3.4B: Environmental Problems

• Environmental Problems in China (1)

  • Since 1980 China has undergone an industrial revolution similar to the one the UK underwent from 1770 to 1900.
  • Severe air pollution in cities like Beijing, where air pollution is regularly above the World Health Organisation safe limits.
  • Beijing's six million cars and coal-burning power stations are the source of this pollution, close to 50% of the world's coal is burnt in China.
  • Around 50% of China's rivers and lakes and 40% of its groundwater is polluted - so much that it is unsafe to drink untreated.
• Environmental Problems in China (2)

  • Over 20% of China is subject to desertification and severe soil erosion, which can create major dust storms.
  • Deforestation and desertification have forced many farmers off their land and into cities as the farmland has been over-exposed.
  • The WWF reported that in the last 40 years almost half of China's land-based vertebrate species have been lost and biodiversity has suffered.
  • Human consequences; people live in the polluted environment. Air pollution in northern China has been estimated to reduce life expectancy by nearly five years.