How to sustain and deepen the battle to protect blue skies, clear waters, and clean soil.

The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized, “We must continue to fight and win the battles to protect our blue skies, clean waters, and uncontaminated land.” The Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Comprehensively Advancing the Construction of a Beautiful China, released in January this year, clearly set out objectives and tasks, including “continuously and thoroughly advancing the tough battle against pollution.”

  Continuously and thoroughly waging the battles to safeguard blue skies, clean waters, and uncontaminated soil is a crucial campaign for comprehensively advancing the building of a Beautiful China. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has strengthened ecological and environmental protection across all dimensions, in all regions, and throughout the entire process, marking significant progress in this endeavor. An official from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment stated: “In 2024, we will emphasize precision, science, and law-based approaches to pollution control, taking the construction of a Beautiful China as our overarching framework. We will coordinate efforts to reduce carbon emissions, cut pollution, expand green spaces, and promote growth, steadfastly using high‑level environmental protection to drive high‑quality development, and comprehensively advance modernization that fosters harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.”

  How can we sustain and deepen our efforts to safeguard blue skies? “The key lies in earnestly implementing the Action Plan for the Continuous Improvement of Air Quality, with PM2.5 control as the central focus, while strengthening source‑level management, synergistic control of multiple pollutants, and coordinated regional pollution governance,” said Liu Bingjiang, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Director-General of the Department of Atmospheric Environment. He added that clean heating in northern regions will be advanced in a phased, region‑specific manner; ultra‑low emission upgrades in the steel, cement, and coking industries will be promoted with high quality; and comprehensive, end‑to‑end VOC control measures will be implemented across sectors such as petrochemicals and chemicals. Furthermore, targeted efforts to curb diesel‑truck emissions will be firmly carried out, and joint prevention and control of air pollution in key areas—including the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region and its surrounding areas—will be deepened.

  “In 2023, the proportion of national surface‑water monitoring sections with good or excellent water quality rose to 89.4%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points year on year. The main stem of the Yangtze River has maintained Class II water quality along its entire length for four consecutive years, while the main stem of the Yellow River has done so for two consecutive years,” said Huang Xiaozeng, Director-General of the Department of Water Ecological Environment at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. He added that in 2024, efforts to safeguard clean waters will be further intensified, with coordinated management of water resources, water environment, and aquatic ecosystems, and continued progress in protecting and governing major rivers and key lakes. Key actions will be launched to upgrade and remediate priority discharge outlets, deepen pollution control in industrial parks, and carry out comprehensive treatment of black and odorous urban water bodies. In addition, comprehensive governance of priority sea areas will be advanced, with targeted measures implemented to address specific issues in individual bays.

  “We will continue to wage a sustained and in-depth battle to safeguard clean land, with a focus on prioritizing prevention, managing risks, and coordinating the governance of both water and soil. We will implement measures to prevent and control soil pollution at its source and accelerate the construction of major projects for source‑level management,” said Zhao Shixin, Director-General of the Department of Soil and Ecological Environment of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. He added that efforts will be stepped up to identify and remediate sources of soil contamination in cultivated land, while promoting ecological protection of black soils and saline‑alkali lands. Furthermore, work will be deepened on establishing pilot zones for soil pollution prevention and control and experimental areas for groundwater pollution prevention, and rural environmental improvement initiatives will be advanced. (Liu Yi)

[Editor-in-charge: Zhang Qiaosu]

Source: People’s Daily