environmental Issues in Japan
• Japan has a relatively clean environment
• Environmental restrictions, cleanup and pollution
  exporting
• Pollution exporting Location of their dirtier
  factories elsewhere in the world

17
Water pollution

• Second most severe env. health problem
• Sewage, agricultural and industrial waste
  contaminates water supplies and cause many
  deceases
• Much surface and groundwater is declared heavily
  polluted by heavy metals incl. lead, mercury,
  cadmium, arsenic and fluorides.
• Chinas per capita water availability only ¼ of
  world average - shortage

Arsenic contaminated water
Skeletal fluorosis
18
Water Pollution

• Due to Chinas population being over one billion,
  their water supply is slowly disappearing.
• Their water is also being contaminated by the
  industrial growth with benzene which causes
  cancer.
• For example, on November 24, 2005, there was an
  explosion at a chemical plant in northeastern
  China.
• It spilled 100 tons of benzene in the Songhua
  River.
• Due to this, the city of Harbin was forced to
  shut its water supply to 3.8 million people for a
  week.

19
Water Pollution

• More than 700 mio people consume drinking water
  contaminated with levels of animal and human
  excreta that exceed maximum permissible levels by
  as much as 86 in rural areas and 28 in urban
  areas
• By 1996 only 5 of industrial and 17 of domestic
  waste received any treatment before being
  discharged in rivers, lakes, oceans etc. However
  these percentages are increasing
• Also dramatic increase in fresh water aquaculture

20
Chinas Polluted Water (Picture)

• http//www.abc.net.au/reslib/200708/r171792_646585
  .jpg

21
The Polluted Yellow River!
22
Migrant worker, shoveling extremely polluted
water and mud from a nearly dried
river. (Johnson,Tim. China's Environmental Woes
are so Large They've Begun to Generate Social
Instability. http//earthhopenetwork.net/economic_
boom_batters_chinas_climate.htm)  
23
Water Pollution

• Substances such as cadmium, lead, DDT, coliform
  bacteria, and arsenic have been found in the
  rivers (Some Polluted Outlets 2004).
• The decline in water conditions across China is
  directly related to China's population growth,
  strong economic growth, and uncontrolled
  urbanization and semiurbanization (Karasov
  2002).
• In 1996, governmental officials in the country
  reported that 40 of the sections of the Huang
  and Yangtze rivers near major cities did not even
  fulfill the minimum standards of water quality
  (Environmental Health Perspectives 2002).

24
Water Pollution Waste Water

• Waste water is when raw sewage is dumped into the
  rivers and carries water-borne diseases like
  typhoid, cholera, dysentery and hepatitis
• This leads to health epidemics and deaths
• It also contaminates farmland due to irrgation.

25
Cancer mortality from water pollution - TVE

                                                                                                                                                     

• Increase in cancer mortality over time in control
  area, polluted and most polluted townships
• Show that increased pollution results in
  increased mortality
• steady increase in cancer mortality over time in
  polluted areas

Liver and stomach cancer deaths doubled since
the 1970s. China has Highest liver cancer dead
rate in the world
26
Cancer mortality and birth defects changes to
agriculture
Impact of new practice of using industrial
wastewater for irrigation 70 km long canal build
in 1960, daily received 400,000 m3 of untreated
wastewater from coalmines and petrochemical,
power and chemical plants increasing cancer
mortality and birth defect
27
Ocean pollution
28
Air Pollutants

• Sulfates
• Sulfur dioxide---China is the worlds leading
  source of---respiratory and cardiovascular
  disease and acid rain---25.5 million tons each
  year
• Ozone
• Black carbon---produced by cars, stoves,
  factories and crop burning
• Desert dust--from sand and dust storms in the
  Gobi Desert
• Mercury

29
Air pollution

• Most severe env. health problem
• 3 out of 4 city dwellers live below Chinas
  air-quality standards
• Acid rain fell on a quarter of cities for more
  than 60 of rainy days
• High mortality rate from lung disease,
• High rate of lung cancer because of smoking

• Iron, steel and chemical factories spew sot, fly
  ash and sulfur dioxide into the air
• Pollutant trapped in the valley and within the
  walls of the city. 2 million people live Taiyuan
  Shansi Province

30
(No Transcript)
31
Air Pollution

• "Overall urban air quality is good with
  relatively heavy pollution in some cities. Among
  471 cities, 3.6 percent met grade 1 air quality
  standard, 79.2 percent met grade 2, 15.5 percent
  met grade 3 and 1.7 percent failed to met grade
  3."
• Interpretation Almost one in five cities still
  fails to meet the low passing grade set by the
  government on an annual basis.

Photograph Guang Niu/Getty Images
32
China Air Pollution

• 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in
  China.

33
Air Pollution

• In Nov 2010, Chinas EPA published a report that
  said 1/3 of 113 cities had failed to meet the
  national air standards
• According to the Chinese government, 1/5 of
  Chinas urban population breathe heavily polluted
  air
• Many places smell like high-sulfur coal and
  leaded gasoline

34
(No Transcript)
35
Impacts Air Pollution

• Nearly 30 of respiratory disease in China is
  attributed to air pollution.
• 500 major cities in China exceed safe air quality
  levels.
• Acid rain affects more than 30 of the country.

