China News Service:
The air quality in Hebei province has improved in the past two years. What measures has the government taken to prevent and control air pollution? And what achievements has Hebei made?
Xu Qin:
Thank you for your concerns about Hebei's air environment. A good environment is beneficial to our people. The CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and the provincial government firmly implement the decisions and plans of the Party Central Committee. We prioritize ecological conservation and green development, and we continue to control air pollution. General Secretary Xi Jinping requires that we build a beautiful Hebei with blue sky, green land, and clean water. The Hebei government implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and has always highlighted the control of air pollution, making contributions to the region's air quality.
First, we established the Ecological Protection Committee and appointed the provincial Party Secretary and the provincial governor as directors. Second, we mulled over the "1+18" policy system to prevent and control air pollution. In the system, we take measures in six aspects to improve the air quality, which covers a wide spectrum of areas. After years of efforts, the average density of PM2.5 in Hebei province has already dropped by 39.8 % in the past four years, and in 2018, the average density of PM2.5 dropped by 14 %. Currently, the air quality in Hebei province is the best it has been in the last six years. The measures we took are as follows:
The first measure is the prevention and control of industrial pollution. The emissions from the industry can put great pressure on the environmental carrying capacity. We reduce the production capacity and upgrade the steel and coal industries to achieve ultra-low emissions. More than 120,000 heavily polluting enterprises were closed down and upgraded. The emissions that pollute the air have greatly reduced. From 2013 to 2018, we have reduced the emissions of dust by 276,000 tons and reduced the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by 45.5% and 37.1% respectively.
The second measure is the prevention and control of pollution from coal burning. Dispersed coal operations are one of the major sources of air pollution in autumn and winter. We take measures to control the emissions from dispersed coal burning in rural areas by replacing the coal with gas and electricity. So far, a total of 5.35 million households in Hebei province have been upgraded. This year, we plan to upgrade 1.8 million households, which is in accordance with the storage volume of gas and electricity. This kind of replacement contributes to at least 30% of the improvement in air quality.The cities around Beijing -Langfang city, Baoding city, and 20 counties that cover a total area of 118,000 square kilometers - are listed as the "no-coal" area. This greatly reduces air pollution from coal burning. Hebei will cut the total consumption of coal by 4 million tons this year.
The third measure is the prevention and control of pollution by vehicles. Hebei is an important passage of transportation with a large number of vehicles passing by. The pollution from vehicles also causes great pressure on the environment, so we need to improve the quality of refined oil and related oil products. Starting from July 1, the "National VI" emission standard will be implemented. We will further optimize the transportation structure by replacing truck transport with rail transport, in a bid to further reduce emissions. We also encourage the local railway administration to cooperate with companies to build special lines for transportation, which will reduce the emissions from vehicles.
The fourth measure is to prevent and control wind-borne dust and promote afforestation. The efforts to prevent and control wind-borne dust has been made in six aspects, including construction sites, urban roads, bare lands in urban and rural areas, stock grounds of companies, highways, and surface mines. Meanwhile, we promote afforestation. From 2013 to 2018, we have afforested 2.33 million hectares of land. As Mr. Wang has mentioned before, we plan to afforest 0.66 million hectares of land this year. The Saihanba Forest Farm has created a green miracle by transforming the barren wasteland to a sea of forests. The forest farm received top environmental honors from the U.N.
The fifth measure is to tackle heavy air pollution. We have built a trans-regional governance model with Beijing and Tianjin for joint environmental prevention and control, unifying the efforts of early warning, emergency response, and joint law enforcement in different areas in order to make sure all kinds of measures will be carried out to control the heavy air pollution.
The sixth measure is to focus on rectifying prominent environmental problems. We will focus on rectifying the ecological problems found during environmental inspections and always look back to examine how the government controls the pollution. We will ensure the strict law enforcement and measures are put in place, in a bid to improve the air quality. As you can see, the air quality in Hebei province has improved a lot. With these measures in place, the air quality in Hebei will become better in the future.
