China Environmental Law

I am not going to write anything today because you must read this article from Caijing Magazine: Heavy Metal Warfare.  It covers the smelting industry along the Xiang river in Hunan province 1 the , and in the process provides a telling picture of the challenges faced by Chinese environmental regulators across the vast rural [...]

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I know its hard to keep the incidents of environmental poisonings straight in China. Today’s post involves the more than 300 children living in the shadow of a lead and zinc smelting facility in Fengxiang county, Shaanxi province who have been reported with levels of lead in their blood so high they were exhibiting symptoms [...]

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We’ve about reached our pontification limit for the week here at CELB, so will avoid in depth analysis today and give you a quick tour of a few other China environmental stories making the headlines.
Environmental Protests
More than 1,000 residents in Zhentou, Hunan Province, “demonstrated outside local government headquarters and a police station, demanding greater compensation [...]

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The Good
During the first six months of 2009, Beijing experienced its best air in a decade.  Although just how good Beijing’s air is in an absolute sense remains in dispute (for all things Beijing Air, your indispensable source is livefrombeijing), there seems little reason to doubt that air quality has improved on a relative basis [...]

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Hats off to Zhou Shengxian, the Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP)!  He has always been fairly outspoken and frankly critical of local implementation of national environmental laws and policies, but his comments today in an interview with China Daily reveal a new level of commitment to China’s environment, and a candor not often [...]

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You may recall that last week we said we had a reporter stationed outside the Chengjiang County courthouse ‘round the clock waiting to bring you news of the verdict in the criminal trial of Yunnan Chengjiang Jinye Corporation for polluting Yangzonghai Lake with arsenic.  It pains me to confess to our loyal readers that we [...]

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Improving the life of China’s huge rural population has been a high priority at least during the tenure of President Hu Jintao.  Although a more prosperous countryside will put additional demands on the environment as richer peasants demand more and more things, progress can lead to environmental gains in other areas.  Rationalizing water, fertilizer, and [...]

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