The “national treasure” among birds personally vouches for it! Guangdong has achieved comprehensive new breakthroughs in its battle against pollution over the past five years.

Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released the ranking of air quality for 168 key cities across China from January to April 2022. Among them, five cities in Guangdong—Huizhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Zhaoqing, and Guangzhou—ranked within the top 20, placing the province among the leaders nationwide in terms of air quality. Over the past five years, Guangdong has consistently and firmly fought the battle against pollution, achieving breakthrough and historic improvements in ecological and environmental quality.

In recent years, Zhanjiang has expanded its mangrove forest area by more than 2,000 hectares through ecological restoration, setting a “successful model for wetland ecological restoration.” Thanks to its high-quality ecological environment, the region has even attracted rare migratory birds such as the Oriental White Stork. Last year, Qing’ao Bay in Shantou was selected as an outstanding case under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s “Beautiful Bay” initiative. The seawater quality has improved steadily year after year, consistently meeting Class I standards, and the coastal waters remain pristine. It has become commonplace to see schools of fish and flocks of seagulls gracefully soaring over the beaches...

From a province-wide perspective, we have achieved new breakthroughs in the three major battles—blue skies, clear waters, and clean soil—and have overfulfilled the provincial government’s key livelihood task of tackling rural domestic wastewater. We have also carried out the central government’s ecological and environmental inspection work diligently and proactively supported the overall economic and social development.

Breakthrough achievements have been made in improving ecological and environmental quality.
Guangdong’s Blue Sky Defense Campaign Achieves Phase-Out Results.

“Look, it’s the Chinese national treasure—the Oriental White Stork!” This March, birdwatching enthusiast Lei Lei captured images for two consecutive days in the Yinhuwan Wetland Park in Xinhui, Jiangmen, of the Oriental White Stork—a wildlife species under first-class national protection and known as the “national treasure” among birds.

These “elegant ambassadors,” clad in “black-and-white attire,” are highly sensitive to their environment and will only “grace” regions that boast abundant forest, wetland, and aquatic resources and enjoy excellent ecological conditions. In recent years, the Oriental White Stork has repeatedly visited various areas in Guangdong Province—including the Nansha Wetland in Guangzhou, the Futian Mangrove Forest in Shenzhen, and the Leizhou Mangrove Forest in Zhanjiang—serving as a “bird” testament to the province’s improving ecological health.

Jiangmen City is one of the leading examples of Guangdong’s recent improvements in ecological and environmental conditions. Since 2017, Jiangmen has significantly increased its investment in promoting clean energy, completely phasing out and upgrading high-pollution fuel boilers in the main urban area, thus bringing an end to the era of coal-fired boilers. At the same time, the city has stepped up efforts to control motor vehicle pollution and accelerated the adoption of new-energy and clean-energy vehicles. Currently, the electrification rate of buses in the entire city has exceeded 90%.

To strengthen the construction of a grid-based monitoring system for air pollution control, the ecological and environmental authorities of Jiangmen City have deployed multiple miniature environmental monitoring stations throughout the urban area. Every 10 minutes, these miniature monitoring devices transmit data from various monitoring sites to the data monitoring center, where staff closely monitor real-time changes in data from each site and conduct thorough analysis and assessment of the monitoring results. By intensifying efforts to address industrial pollution sources, promoting the use of clean energy, stepping up measures to control motor vehicle emissions, and enhancing the precision of dust management, the city is making concerted efforts to improve air quality.

It’s not just Jiangmen—over recent years, the province as a whole has maintained high and stable environmental quality with steady progress. In 2021, Guangdong Province achieved full compliance with all six air pollutant standards for the seventh consecutive year. The Air Quality Index (AQI) compliance rate reached 94.3%, and the PM2.5 concentration dropped to 22 micrograms per cubic meter, placing it among the top in the country. Across the province, the concentrations of PM10, SO2, and CO all ranked within the top ten nationwide. Among the five cities in the Pearl River Delta—Shenzhen, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, and Zhaoqing—their air quality ranked within the top 20 nationwide.

