Citation: Chris P. Nielsen and Mun S. Ho, Air Pollution and Health Damages in China: An Introduction and Review, 2007 (MIT Press), 1-10
Abstract: Although China has made huge progress on air quality monitoring and recovering, the health risk caused by air pollutants still appears a downward trend through last several decades. Furthermore, environment damages can impose great influence on China’s economic development. This article states the most widely spread pollutants and their main releasing sources in China, in addition, provides methods and suggestions toward China’s future air quality monitoring system. Last but not least, China’s natural resource consumption is discussed in this article.
2.Where do the authors work, and what are their areas of expertise? Note any other publications by the authors with relevance to the 6Cities project.
Authors:
Chris P. Nielsen is Executive Director of the Harvard China Project (http://chinaproject.harvard.edu/) in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is an expert in atmospheric science and energy research.
Mun S. Ho is a professor in Institute for Quantitative Social Science in Harvard University. He centers his research on economic growth, productivity, taxation, and environmental economics.
3.What are the main findings or arguments presented in the article or report?
Although China has huge improvement in environmental protection throughout the years, the environmental situation is still severe nowadays.
In order to make a convincing and comprehensive estimation of total energy use in China, the monitoring system should use air-dispersion models to characterize the link between emissions from all sources and atmospheric concentrations of pollutants in a target region; estimate human health impacts on the basis of exposure-response functions; and monetize these damages by using some valuation method.
In order to permit inter-industry comparisons and to create a basis for more detailed evaluation, the reasonable estimates of the main sources of pollution are focused, instead of the damage assessment.
China’s energy resources are very dependent on coal.
The article also states that there is a strange dip on coal consumption in China during the late 20th Century, which may result from the erroneous data provided by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistic (NBS).
4.Describe at least three ways that the argument is supported.
Data is presented explicitly in the article, such as the trend of pollutant concentration in the air including SO2 and Total suspended Particulates (TSP).
Providing graphs as to natural resource consumption and analyzing the graph in details.
The data collected in China are compared to data collected in the USA to develop a more comprehensive statement. In addition, the standard TSP concentration in China is compared to WHO standard. The data will be further discussed in question 5.
5.What three (or more) quotes capture the message of the article or report?
1) “Despite this remarkable overall transformation, China remains one of the most highly energy-intensive major economies in the world, defined by the amount of energy needed per dollar of output. That noted, China’s energy use on a per capita basis remains exceedingly low compared to more developed countries. In 2000 energy use per capita in China was about one-twelfth that of the United States, and about one-sixth that of Japan. ”
2) “Our assessment focuses on particulate matter (PM) and SO2 in determining healtheffects in China, for two reasons. First, we believe that they likely dominate otherpollutants as the source of air pollution health damages in China. Second, all suchstudies are limited by research practicalities, and the data for estimating the effectsof PM and SO2 are more readily available in China.”
3) “We need to think beyond the ambient pollution levels to consider what ultimatelyconcerns us about China’s degraded air quality: the damage it causes. These includeimpacts on human health, on materials such as built structures, on natural resourcessuch as forests, on the productivity of crops, and on ecosystems. All of these, inturn, affect the economy. The assessment of this volume focuses on refining understandingof the damages to human health, which most researchers believe dominatethe total impacts. The other, lesser damages are topics for future extensions of this”
6.What were the methods, tools and/or data used to produce the claims or arguments made in the article or report?
The article states that Coal supplied 70–76% of its commercial energy consumption from 1980 until 1997, as well as provide the composition of resource consumption in China from 1980 to 2002. From the graphs, coal consists most of the resource consumption over the years. (From National Bureau of Statistic)
A report from World Bank report in 1997, Clear Water, Blue Skies, published an estimated aggregate damages from air and water pollution as high as 7.7% of Chinese gross domestic product (GDP).