Image Source Stephanie B. Ohshita, 2005.

• Over 75 of Chinas SO2 pollution, acid rain, and
  CO2 emissions come from coal combustion.

36
Air Pollution

• Smog is so bad in Beijing and Shanghai that the
  airports are often shut down due to poor
  visibility
• This just happened on January 29, 2013
• In January 2012, more than 150 flights to and
  from Beijing were canceled due to smog
• Highways have been closed due to smog
• The air quality in Beijing is 16 times worse than
  NYC
• Sometimes you cannot see the building a few
  blocks away
• A blue sky is rare
• In Shanghai, you often cannot see the street from
  the 5th floor window

37
Air Pollution

• Only 1 of Chinas 560 million city dwellers are
  considered safe by the World Bank
• From space, astronauts can see the smog over
  China

38
China Air Pollution Causes

• fossil fuels
• Coal
• For industry and heating homes.
• Coal is cheap but pollutes the air.
• Factories
• Vehicles

39
(No Transcript)
40
Lack of Industrial Controls

• Great economic development during the 1980s led
  to increased pollution.
• Demand has risen over time in China and
  industries have met this with increased output.
  They have not added any controls to the air
  released from smokestacks, though.
• By 2020, Chinas carbon dioxide emissions will
  surpass the U.S., and the United States and China
  would contribute more to global warming than all
  other nations combined.

Statistics in this slide are from China Revs Up
2004 unless otherwise labeled.
41
(No Transcript)
42
(No Transcript)
43
Air Pollution

• Now nine out of the ten cities said to have the
  most serious air pollution in the world are
  located in China (Schmidt 2002).
• Urban haze fills the air with the appearance of
  fog.
• Ding Yihui, of the China National Climate Center,
  explains This smog is mainly smoke though, not
  fog which would be comprised of water vapor.
• In the large cities of China, substances such as
  lead, sulfur, carbon monoxide and tiny particles
  of dust are in the air.
• Respiratory diseases cause ten times as many
  fatalities as in the United States.

Statistics in this slide are from China Revs Up
2004 unless otherwise labeled.
44
China has the most deaths from urban air
pollution in the world. (Worldwatch Institute.
Coal, China, and India A Deadly Combination for
Air Pollution?, http//www.worldwatch.org/features
/vsow/2005/12/14)
45
A picture of downtown Hangzhou, China hazy with
smog (Skiba, Tom. Smog in downtown Hangzhou
China, http//cai.blogware.com/blog/Photos/China/
_archives/2005/4/27/625887.htm)
46
Effects of Air Pollution

• Evan Osnos lived in Beijing and in The New Yorker
  he wrote,
• After four years in Beijing, I have learned how
  to gauge the pollution before I open the
  curtains by dawn on the smoggiest days, the
  lungs ache.
• The US Embassy in Beijing installed an air
  monitor on its roof and every hour on Twitter it
  posts the score from 1 being the cleanest to 500
  the dirtiest
• It is normally around 500 and public health
  notices are constantly posted that you should
  avoid all physical activity outside.
• The only time any American city ever reached 300
  was in the midst of a forest fire

47
China - Effects of Air Pollution

• up to 656,000 premature deaths each year
• Crop damage
• Climate change
• Only 1 of people in cities breathe safe air

48
Effects of Air Pollution

• Different colored smog
• Gray comes from iron deposits blown from steel
  mills
• White comes from the chemical factories
• Black comes form the coal mines and plants

49
Effects of Air Pollution

• China has the worlds highest number of deaths
  attributed to air pollution
• In 2007, the WHO estimated that 656,000 Chinese
  died prematurely due to indoor and outdoor air
  pollution
• Air pollution causes premature babies, low-birth
  weight babies, and depresses lung functions in
  healthy people
• Lung cancer is the number one cause of death in
  China
• Asthma is on the rise
• Reduced crop production because the smog blocks
  sunlight over 2/3 of eastern China where rice and
  wheat are harvested

50
(No Transcript)
51
Car Emissions

• Huge shift recently towards driving cars and in
  some areas of the cities, bicycles are no longer
  allowed (Global Refining 2004).
• Most cars built by foreign companies, because
  leaders wanted foreign investors.
• Cars sold in China have much older equipment to
  control emissions than cars sold in Europe or the
  United States
• Emissions standards in China are much lower than
  in Europe and the U.S.

