China will take advantage of Winter Olympic Games to boost your efforts to improve the environment, but Beijing, a smog-prone capital, continues to prepare for the worst before the opening ceremony.
Beijing has improved air quality since China won its bid to host the Games, but the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has declared that the risks of winter smog remain “serious.”
The Ministry spokesperson, Liu Youbin, told reporters that contingency plans had been put in place. “When the time comes, Beijing and Hebei will be guided to adopt reasonable environmental protection measures in accordance with the law.”
However, he said that the rumors that the heavy polluting industries in the area would be closed as of January 1 “were not true.”
Critics warned in 2015 – when China won its bid – that the Winter Olympics could be overshadowed by dangerous smog in a region dominated by heavy industry. The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, pledged to organize a “green” Games and Hebei promised to “transform and improve” its industrial economy.
Since then, China has planted thousands of hectares of trees in and around Hebei province, built extensive wind and solar farms, and relocated hundreds of businesses.
In Zhangjiakou city, 200 km northwest of Beijing and the site of skiing and snowboarding events, the 26-year-old amateur skier Deng Zhongping He said that he has already noticed the difference.
“When I was coming to Beijing a few years ago I suffered from rhinitis from pollution, but the air quality in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has improved a lot,” he said.
“I think the air quality in the Zhangjiakou ski resort is even better than that of some foreign ski resorts.”
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx