For the first time, environment officials from China, Mongolia,
Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea gathered in Beijing to find effective solutions for dust
and sandstorms troubling their countries.
Since the late 1990s, almost every year from March to May,
strong cold winds from Siberia blow up huge volumes of yellow dust
from the Gobi desert in Kazakhstan, Mongolia and north China,
sending it all the way to the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
"Dust and sandstorms (DSS) have become a severe environmental
problem facing Northeast Asia. We need collaboration," Zhu
Guangyao, vice director of China's State Environmental Protection
Administration (SEPA), said in Beijing Monday at a high-level
meeting on Northeast Asia's DSS held in Beijing.
For the first time, environment officials from China, Mongolia,
Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) gathered in Beijing to find effective
solutions of DSS troubling their countries.
A monitoring and forecasting system is on top of the agenda,
according to the participants. "We should share information to
build a network covering the whole of Northeast Asia," said
Zhu.
Joint research by Japan and China has identified DSS
transportation, impact and development, said Kojima Toshiro, an
official from Japan's Ministry of Environment.
Besides, a monitoring and forecasting system shared by China and
ROK is undergoing construction, according to Park Young Woo, of
ROK's Ministry of Environment.
"Just research on DSS cause, transportation, and monitoring
technology is not enough. We need to transform the deserts in
source countries," said Zhu Guangyao.
SEPA statistics show that DSS in Northeast Asia has increased in
recent years due to continuous droughts in northwest China and
Mongolia. In 2000, DSS happened 12 times. In 2001, the number
surged to 32.
Zhu said ROK and China have launched a 5-million-dollar
afforestation project in west China.
Besides, a joint DSS project between China and Mongolia has been
endorsed by the Global Environment Facility, an international
environmental program incubator.
"With these efforts, at least we can curtail their frequency and
intensity," said Zhu.
(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2003)
