https://doi.org/10.1038/4351179a. Overuse has led to severe shortages, and industry along Chinas major water sources has polluted supplies. On Saturday, January 12 at 8 p.m., @BeijingAir issued the following reading: "01-12-2013 20:00; PM2.5; 886.0; 755; Beyond Index". Nuclear waste. Article 2). Of the 142 countries for which environmental sustainability was evaluated, China ranked 129th, higher only than Nigeria among our 15 comparison countries (Table 1). PubMed Whether independently or in collaboration with others, corporations and governments can combine knowledge and other resources to make gains that will benefit the planet. To avoid conflicts of interest, regulation of environmental resources should be transferred to the SEPA from agencies responsible for developing those resources. B.) About 300,000 deaths per year are attributed to air pollution7. Since economic reform began in 1978, environmental degradation has continued to accelerate10,14, largely due to rapid industrialization, including TVEs. Also encouraging is the 1998 ban on logging and the start of the Natural Forest Conservation Program (Fig. Since 1993, China's oil consumption has exceeded its oil production, and the gap is widening9. We are global design and development agency. For financial and various other reasons, it has often been impossible for China to adopt the advanced technology standards of developed nations, which in turn profit and gain competitive advantage by exporting outdated or even illegal technologies. Environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have pushed the government to confront problems. How China and the world affect each other. In 2020, China built over three times more [PDF] new coal-power capacity than the rest of the world combined, according to Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Already, China is the world's largest producer of aquaculture-grown food, and is the sole country in which aquaculture provides more fish and aquatic foods than wild fisheries. As a result, the white sturgeon has been pushed to the brink of extinction, previously abundant fish species such as the yellow croaker and hairtail must be imported, the catch of wild fish in the Yangtze River has declined by 75%, and that river had to be closed to fishing for the first time in 2003 to protect fishery resources from collapse. September 29, 2022 Science Connected does not endorse products or services. Environmental problems are accelerating, and attempted solutions are accelerating, but which horse will win the race? In 1973 the government's Leading Group for Environmental Protection was established, which evolved in 1988 into the National Environmental Protection Agency, and in 1998 became the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA)12. The 1998 floods that affected 240 million people shocked the government into action, including the banning of any further logging of natural forests in upper and middle reaches of watersheds of major rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. (2019). Ravi Fernando, (2012), Sustainable globalization and implications for strategic corporate and national sustainability, Corporate Governance, Vol. ADS Western Governors University Editorial Board Environmental Protection in China (in Chinese) (China Environmental Science Press, Beijing, 2000). This threatens food security16, because while cropland area has been declining, population and per capita food consumption have been increasing, and the area of cultivatable land is limited. However, when the ban expired in 2018, construction of new plants ramped up again. Health costs. Desertified land is now shrinking on average by nearly one thousand square miles each year, according to government figures. Exports causing damage at home. In other words, China's achievement of developed-world consumption standards will approximately double the world's human resource use and environmental impact. Because there are so many people in china there is a lot of air pollutionfrom transportation such as cars. With the expansion of globalization, whether it has brought China more good than harm is widely debated, A case for globalization The three best-known pests of North American tree populations the chestnut blight, the misnamed Dutch elm disease, and the Asian long-horned beetle originated in China or somewhere nearby in East Asia19. Since 1980, the reduction in China's energy intensity (energy consumption per dollar of GDP) has been unprecedented among developing countries, thanks to energy conservation, phasing-out of inefficient old facilities, adoption of modern technologies and shifts from energy-intensive heavy industry to less intensive light industry and service sectors. & Zheng, Y. Phyton 42, 255264 (2002). Chinas average temperature and sea levels have risen faster than the global average, according to a 2020 report from Chinas National Climate Center. pp. Guo, X. in China Environment and Development Review Vol. (Norton, New York, 1995). Beneficial and harmful imports. Grassland degradation has implications beyond its usefulness to China's farmers, because the grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau contain the headwaters for the major rivers of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as of China (Supplementary Fig. 2. Dean, J. M. Can. The World Bank China: Air, Land, and Water (World Bank, Washington DC, 2001). China's population of 1.3 billion