According to official data, annual consumption of coal exceeded 1300 million tons during 1995–1997, fell sharply to 982 million tons in 2000, and rose again to 1579 million tons by 2003 (NBS 2005)
The total SO2 emissions fell 10% between 1995 and 1999, and the averaged ambient concentrations in thirty-two major cities declined from 100 mg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter) in 1991 to 62 mg/m3 in 1998 (World Bank 2001). Another compilation of official data reports that annual average TSP across 140 Chinese cities fell from a mean of 500 mg/m3 in 1986 to 300 mg/m3 in 1997 (Florig et al. 2002).
The Chinese standard for annual average TSP in residential areas is 200 mg/m3, for instance, and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline was 90 mg/m3.
7.How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
The major concern is not the pollution level, but the level that reaches human lungs. Moreover, factors such as the rapid urbanization in China and rural-to-urban migration locate an increasing proportion of the Chinese citizens nearer to pollution sources. In terms of total population risk, this could even outweighwhatever gains in pollution control have occurred. The crucial factor ofhumanexposureis not often considered carefully in pollution damage assessmentsin China. (VERY IMPORTANT)
8.Where has this article or report been referenced or discussed? (In some journals, you can see this in a sidebar.)
Cited by Licheng Zhu in article Social Media and Public Diplomacy:Foreignto China’s Environmental Movement in 2013.
9.Can you learn anything from the article or report’s bibliography that tells us something about how the article or report was produced?
This article is produced by China project, which is an interdisciplinary research program on China's atmospheric environment, energy system, and the economy based at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, collaborating across Harvard and partner universities in China.
10.What three points, details or references from the text did you follow up on to advance your understanding of how air pollution science has been produced and used in governance and education in different settings?
I realize how different the situation on environmental regulation can be from the western society. In Chinese society, due to the development of the economy is priority to environmental protection (which happens to all developing countries), identify national priorities, evaluating the best use of the pollution control yuan across the entire economy. To set national pollution-control priorities, the Chinese government has had to rely on simplified analyses and rules of thumb rather than comprehensive assessments that permit systematic benefit-cost analysis.
1. Full citation and abstract?
Abstract: Although China has made huge progress on air quality monitoring and recovering, the health risk caused by air pollutants still appears a downward trend through last several decades. Furthermore, environment damages can impose great influence on China’s economic development. This article states the most widely spread pollutants and their main releasing sources in China, in addition, provides methods and suggestions toward China’s future air quality monitoring system. Last but not least, China’s natural resource consumption is discussed in this article.
2. Where do the authors work, and what are their areas of expertise? Note any other publications by the authors with relevance to the 6Cities project.
Authors:
Chris P. Nielsen is Executive Director of the Harvard China Project (http://chinaproject.harvard.edu/) in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is an expert in atmospheric science and energy research.
Mun S. Ho is a professor in Institute for Quantitative Social Science in Harvard University. He centers his research on economic growth, productivity, taxation, and environmental economics.
3. What are the main findings or arguments presented in the article or report?
Although China has huge improvement in environmental protection throughout the years, the environmental situation is still severe nowadays.
In order to make a convincing and comprehensive estimation of total energy use in China, the monitoring system should use air-dispersion models to characterize the link between emissions from all sources and atmospheric concentrations of pollutants in a target region; estimate human health impacts on the basis of exposure-response functions; and monetize these damages by using some valuation method.
In order to permit inter-industry comparisons and to create a basis for more detailed evaluation, the reasonable estimates of the main sources of pollution are focused, instead of the damage assessment.
China’s energy resources are very dependent on coal.
The article also states that there is a strange dip on coal consumption in China during the late 20th Century, which may result from the erroneous data provided by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistic (NBS).
4. Describe at least three ways that the argument is supported.
Data is presented explicitly in the article, such as the trend of pollutant concentration in the air including SO2 and Total suspended Particulates (TSP).
Providing graphs as to natural resource consumption and analyzing the graph in details.
The data collected in China are compared to data collected in the USA to develop a more comprehensive statement. In addition, the standard TSP concentration in China is compared to WHO standard. The data will be further discussed in question 5.