Statistics in this slide are from China Revs Up
2004 unless otherwise labeled.
52
(No Transcript)
53
CO2 emission - China

• Indoor air pollution. Women in Xuan Wei in Yunnan
  province has the highest lung cancer rate among
  Chinese women. From the burning of unclean coals
  in the homes without ventilation
• Improving as industries achieve emission
  standards change from coal to gas

54
Social equity on CO2 emission

• CO2 emission, largely a by-product of energy
  production and use
• Low and middle income countries have seen a
  relatively much higher increase in CO2 emission

55
(No Transcript)
56
(No Transcript)
57
(No Transcript)
58
(No Transcript)
59
(No Transcript)
60
Chinas problem A global issue

• China largest contributor of
• Sulfur oxides
• Chorofluorocarbons
• Ozone depleting substances and
• Carbon dioxides

61
(No Transcript)
62
Coal and Air Pollution

• Coal is the number one source of air pollution in
  China
• China gets 80 of its electricity and 70 of its
  total power from coal
• Around 6 million tons of coal is burned everyday
  to power factories, heat homes, cook meals

63
Coal

• 70 of energy is from coal, used for electricity
  and forging steel.
• Most homes and businesses use coal.
• Coal is cheap and extremely dirty, releasing
  sulfur and other chemicals when burned.
• Some businesses in big cities have switched over
  to fossil fuels, but most still rely heavily on
  coal.
• Previously the government had claimed that the
  cost of solving the problem by building cleaner
  factories was too high.
• Governmental leaders are starting to order
  businesses to clean up, and some of the worst
  polluting factories to shut-down.

Statistics in this slide are from China Revs Up
2004.
64
Reliance on coal

• China's coal consumption in 2010 was 3.2 billion
  metric tonnes (2.3 B in 2006)
• Mainly for production of electricity (73)
• Also by some industries (Steel)

65
Cars are now taking over the roads  (Engler, Yves
Mugyenyi Bianca. Chinas Cars on Road to Ruin.
http//www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id2484)
Bicycles once filled the streets of China
(Wayne, J. Pen. Go Go Speed Racer.
http//www.evolvingtype.com/disabusing/webpage/wor
ds3.htm)
66
Urbanization and Power Shortages

• Although China has recently experienced
  incredible urban expansion, many people suggest
  that the urbanization in Chinas cities is not
  sustainable (Shi and Tu 2006).
• The pace of urbanization is forcing the country
  to use more oil and natural gas and has created a
  country hungry for electricity, which in turn
  effects the global environment, as well as
  Chinas local environment (Zweig and Jianhai
  2005).

67
Massive power shortage

• Power shortages yearly since 2004 insufficient
  generating capacity, fuel shortages, blackout
  ordered to meet a year-end energy-efficiency
  target
• deficit of 30 million kilowatt hours this summer

68
Soil erosion affects 19 of land

• As a result of human activity, such as
• Deforestation for agriculture and logging
• Destruction of vegetation (grassland)
• Cultivation on steep slopes
• Drying out of wetlands for agriculture and city
  develop
• Consequences
• Deposition of sediment in the river bed causing
  more frequent flooding leading to the deposition
  of coarse sediment particles and secondary
  alkalization
• In one area more than doubling the area of eroded
  land from the 1960s to 80s

69
Severity of Human Induced Soil Degradation
The destruction of agricultural land poses a big
problem for Chinas food security
70
Consequences for Chinas people

• Socio-economic losses
• 72 mil per year is spend to control just one
  weed imported from Brazil for pig forage
• 250 mil in annual loss arising from factory
  closure due to shortage of water just in one city
• Sand storm damage app 540 mil/year
• Acid rain damage to crop and forest 730 mil/year
• 6 bil cost of green wall to protect Beijing
• 7 bil/year losses due to desertification
• 7 bil/year due to losses from other alien
  species
• 27 bil loss due to flood in 1998
• 54 bil/year losses due to water and air pollution

71
Consequences for Chinas people

• Health cost
• 1996 to 2001 spending on public health incr. by
  80
• App 300,000 death/year due to air pollution
• Lead blood level in cities twice the level
  considered to be dangerous
• Natural disasters
• AD300 to 1949 dust storms once every 31 years.
  Since 1990 almost one every year soil erosion
• Drought damage about 160,000 km2 of cropland
  every year double the area in 1950s
• Increasing flood frequency

72
China in the global village

• The shear size of Chinas population, its
  landmass and economy guarantee that its
  environmental problems will spread to the rest of
  the world
• Beneficial and harmful imports
• China importing natural gas and oil reduces
  environmental damage from the use of coal
• Countries transferring pollution-intensive
  industries to China using technology often
  prohibited in the exporting country
• China paid to accept toxic trash from developed
  countries (increased from 1 mio to 11 mio t/p.a.
  1990-1997)
• Exports causing damage at home
• Products go abroad but pollution stays at home

73
China in the global village

• Invasive spices exported (chestnut blight, Dutch
  elm disease, Asian long-horned beetle)
• Exports air pollution into the atmosphere
• Exports deforestation. Chinas import of wood has
  increased 6 fold mainly from Malaysia, Papa New
  Guinea and Brazil

74
Chinas problem A global issue

• Dust and aerial pollutants already impact
  neighboring countries
• Leading importer of tropical rainforest timber
  a driving force behind tropical deforestation
• What will happen if China achieves 1st world
  standard of living with 1st world environmental
  impact per capita