people 20% of the world's total has more than doubled over the past half century (Supplementary Fig. Other possibilities include: training environmental planners and managers; sharing methods for conflict resolution; transferring environmentally benign technologies, such as ones for cleaner manufacturing, water conservation and waste treatment; and transferring high-efficiency technologies, which would yield the additional advantage of reducing the already growing competition between China and other countries for energy and for other global resources. Chinese environmental laws and regulations were written largely piecemeal, lack effective implementation and evaluation of long-term consequences, and need a systems approach. If you don't remember your password, you can reset it by entering your email address and clicking the Reset Password button. Its carbon-intensive industries have caused additional environmental challenges, including water scarcity and soil contamination. 2 (in Chinese) (Editorial Board) 5371 (Social Science Documentation Publishing House, Beijing, 2004). Much of that cooperation stopped under President Donald Trump, who took a confrontational stance toward Beijing and questioned the science of climate change. Polluted air and water can be cleaned up, but lost species and genetic materials cannot be restored. & Wang, F. Introduction to Natural Forest Conservation Program (in Chinese) (China's Forestry Publishing House, Beijing, 1999). Alternating droughts and floods have become more frequent and are more damaging than either disaster alone, because droughts destroy vegetation, and then flooding of bare ground produces worse erosion. However, following through wont be easy, experts say, as the government struggles to maintain economic growth; ease public discontent; and overcome tensions with the United States, the second-largest emitter. ISSN 0028-0836 (print). 28), and garbage shipped via Hong Kong (Fig. More serious is the $6 billion cost of the green wall of trees being built to shield Beijing against sand and dust, the annual direct losses due to desertification ($7 billion), and the $7 billion per year in losses created by several major alien species other than alligator weed. According to McMichael, globalization has already caused health-related changes, and still more changes will occur at an especially rapid rate if numerous parties dont intervene promptly. Despite deep-seated political and economic tensions, the rivals have worked together in the past and experts see opportunities for future cooperation. A 2007 study conservatively estimated that just the PM (particulate matter) emissions of global shipping - estimated at 1.6 million metric tons - kill 60,000 people per year, which the authors expected to increase . (Most references and data sources are listed in the Supplementary Information. (PDF 36 kb), Graph of Chinas birth rate, death rate, and growth rate. China already leads the world in the production of sulphur oxides, with an output double that of the United States. There were flow stoppages on the lower Yellow River in 20 of the years between 1972 and 1997, and the number of days without any flow increased from 90 days in the 1980s to an astonishing 230 in 1997 (ref. . China's area of mangrove declined by 73% from the early 1950s to 2002. The global arms trade is big business and the United States accounts for more than 40 percent of the worlds weapons exports. Environmental health in China: progress towards clean air and safe water. But its use may increase fourfold by 2010 through increases in production from domestic reserves (53.3 trillion cubic feet at the beginning of 2004), and through imports, by pipeline and in the form of liquified natural gas (LNG). To obtain 6). Growth of national (brown line) and per capita (red line) GDP. Internet Explorer). Please join our panelists as they discuss the upcoming U.S. midterm elections, the ramifications for future legislation, and what the results might portend for the future of politics and polarization in the United States. China has phased out leaded petrol in little more than a year, something that took Europe and America many years to achieve. China's wood imports, both from tropical and temperate countries, have increased sixfold since the ban31. In response, Beijing has implemented policies to curb emissions and stem further degradation, such as by signing the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate and pledging to be carbon neutral by 2060. Many older people now live alone, rather than with their children and grandchildren. In reality, although there has been much effort to control environmental degradation, economic development often takes priority at the local level and is still the main criterion for judging government officials' performance. boosting forest coverage by around six billion cubic meters by 2030. The outcome will affect not just China, but the entire world. 4). If China's per capita consumption rates do reach such levels, and even if populations, production and consumption rates everywhere else remained unchanged, those rate increases alone would translate into a 94% increase in total world production or consumption in industrial metals, and a 106% increase in the case of oil. Department of Nature Conservancy (SEPA) Report on China's Ecological Issues (in Chinese) (China Environmental Science Press, Beijing, 1999). