Environmental Pollution and Protection in China

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Environmental Pollution and Protection in China

• Zhigang Li

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State of Pollution by 1997 (Edmonds, 1999)

• Water pollution
• The seven major river systems have been badly
  polluted.
• Ground water and coastal regions are polluted to
  various degrees.
• Air pollution
• All major Chinese city centres have SO2 emission
  levels which exceed legal limits.
• NOx emission due to automobile traffic also
  exceed safety levels in city centres.

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State of Pollution by 1997 (continued)

• Intensification of agriculture and the growing
  TVEs has increased pollution outside cities.
• Chemical fertilizer and pesticide usage continues
  to climb.
• Chinas fertilizer usage per hectare is twice the
  world average.
• Rural industrial wastes accounts for 38 of total
  sold wastes, 7 of industrial waste water, and
  56 of industrial dust.

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State of Pollution by 1997 (continued)

• Domestic waste
• Rubbish in urban areas contains inorganic matter
  at levels similar to those in developed counties.
• However, rubbish treatment technology may be
  lagging behind.

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E-Waste of China (Tong and Wang, 2004)
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More about E-waste

• http//www.crra.com/ewaste/ttrash2/ttrash2/

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Population and Environment of China (Banister,
1998)
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Air Pollution and Mortality (Brajer and Mead,
2004)

• Data
• Pollution and population figures for 38 Chinese
  cities.
• Pollution data are mostly from annual
  environmental report posted on the Internet by
  municipal environmental protection bureaus.

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Environmental cost of water pollution in
Chongqing (Vennemo et al., 2001)

• The waters of Chongqing are widely polluted
• Almost half of the rivers are heavily or severely
  polluted by 1996.
• Major pollutants coliform bacteria, ammonia,
  oil, and other organic pollutants, and heavy
  metals.
• Causes of pollution industrial waste water,
  urban sewage, waste, soil erosion, and
  atmospheric deposition.

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Environmental Kuznets Curze (De Groot et al.,
2004)

• Environmental Kuznets Curve
• A hump-shaped relationship between per capita
  income and pollution.

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Waste water (1982-97)
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Waste gas (1982-97)
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Solid Waste (1982-97)
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EKC (Shaw et al.)
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EKC between per capita income and SO2
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EKC between per capita income and TSP
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EKC between per capita income and API (Air
polution index)
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Anti-Pollution Institution and Policies (Vermeer,
1998)

• State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
• A nation-wide control network built in the 1980s
• Partly supported by foreign project funding
• Employees doubled between 1985 and 1995 to 88,000
  people.
• Very limited power TVEs hardly monitored
  inspection is uneven and infrequent.

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State Capacity and Environmental Protection
Enforcement (Schwartz, 2003)

• Measures of State Capacity
• Human capital related to environmental education
• Fiscal strength
• Per capita income
• Funds related to environmental protection
• Reach/responsiveness
• Media development
• Compensation for pollution accidents
• Complaining about pollution

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• Measures of Enforcement
• Enforcement effectiveness is measured by the gap
  between emission targets (set by the central
  government) and actual emissions.

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Pollution Enforcement in China (Wang and Wheeler,
2003)

• Data
• Around 3,000 heavily polluting firms in China in
  1993.
• Self-reported pollution
• Actual pollution levy

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Chinas Pollution Levy System

• The idea of a pollution charge system was adopted
  in 1978.
• By 1982, 27 of 29 provinces in China established
  some pollution levy system.
• Process
• Self-reporting
• Verification and collection of levies by local
  environmental authorities.
• Effective levy rates vary significantly across
  Chinese provinces.

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Water Pollution Levy Rate in 1993
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Wastewater Charge
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Air pollution charge
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Total Charge
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Distribution of Effective Pollution Levies
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Inspection, Pollution Prices, and Environmental
Performance (Dasgupta et al. 2001)
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