Joint action plan by 17 Chinese government departments to control pollution along Yangtse by 2025-end

A few days ago, 17 government departments and institutions headed by the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued an Intensified Implementation of the Action Plan of Yangtze Protection and Restoration, requesting an identification and endorsement of all chemical parks in the Yangtze River Economic Belt by the end of next year. 

By the end of 2025, the sources of pollution from chemical industries along the Yangtze River shall be put under effective control and properly treated in its entirety. Thus, cross-regional transfer of outdated chemical production is strictly prohibited, while chemical works in key area within a kilometer (km) of the Yangtze will be prompted for relocation, renovation, or shutdown. 

In terms of industrial pollution control, the action plan requests that by the end of 2023, all chemical parks in the Yangtze River Economic Belt be identified and subjected to endorsement. By the end of 2025, the efficiency of wastewater interception and treatment in industrial parks at the provincial level or above within the Yangtze River Economic Belt needs must be satisfactorily improved. The sources of pollution from chemical industries along the Yangtze River should be effectively controlled and properly treated, to reduce the total discharge of major pollutants. 

As regards the treatment of phosphorus pollution, the action plan requests phosphate ore and phosphorus chemicals manufacturers enhance their efforts on discharge and emission up to standard at as well to strengthen utilization of phosphor gypsum. For the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou where production of phosphate ore and phosphate fertilizer is concentrated, stricter measures of control of discharge of total phosphorus shall be formulated and taken, focusing on enhanced control of phosphorus pollution in the Three Gorges reservoir area and its upper reaches, in the main streams in Hunan and Hubei, the Tuojiang River, the Minjiang River, the Wujiang River, the Taihu Lake and Danjiangkou Reservoir.

In respect of adjustment and optimization of the layout of the industrial structure, the action plan stresses that transfer of outdated chemical production across region is prohibited, whilst chemical works in critical areas within a km of the Yangtze will be prompted for relocation, renovation, or shutdown according to national and local regulations. Efforts will be made to speed up relocation of hazardous chemical works in densely populated urban areas to optimize the spatial layout of chemical parks and urge manufacturers to be relocated into chemical parks with decent condition and with lower safety risk.

The Action Plan of Yangtze Protection and Restoration was issued for implementation in 2018. After three years of implementation, the ecological environment of the Yangtze River experienced a transitional change, where preliminary objectives have been successfully accomplished. Although the Yangtze environment has evidently improved, there has been poor infrastructure left over from the past. Meanwhile, in some places, the wetland has withered, and the water ecosystem is out of balance while the cyanobacterial bloom in key lakes remains high, requiring a breakthrough in the water ecological protection and restoration. Overall, the Yangtze protection and restoration is still faced with difficulties, which require further action.