context: An economic hub making up 11.7-percent national population and 20-percent economic output, the Delta region is regarded as the spearhead of a new development model. Environmental protection in the region must be emphasised hand-in-hand with economic development, says Xi. Pilot programs are announced earlier, and central funding is ready to pour in: the size and importance of the Yangtze River region necessitate central support and inter-provincial cooperation.
Chairman Xi Jinping 习近平 addressed a Yangtze River Delta development forum in Hefei on 20 August, stressing the need to promote integrated environment protection of the Delta. The region should take the lead in setting up joint protection and governance of the environment, says Xi.
He suggests
- prioritising the protection and restoration of Yangtze River environment
- promoting municipal sewage and waste treatment
- improving tailings management and addressing pollution from the chemical industry, agricultural non-point sources and vessels
- facilitating treatment and recycling of organic waste in the Taihu Lake region
Despite progress in pollution treatment, the Delta region
- suffers from severe air pollution in autumn and winter, with an average PM2.5 level 1.8 times that of other seasons
- lags in integrated development of infrastructure, environment protection and public services
Ten cities failed to achieve PM2.5 level reduction targets, five of them seeing a y-o-y increase in PM2.5 level, during autumn and winter 2018-19.
The centre and localities are ramping up actions
- the first phase of National Green Development Fund with a total scale of ¥88.5 bn will mainly invest in the Yangtze River Economic Belt
- Jiangsu and Anhui implemented cross-provincial compensation mechanism at the Chenqian section of Chuhe River
- in 2019 water quality of the Chenqian section reached grade III, with Jiangsu compensating upstream Anhui C¥20 million
- Shanghai plans to promote environment standards, monitoring, and law enforcement unification
- Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui signed a memorandum to unify environmental penalty criteria in June 2020