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60957-0, We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content and ads. For decades, China resisted making commitments under the UN framework. the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in The government released a plan in 2015 for preventing water pollution that included placing controls on polluting industries. With increasing affluence, China's per capita consumption of meat, milk and eggs increased four-, four- and eightfold, respectively, between 1978 and 2002; its egg consumption now equals that of rich nations. From 1978 to 2003 its production of steel, cement, chemical fibre and colour TVs increased by 7, 13, 42 and 17,214 times, respectively (Supplementary Fig. Its ecosystems range from glaciers and deserts to grasslands, wetlands, tropical rainforests, lakes and oceans (Supplementary Fig. China's environment in a globalizing world. However, the efforts to preserve Haitis disappearing species could lead to positive changes at the governmental level and yield similar collaborations between experts. The percentage of industrial waste water treated has been increasing, but only 20% of domestic waste water is treated, compared with 80% in the developed world. (2018). Technology levels in some TVE sectors are advanced, but they are low in other sectors such as brick-making, coal-mining, cement-making, paper production, pesticide and fertilizer manufacturing, coking and metal-casting, which consume more resources and produce more pollution than larger state-owned enterprises. In effect, this means that China, like Japan, will be conserving its forests by exporting deforestation31, already at or close to devastating levels in several countries, including Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Chemical factories and other industrial sites are mainly to blame, but trash, electronic waste, rare-earth-metal mining, overuse of pesticides, and contaminated water also contribute. Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. 317 (Sharpe, Armonk, New York, 1998). Some developed countries export untreated garbage to China, including waste containing toxic chemicals. (DOC 21 kb), Details of ecosystems in China. November 3, 2022 and JavaScript. The Guanting Reservoir in Beijing was declared unfit for drinking in 1997. As an importer of tropical lumber, China now stands second only to Japan, which it is rapidly overtaking. Many specific recommendations follow directly from our review. McMichael, A. J. This is due to a reduction in birth rate, thanks to factors such as the one-child policy. Such thinking began to change in 1972, when China sent a delegation to the First United Nations Conference on the Human Environment11. Erosion is especially devastating on the Loess Plateau on the middle stretch of the Yellow River, which is about 70% eroded, and increasingly on the Yangtze River, whose sediment discharge from erosion exceeds the combined discharges of the Nile and Amazon, the world's two longest rivers. Invasive species exported. China's environment is complex (Fig. From 1996 to 2001, China's spending on public health increased by 80%, or more than 13% per year (from $35 billion in 1996 to $63 billion in 2001)24, in part to cope with environmental problems. Aerial particles from China also affect the regional and global atmosphere. 5). 4). Since 2002, China has overtaken the United States to receive the most foreign investment annually of any country (Supplementary Table). 4. All of these soil problems have joined urbanization and land appropriation for mining, forestry and aquaculture in reducing China's cropland. China has been pushing hard for cleaner production and sustainable development. But many regions continue to experience stretches of extreme pollution, and hundreds of mostly northern cities still suffer from high levels of PM2.5. More specifically, the health sector must collaborate with other industries and figure out how to alter the ways in which humans produce and share things and engage in activities that comprise their existence while keeping climate change and its effects in mind. More industries are achieving emission standards. Many Chinese officials and economists believe that PIIs benefit China by raising economic efficiency and reducing pollution in the long run. One way would be to support Chinese environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), because in China, as elsewhere, those problems exceed governments' capacity to solve them unaided. The SEPA should have the power to close down heavy polluters, because many local officials protect polluters to boost GDP, the main criterion for their promotions. Brown, L. R. Who Will Feed China? Broadly speaking, globalization refers to the increased interdependence of nations and the way people from different cultures and geographic locations can receive goods or communicate with each other thanks to free trade and information technology, among other things. Even short-term exposure to air pollution can result in low infant weight and increased morbidity and mortality25. One country that suffers greatly from a negative consequence of globalization is China. Nevertheless, these reserves must be better managed and more strategically important reserves are needed18. Corrections: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the number of electric vehicles sold in 2019. When nations realize the value of energy products like oil, coal, and natural gas, they tend to over-depend on them. Production and consumption of these industrial and agricultural products leads to air, water and land pollution and other forms of environmental damage. Besides ameliorating China's environmental problems by increasing environmental awareness and decreasing human fertility, educational investments would yield economic benefits by upgrading the skills of China's work force. Besides heavy economic losses, pollution and resource competition have triggered numerous social clashes in China, including 18 conflicts over forest resource management in southwestern China compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2001. In 2013, the number of abrupt environmental incidents, including protests, rose to 712, a 31 percent jump from the previous year. About 75% of lakes are polluted. Importing countries contribute to China's pollution. Despite a fall in population growth rate, the number of Chinese is projected to reach almost 1.5 billion by 2030. Salinization has affected 9% of China's lands, mainly due to poor design and management of irrigation systems. It has brought changes in all the endeavors of people across society. 5). 7b), both have recently accelerated almost exponentially. Pollution of the air, water, and soil has major consequences for the health and livelihoods of Chinas massive population. The Chinese government has encouraged foreign investment through the development of special economic zones in which foreign investors receive preferential tax and tariff treatment. Acid rain fell on a quarter of its cities for more than 60% of rainy days per year in the 1990s and now affects a quarter of China's area, making it among the world's most severely affected countries8. Pauly, D. et al. its people at risk of many acute and chronic diseases. China cannot regain its greatness in the world if its people continue to breathe polluted air, drink toxic water, and eat tainted food, writes Huang. Behind these impressive statistics lurks a mixed picture. Air. But PIIs cause severe damage to the environment, as well as to human health and socioeconomic well-being, and some of the damage, such as biodiversity losses, is irreversible. China's fertility rate in 2003 (1.9 births per woman) (Supplementary Table 1) and population growth rate in 2003 (0.7%) were the fourth lowest among the 15 major countries that we tabulate (Table 1). On the other hand, some imports are unequivocally harmful to China's environment. The number of cars is rising, and croplands and natural wetlands are disappearing. Google Scholar. Exported deforestation. Air pollution, water scarcity, and soil contamination remain threats to the health and livelihoods of Chinas people, increasing dissatisfaction with the government. For many years, China has been struggling to tackle high pollution levels that are crippling its major cities. Like the rest of the world, China will increasingly suffer over the next few decades from the effects of climate change, which include sea-level rise, stronger storms, and more intense heat waves. This has consequences for Chinas food security: An estimated 12 million tons of the 664 million tons of grain produced annually are polluted by heavy metals. Impact of regional climate change on human health. Chinas carbon emissions threaten global efforts to fight climate change. On the other hand, several air-quality indicators have shown positive signs. Globalization is an inescapable factor in the global economy today. The projected drop in household size to 2.2 people6 by the year 2030 alone would add over 250 million new households more than the total in the entire Western Hemisphere in 2000 even if China's population size remained constant. China has not suffered a nuclear accident in its three decades of operating nuclear power plants, but some experts are concerned [PDF] that the risk will rise as the country ramps up new construction and as existing plants age. An estimated sixty thousandpeoplein China die of illnesses caused by water pollution every year. China's economy is big, and growing fast (Fig. Growth of free trade has caused changes not only in one aspect. Possible examples include: eliminating subsidies for environmentally damaging industries, such as coal; setting fair prices for ecosystem services that are now grossly underpriced, such as water; enhancing emissions trading to reduce pollution; imposing more environmental taxes, such as a higher consumption tax on cars; compensating residents in and around nature reserves, such as those for the endangered giant pandas; and incorporating direct and indirect environmental costs (such as pollution) as well as values of ecosystem services (such as of wetlands) into accounting from local to national levels. Among the 47 key cities for environmental protection, 11 and 29 have exceeded the national air-quality standards for SO2 and particulate concentrations, respectively, including Beijing15. It has caused, The effects of globalization on the environment in China, Analysis Of Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Romance Hero, Analysis Of Strange Memes, By Sherry Turkle, Harmful Effects Of Recycling In Landfills. Natural gas accounts for just 3% of China's energy consumption today. Is China on track to comply with its 2020 Copenhagen Carbon Intensity Commitment?. The beloved American pika is losing its habitat. Conversely, southern China is wet, but heavy rainstorms