Despite Red Alerts In 2015, Government Of China Says Slight Improvement In Beijing’s Air Quality Has Been Observed
Beijing's environmental protection bureau has seen a slight improvement in the air quality in 2015 despite two red alerts for air pollution being raised, even though levels of major pollutants are still higher than the international standards by several folds, reported Strait Times on Monday.
The average concentration of particulate matter with 2.5 microns diameter (PM2.5) in Beijing, capable of infiltrating the human lungs, reportedly dropped in 2015 by 6.2 percent from the previous year and 10 percent from 2013.
However, the average PM2.5 levels in the region for 2015 were 80.6 micrograms per cubic meter, which is still several times higher than the air quality guidelines of the World Health Organization at a yearly average of less than 10 micrograms.
According to CTV News on Tuesday, China has been establishing local and national targets that are aimed at reducing the air pollution as more and more citizens are become aware of the health hazards brought about by air pollution.
The Beijing government even began using natural gas-powered methods in place of coal-fired boilers that contribute so much to the pollution. Old vehicles that emit harmful smoke are also kept off the roads, while highly-polluting factories were closed down.
Air pollutants were also observed to decrease in levels, including nitrogen dioxide that dropped by 12 percent and sulfur dioxide dropping by 38 percent. These decrease in levels are considered by the environmental protection bureau to be the result of the replacement of coal-fired heating systems to natural methods.
The International Business Times noted on Dec. 26 that smog continued to envelope the city of Beijing pushing authorities to prohibit 200 flights from Beijing from taking off as visibility has become very limited.
People were also encouraged to stay indoors as much as possible in order to avoid endangering their health.
In northern and eastern China, around have raised air pollution alerts, including Beijing that has issued two alerts in 2015.
