Air, water and soil quality in China are improving, but unevenly, with certain areas faring worse from pollution, says the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The state of agricultural land quality in the country ‘does not allow for optimism’ and ‘the problem of soil pollution for industry, companies and nearby land is prominent,’” said Chen Jining, head of the MEP, in a yearly address to the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, a major Chinese decision-making body. Chen urged the group to focus on the overall positive trend in curbing Chinese pollution, but allowed that in addition to farmland soil issues, certain bodies of water have worsened.
Yet, “China says it is confident it can win its ‘war on pollution’ after strengthening legislation, beefing up its monitoring capabilities and cracking down on hundreds of polluting firms, and says average air quality improved noticeably in 2016,” says The Guardian.