China has pledged to reduce by 10 percent the discharge of five air pollutants including sulfur dioxide, solid waste and dust, by 2005.
This is part of China's plan for environmental protection recently released by the State Environmental Protection Administration.
The amount of sulfur dioxide discharged in zones where acid rain and sulfur dioxide are kept under control will be reduced by 20 percent.
However, the move prevents only an increase in pollution. It will not yet be able to return polluted areas to their original state, a Chinese environmentalist said.
To attain the objective,1,137 pollution control projects costing 262 billion yuan have been planned.
China shut down 84,000 polluting industries in the 1996-2000period, paving the way for pollution control in the future.
(eastday.com January 29, 2002)
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