Chinese Haven't a Clue about Environmental Protection

EarthVision Reports, 22 June 1999

BEIJING, June 22, 1999 - An official government survey in China is saying the general public there has no clear idea of what it should and can do for environmental protection. The official Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying the Chinese people, while alarmed at their country's disastrous environmental management, know little about ecological protection and see it as the state's responsibility. Agence France Presse also ran a report on the study, quoting it as saying most Chinese citizens value China's economic development over environmental protection. That article also said development has been accompanied by pollution so severe that an estimated 178,000 urban residents suffer premature deaths each year.

The article quotes a source at the World Bank as saying in Beijing alone, pollutant-belching factories, coal-fired heating systems and decrepit vehicles mean air pollution is up to 20 times levels found in developed countries.

According to Xinhua, the survey, which was conducted by the State Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Education, was the most comprehensive of its kind ever conducted in China. The article said 9,202 Chinese across the country were interviewed between July and October of last year.

References

1. http://204.255.211.112/ColdFusion/news_top10.cfm?start