Guangdong’s Battle to Protect Clear Waters Yields Frequent Good News
All 9 Class V or worse national monitoring sections have been eliminated.

“A few years ago, the Maozhou River’s water was dirty, black, and stinky. Now, the river no longer has any unpleasant odor, and the riverside environment has greatly improved—every evening, many people take walks along the riverbank.” Mr. Lin, a resident living along the Maozhou River in Chang’an Town, Dongguan, frankly admitted that during the period when the Maozhou River was severely polluted, many residents moved away from its banks. Today, as the river’s water quality has improved and the riverside scenery has become much more attractive, many residents have moved back to live near the river again.

Near the Maozhou River, the scenic greenways stretch endlessly, making them a popular spot for citizens to cycle and run marathons. People enjoy jogging, exercising, and fishing along the riverbank, and the Maozhou River has become a “hit social-media hotspot” for photo ops and check-ins.

The improvement of the water environment has been made possible by the scientific and systematic promotion of comprehensive watershed management. In recent years, Guangdong has established coordination mechanisms for tackling severely polluted rivers such as the Maozhou River, Lianjiang River, the cross-border Guangfo River, and the Danshui River. These mechanisms adopt a “one river, one strategy” approach, leveraging market mechanisms to engage central state-owned enterprises and provincial state-owned enterprises in large-scale, coordinated efforts across entire watersheds. This has effectively addressed longstanding challenges in water governance, including lack of synchronization between the left and right banks, discrepancies between upstream and downstream areas, and fragmented construction practices.

In 2021, Guangdong further focused on tackling the challenges of meeting national monitoring standards for key river sections. It intensified monitoring and analysis of water quality in both main and tributary streams at these key sections, using changes in water quality to precisely set water-quality targets for main and tributary streams and identify priority projects for control units. A specialized technical team was established to conduct on-site inspections, provide targeted assistance, and offer supervision in the watersheds where the 20 key challenging sections are located.

Under systematic governance and with the implementation of multiple measures, Guangdong has achieved frequent successes in water management. In 2020, the proportion of provincial-level national monitoring sections with excellent and good water quality reached 87.3%, an increase of 9.8 percentage points compared to 2015. All 9 national monitoring sections previously classified as inferior to Class V have been eliminated, and all 527 black-and-odorous water bodies in built-up areas of prefecture-level cities and above have been completely cleared of their black-and-odorous conditions.

In 2021, with the number of national monitoring sections increasing to 149, the proportion of surface water quality at these national monitoring sections across the province improved to 89.9%, successfully achieving the annual target of 88.5%. The proportion of nearshore waters with excellent and good water quality reached 90.2%, both setting new historical highs. In 2021, the Maozhou River and Lianjiang River achieved their best water quality levels since 1992 and 2004 respectively, transforming from typical pollution hotspots into models for pollution control. The water quality of major rivers such as the Dongjiang, Xijiang, Beijiang, and Hanjiang has remained consistently excellent.

Create a win-win situation for ecological environment and economic development.
The province ranks first nationwide in the cumulative trading volume and value of carbon emission allowances.

Over the past five years, Guangdong has firmly implemented the new development philosophy and promoted a win-win situation in which both ecological environment protection and economic development thrive. In terms of supporting economic development, Guangdong has actively supported the “Six Stabilizations” and “Six Guarantees.” In 2020, Guangdong further optimized its tiered management system for environmental impact assessments, with over 99.8% of projects receiving approval on-site. Throughout the province, more than 400 environmental impact assessment projects were approved under a notification-and-commitment system. The “Three Services and Three Guarantees” mechanism was fully implemented for major projects, accelerating the construction of key provincial projects. Meanwhile, efforts have been continuously made to refine law-enforcement approaches, conducting over 40,000 non-site inspections and ensuring that law-abiding enterprises are “left undisturbed unless there’s a reason to intervene.”

To strengthen source-based prevention and control, the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment is deeply implementing the “Three Lines and One List” ecological and environmental zoning management system and is establishing an ecological and environmental ledger for all ongoing, planned, and existing “high-energy consumption and high-emission” enterprises (projects) across the province.

