China to expand anti-pollution programme this year
More cities to join monitoring network to measure tiny particles in light of worsening air quality
The mainland will step up its fight against air pollution this year and expand its PM2.5 monitoring network in the wake of the dense smog that has blanketed many regions this month.
Meanwhile, Shanghai issued its first haze warning of the year yesterday, meaning visibility was less than 3,000 metres.
The municipal environmental protection authority used a crying doll symbol to illustrate the "heavily polluted" air, with the PM2.5 level reaching 250 micrograms per cubic metre in the early afternoon, the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Centre said.
Environment Minister Zhou Shengxian told a national environmental protection work conference yesterday that the monitoring and publication of readings for PM2.5 - fine, respirable particles 2.5 microns or less in diameter - as well as controlling air pollution would be a priority this year, China Radio International reported.
The state-run station quoted Zhou as saying the mainland aimed to cut emissions of sulphur dioxide 2 per cent this year and nitrogen oxides 3 per cent.
"Emissions of air pollutants have reached a very high level and it is an uphill battle to cut them," he said. "A major percentage of incremental emissions is from industrial waste and the nitrogen oxide released from vehicles also keeps on rising."