In China daily on 10th March 2008 it was quoted that ‘in rural areas the air and water are cleaner’. Through research I have found that this is not the general case within china.
It is a general misconception that within China it is just the road transport and factories which cause the air pollution and that if factories and car numbers were to be reduced within urban areas China’s problem would be significantly reduced, and that cleaner air can be found in rural china. This is a definite misconception as rural areas contribute to the air pollution problem. In fact Chan 2000 states that rural air pollution is much worse and poses a much greater risk than urban pollution. Despite no factories being present within the rural areas, Yang et al 2008 in Atmospheric Environment, states that the burning of crop residue in the field is a significant contributor to air pollution and Chan 2000 states the use of cook stoves increases indoor air pollution.
Before China’s rapid economic development the rural population used biofuel as a major energy source, but now there is an increase in rural access to commercial energy so biofuel demand has decreased. Although this appears a benefit as biofuel is not being burned in the rural homes theoretically it would mean that air pollution would decrease. In fact Yang et al 2008 state that this is not the case as the biofuel still needs to be burned as it is waste so is burned in the fields. This therefore means that commercial energy and biofuel are both being burned and contributing to the rural areas air pollution.
As air pollution is now higher environmental consequences are also increasing as smog levels become higher, resulting in temporary closures of highways and airports.
Now the government is beginning to implement regulations and laws concerning the burning of biofuel within its desperate bid to save China from its ever increasing levels of air pollution.
Additionally the use of cook stoves within rural homes has resulted in poor indoor air quality which therefore means that the pollution has more of a direct affect on people than industrial activities, so health problems as a direct result of air pollution are higher in rural areas.
So it can be seen that every area within China is adding to their environmental problem, and the general misconception that rural living provides a better quality of life is definitely not the case in China, especially as rural air pollution has a higher impact on humans the urban air pollution.
References:
Baoxing, Q (2008) Balanced integration for a new countryside. China daily. 10-3-2008
Chan. M (2000) Air pollution from cookstoves: Energy alternatives and policy in rural China.
Carnegie Mellon University.
Yang. S., He. H., Lu. S., Chen. D., and Zhu. J. (2008) Quantification of crop residue burning in the field and its influence on ambient air quality in Suqian, China. Atmospheric environment. 42. 1961-1969.
