The Environment and Climate Change

Officials in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) banned alluvial gold mining within the TAR on October 8, according to an October 10 China Daily report. Gold mining in TAR riverbeds and flood plains must cease by November 30, and workers and their equipment must not be present at mining sites after December 31. The ban is a response to a central government call for better regulation of the country's mining industry, but the report emphasizes the role of TAR authorities in addressing the issue.

Shanxi provincial authorities closed 2,203 illegal mines and detained 293 officials during a campaign against illegal coal mine investments and official collusion in their operations, according to a November 17 Legal Daily report. An official investigation identified 950 officials who held illegal shares in state-owned coal mines worth 155 million yuan ($19,176,527). Of these, the provincial government forced 871 officials to divest some 62 million yuan ($7,679,730) in mining shares. The Legal Daily report added that some Shanxi officials used the names of friends and family members to conceal their illegal investments.

Since mid-January, the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) has worked to halt 30 construction projects that it identified as violating the Environmental Impact Assessment Law. Recent reports show that all of the projects have stopped construction, including three projects being built by the Three Gorges Development Corporation (TGDC).

State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) officials announced that they will penalize city governments in China that fail to reach national air quality standards, according to an October 24 Xinhua article. SEPA made the announcements after the Forum of Strategic Approaches to Regional Air Quality Management in China concluded in Beijing on October 24. SEPA officials will attempt to dissuade potential investors from investing in cities identified as having substandard air quality for "several consecutive years," according to the report. SEPA will also intervene to manage construction projects that could increase air pollution in cities that have the worst air quality levels. The article also reports that SEPA is developing a program to control sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants.

Hangzhou public security officials detained six members of the informal environmental group “Green Watch” on October 19, according to a report by Human Rights in China (HRIC). Tan Kai, Lai Jinbiao, Gao Haibing, Wu Yuanming, Qi Huimin, and Yang Jianming formed the group after villagers from Huashui Township, Zhejiang province, began voicing concerns about pollution from a chemical factory near Huaxi that the villagers say threatens the lives and livelihoods of residents.

Why the Hangzhou authorities detained the six environmentalists is not clear. According to HRIC, Tan opened a bank account in mid-October to begin saving money to register the group as a social organization under the relevant national law. Shortly thereafter, the six group members were detained, with Tan placed in criminal detention. Public security officials released the other five after a brief detention.

Recent protests in Zhejiang province illustrate the growing social unrest caused by environmental pollution. The problems in Zhejiang province also demonstrate the effect that corruption in local Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs) has on environmental conditions in many places in China.

Vice Premier Huang Ju attended an October 15 ceremony in Lhasa marking the completion of track laying for the Qinghai-Tibet railroad, Xinhua reported the same day. President Hu Jintao sent a letter congratulating railroad workers, saying that the railroad would speed regional economic and social development and "strengthen solidarity of various ethnic groups." The railroad "involves an investment" of 33 billion yuan, China Daily reported on October 15, and will "attract tourists, traders and ethnic Chinese settlers" to the region. The journey from Beijing to Lhasa will take two days.

Officials in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region who have financial interests in coal industries and mines have not divested themselves of these holdings, despite a State Council directive to do so, according to an October 14 Xinjiang Daily report. The State Council had issued a Circular on August 24 ordering all government and Party officials and state-owned enterprise managers throughout China to disclose and divest all of their financial holdings in coal industries and mines (other than shares purchased in the public stock exchange) by September 22.