China still facing an uphill struggle in fight against pollution, warns environment minister
- Li Ganjie says that while the situation is improving, the hardest part of the challenge still has to be tackled
- Cleaning the country’s notoriously dirty air is a major priority for government, but minister warns task remains ‘very challenging’
China’s environment minister said on Monday that while the country’s air quality has improved, the situation is still “grim” and the hardest challenges still need to be tackled.
Speaking at a press conference organised by the National People’s Congress on Monday, Li Ganjie, the Minister of Ecology and Environment, said the number of good weather days in 338 major cities rose to 79.3 per cent in 2018, up 1.3 percentage points from a year ago.
In the same period, the average concentration of PM2.5 – the deadly particles that are most harmful to human health – had fallen by 9.3 per cent, Li said.
But despite this improvement, Li said there should be no let-up in the battle against pollution and the country still needed to do more to tackle the problem.
He said the country had done the easy bit, but the “remaining parts are very challenging. The situation is grim and there is a long way to go”.
China has long been notorious for its heavy smogs, a consequence of years of breakneck economic development and its reliance on fossil fuels.