In promoting the green transformation of the economy and society, the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment took the lead in organizing research on peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, proposing a core peaking strategy centered on “reducing coal use, controlling oil consumption, increasing gas use, expanding non-fossil energy sources, and transmitting clean electricity,” as well as adopting a phased approach that takes into account regional differences, step-by-step implementation, sector-specific strategies, and industry-specific measures. Relevant departments have also deepened pilot programs for carbon emission rights trading; as a result, the province’s cumulative trading volume and value of carbon emission allowances rank first nationwide.

This year, Guangdong Province issued the "Ten Measures for Optimizing Services for Key Projects and Supporting High-Quality Economic Development," which adopts a multi-pronged approach—from environmental impact assessment services and total emission quotas to considerate law enforcement—providing more precise and effective support for high-quality economic development.

Recently, the Ecological Environment Branch of the Torch Development Zone in Zhongshan City, in collaboration with the Zhongshan Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, invited technical experts to conduct a “Deliver Regulations, Deliver Technology” outreach event for pharmaceutical companies in the zone. It is reported that a biopharmaceutical enterprise in the Torch Development Zone has been struggling with the unpleasant odor generated during its production process, as the raw materials used in manufacturing have a fishy, pungent smell. On May 11, the support team visited the enterprise, held thorough discussions with its management, and conducted an in-depth inspection of the company’s production workshops. The team carefully examined key stages—including raw material storage, material feeding, chemical reactions, material transportation, as well as the collection, treatment, and discharge of waste gases (and wastewater)—and identified specific gaps and weaknesses in the enterprise’s operations. By addressing these shortcomings, the team provided targeted assistance to help the company resolve its most challenging environmental management issues.

Promote high-quality economic development through high-level ecological and environmental protection.
This year, the province’s AQI compliance rate must remain above 93%.

“We will more firmly and unswervingly implement the new development philosophy and deepen our efforts to win the battle against pollution,” said a relevant official from the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment. The department will further strengthen capacity building, solidify the foundational support for ecological and environmental protection, and comprehensively enhance capabilities in ecological and environmental monitoring and early warning, information sensing, law enforcement supervision, control and dispatch, environmental emergency response, and scientific and technological support—providing robust backing and effective tools for the unified supervision and management of ecological and environmental protection.

Guangdong Province will focus on enhancing its capacity for integrated assessment and analysis of ecological environment and economic operations. It is essential to strike the right balance among development and protection, short-term and long-term considerations, and addressing symptoms versus tackling root causes. We must comprehensively take into account demands related to industry, population, energy, and other factors, and effectively leverage the guiding and driving role of ecological and environmental protection in promoting a comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society.

Next, the ecological and environmental authorities will enhance their capacity for emergency response in ecological and environmental protection—especially at the grassroots level. They will further advance the construction of emergency information systems, strengthen communication and collaboration with third-party environmental emergency rescue organizations, and intensify province-wide training on environmental emergencies, thereby further improving their capabilities for joint prevention and control.

Enhancing the capacity for tackling key scientific and technological challenges in ecological and environmental protection will also become one of the goals of Guangdong Province’s ecological and environmental authorities. We will continue to carry out major scientific and technological research on environmental protection, strengthen research and development as well as integrated demonstration of technologies and equipment related to pollution causes and mechanisms, and focus on overcoming technical bottlenecks such as insufficient dissolved oxygen in water bodies and excessive atmospheric ozone levels. We will vigorously promote advanced technologies like drones and unmanned vessels, widely applying them to environmental inspection and monitoring, and strive to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of problem detection.

Relevant officials stated that in 2022, the province’s AQI compliance rate should remain above 93%, the PM2.5 concentration should stay around 22 micrograms per cubic meter, the proportion of coastal waters with excellent water quality should remain above 85.6%, and the safe utilization of key construction land should be effectively ensured. In practical work, efforts should be made to achieve even better results whenever possible.