China’s Environment
20 03 2008Environmental issues are the second most frequent subject of public protest in China after disputes over land. Wonder why?
Some of the actual facts are:
80% of China’s electricity comes from coal; the sulfur that spews from the smokestacks of coal-fired power stations causes acid rain and the soot generates smog.
The OECD cites a finding that air pollution alone reduces China’s output by between 3% and 7% a year, mainly because of respiratory ailments that keep workers at home.
The amount of water available per head of population is only a quarter of the global average. In the arid North and West of China the figure is only one tenth of the global average.
Two in three cities already suffer from water shortages of some sort.
Groundwater in China is being pumped out much faster than is being replenished.
Most cities don’t treat sewage water at all; Beijing the hosting city for the 2008 Olympics doesn’t treat 100% of their sewage water.
Over half the water in the seven biggest river basins is unfit for consumption, according to a recent report from the World Bank. The resulting health problems reduce rural output by 2%, the World Bank found. The cost to industry and agriculture of dirty and scarce water sap GDP by another percentage point.
The World Bank put the price tag for China’s air and water pollution at $100 billion a year, or about 5.8% of GDP.
China’s paramount environmental regulator estimates the annual cost of environmental damage at 8 - 13% of GDP - much the same as the overall economic growth rate.
These are really scary numbers which make me think about Thomas Friedman, NY Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author, quote on climate change: “Don’t change your light bulbs; change your leaders.” Bono from U2 during the recent Davos Forum suggested changing both, I concur.
Technorati Tags: Environment, Water pollution, Air pollution, Beijing 2008 Olympics, GDP, World Bank
