BEIJING: In the face of the severe and complex situation of ecological and environmental protection, China continues to safeguard its achievements in air quality management. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment stated on Tuesday that the national rate of good air quality days reached 85.5 percent in 2023.
According to Global Times, Pei Xiaofei, Director of the Department of Communications and Education and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, stated that the rate of good air quality days in 2023 was 85.5 percent. However, when excluding days with unusually high dust concentrations, this figure increased to 86.8 percent. This surpassed the annual target by 0.6 percentage points and showed a notable 3.5 percentage point improvement compared to the year 2019.
In terms of atmospheric environmental quality, the average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in cities at the prefectural level and above in China was 30 micrograms per cubic metre in 2023, better t
han the annual target (32.9 micrograms per cubic metre) by about 3.0 micrograms per cubic metre, a decrease of 16.7 percent compared to 2019.
The proportion of heavily polluted days nationwide was 1.6 percent, which adjusted to 1.1 percent after excluding days with abnormal dust pollution, meeting the annual target, Pei said.
Regarding water environmental quality, in 2023, the proportion of good quality (Class I-III) sections of national surface water was 89.4 percent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points year-on-year, while the proportion of poor quality (Class V) sections remained steady at 0.7 percent.
Regarding soil environmental quality, the safe utilisation of polluted arable land and key construction land was effectively guaranteed nationwide in 2023.
Pei said that to prevent and control air pollution during the autumn and winter seasons and to respond to heavy pollution weather effectively, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment focused on key areas, highlighting “response to heavy pollution weat
her and supervision of standard emissions” as two main tasks, and coordinated the advancement of “online and offline” efforts.
Since the autumn and winter of 2023, the Ministry has mobilised more than 2,400 key personnel in the national ecological and environmental system and over 9,700 local law enforcement personnel, conducting eight rounds of on-site and remote supervision and assistance for air pollution, identifying over 16,000 problem enterprises, and addressing more than 32,000 environmental issues related to air.
Source: Emirates News Agency