cause erosion on slopes. But China's per capita use of energy in 2001 was only a ninth of that in the United States, and half of the world average. China Daily http://test.china.org.cn/english/2003/Apr/61832.htm (2003). Pollution and overfishing are degrading freshwater fisheries because fish consumption is rising steeply. Extreme heat events and droughts will also become more common. Even if China reaches its domestic goals, its financing of nonrenewable energy projects abroad through BRI could make it much harder for the planet to curb climate change, says American Universitys Judith Shapiro, coauthor of the book China Goes Green: Coercive Environmentalism for a Troubled Planet. Science 302, 13591361 (2003). But the Chinese Communist Party fears activism could catalyze democratic social change, and so has constrained the efforts of organizations, activists, and grassroots movements. Its environmental problems are among the most severe of any major country, and are mostly getting worse. Because every effort is worth it. with Christopher J. Dodd, John E. Sununu and Amy Walter In his in-depth academic article, Anthony J. McMichael from the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University asserts that the effects of globalization are not separate, encapsulated events, but multifaceted phenomena that have a domino-like effect on the environment. Average annual number of red tides in Chinese seas. Human well-being, Environmental Justice, Environmental Policy and the practicalities of Sustainability in Scotland. The other most serious forms of land degradation are the destruction of grasslands and wetlands. To meet demand for fish products, production of aquacultured freshwater fish has increased steeply (Fig. (PDF 41 kb), Graph of energy consumption composition in China. January 31, 2022, A Guide to Global COVID-19 Vaccine Efforts, Backgrounder After setting out some background information about China, we shall discuss the types of Chinese environmental impacts, their consequences for the Chinese, reciprocal impacts of China and other countries, China's future prognosis, and some recommendations. In his paper Sustainable Globalization and Implications for Strategic Corporate and National Sustainability, Fernando points out how climate and poverty are the two all-pervading global sustainability challenges. And even if leaders think about these challenges, its typically only with a short-term mind-set. Xinhua News Agency http://english.people.com.cn/200403/31/eng20040331_139043.shtml (2004). Globalization is a process of interaction and comprehensiveness among the people, companies, governments that from different countries. PubMedGoogle Scholar, Legends for supplementary figures 1 to 11. Johnson, T. M., Liu, F. & Newfarmer, R. Clear Water, Blue Skies: China's Environment in the New Century (World Bank, Washington DC, 1997). 10), natural forests, especially old growth, have shrunk. This error was fixed on May 27, 2021. As one of the most rapidly growing countries and the largest energy consumer in the world, environmental pollution in China, including that of air, water, and land, puts its people at risk of many acute and chronic diseases.1,2 Recent reports that more than half of China's groundwater is polluted, and of so-called cancer villages where increased incidence of cancer might be due to industrially . The developments are cumulative, each building on those before in positive feedback. North Korea Has Escalated Its Military Provocations. The harmful consequences of this will accumulate. A curation of original analyses, data visualizations, and commentaries, examining the debates and efforts to improve health worldwide. You are also agreeing to our. China and the rest of the world have become closely interconnected. The huge dust storm of 5 May 1993 killed a hundred people. Are these weapons effective in shaping the war? Between 1992 and 2004 the World Bank provided more than $22 billion to China, of which approximately 10% was used for environment-related projects. China's leaders once believed that humans could and should conquer nature, and that only capitalist societies suffered from environmental damage11. But its Belt and Road Initiative still finances coal-fired power plants abroad. Two major factors in the dramatic increase in household numbers and reduction in household size are divorces and declines in the number of households where several generations live under one roof. The reserves cover 14.4% of China's territory, a percentage higher than the world average and than the percentages of most developed countries. & Zhou, G.) 4446 (Qingdao Press, Qingdao, 1997). Yang, L., Stulen, I., De Kok, L. J. 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Globalization refers to the development of an integrated world economy, exchange of cultural views, thoughts, and products (Wikipedia, 2013). Because some governmental officials have interests in companies that damage the environment, it is hard for them to enforce environmental policies. Now researchers at MIT have discovered that air pollution in China's cities may be contributing to low levels of happiness amongst the . Article Almost all coastal seas are polluted1, mainly by pollutants from the land, plus oil spills and other marine activities. However, 1520% of China's species including the giant panda are now endangered, largely by human activities1.
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