5. What three (or more) quotes capture the message of the article or report?
1) “Despite this remarkable overall transformation, China remains one of the most highly energy-intensive major economies in the world, defined by the amount of energy needed per dollar of output. That noted, China’s energy use on a per capita basis remains exceedingly low compared to more developed countries. In 2000 energy use per capita in China was about one-twelfth that of the United States, and about one-sixth that of Japan. ”
2) “Our assessment focuses on particulate matter (PM) and SO2 in determining healtheffects in China, for two reasons. First, we believe that they likely dominate otherpollutants as the source of air pollution health damages in China. Second, all suchstudies are limited by research practicalities, and the data for estimating the effectsof PM and SO2 are more readily available in China.”
3) “We need to think beyond the ambient pollution levels to consider what ultimatelyconcerns us about China’s degraded air quality: the damage it causes. These includeimpacts on human health, on materials such as built structures, on natural resourcessuch as forests, on the productivity of crops, and on ecosystems. All of these, inturn, affect the economy. The assessment of this volume focuses on refining understandingof the damages to human health, which most researchers believe dominatethe total impacts. The other, lesser damages are topics for future extensions of this”
6. What were the methods, tools and/or data used to produce the claims or arguments made in the article or report?
The article states that Coal supplied 70–76% of its commercial energy consumption from 1980 until 1997, as well as provide the composition of resource consumption in China from 1980 to 2002. From the graphs, coal consists most of the resource consumption over the years. (From National Bureau of Statistic)
Figure 1: Primary consumption in ChinaAir Dispersion Model: is the mathematical simulation of how air pollutants disperse in the ambient atmosphere. The dispersion models are used to estimate or to predict the downwind concentration of air pollutants or toxins emitted from sources such as industrial plants and vehicular traffic.
Figure 2: Example of Air Dispersion ModelA report from World Bank report in 1997, Clear Water, Blue Skies, published an estimated aggregate damages from air and water pollution as high as 7.7% of Chinese gross domestic product (GDP).
According to official data, annual consumption of coal exceeded 1300 million tons during 1995–1997, fell sharply to 982 million tons in 2000, and rose again to 1579 million tons by 2003 (NBS 2005)
The total SO2 emissions fell 10% between 1995 and 1999, and the averaged ambient concentrations in thirty-two major cities declined from 100 mg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter) in 1991 to 62 mg/m3 in 1998 (World Bank 2001). Another compilation of official data reports that annual average TSP across 140 Chinese cities fell from a mean of 500 mg/m3 in 1986 to 300 mg/m3 in 1997 (Florig et al. 2002).
The Chinese standard for annual average TSP in residential areas is 200 mg/m3, for instance, and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline was 90 mg/m3.
7. How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
The major concern is not the pollution level, but the level that reaches human lungs. Moreover, factors such as the rapid urbanization in China and rural-to-urban migration locate an increasing proportion of the Chinese citizens nearer to pollution sources. In terms of total population risk, this could even outweighwhatever gains in pollution control have occurred. The crucial factor ofhuman exposureis not often considered carefully in pollution damage assessmentsin China. (VERY IMPORTANT)
8. Where has this article or report been referenced or discussed? (In some journals, you can see this in a sidebar.)
Cited by Licheng Zhu in article Social Media and Public Diplomacy: Foreignto China’s Environmental Movement in 2013.
9. Can you learn anything from the article or report’s bibliography that tells us something about how the article or report was produced?
This article is produced by China project, which is an interdisciplinary research program on China's atmospheric environment, energy system, and the economy based at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, collaborating across Harvard and partner universities in China.
10. What three points, details or references from the text did you follow up on to advance your understanding of how air pollution science has been produced and used in governance and education in different settings?
I realize how different the situation on environmental regulation can be from the western society. In Chinese society, due to the development of the economy is priority to environmental protection (which happens to all developing countries), identify national priorities, evaluating the best use of the pollution control yuan across the entire economy. To set national pollution-control priorities, the Chinese government has had to rely on simplified analyses and rules of thumb rather than comprehensive assessments that permit systematic benefit-cost analysis.
Citation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution
http://chinaproject.harvard.edu/people/chris-p-nielsen
http://people.hmdc.harvard.edu/~mho/