The strongest dust storm in ten years hit northern China on Monday, illustrating what conservation groups called an ‘ecological crisis’.
Li Shuo, policy director of Greenpeace China, told The New York Times that the storm, which caused hundreds of flights, “was the result of land and ecological degradation in northern and western Beijing.” Industrial pollutants in the Beijing area have so far exceeded the annual average of the past four years so far this year, he added.
” An ecological crisis appears in Beijing. After two weeks of smog and static air, the strong wind carries a sandstorm [air quality index] outside the graph, ”Li said.
What does an ecological crisis look like in Beijing? After two weeks of smog and static air, strong winds lead to a sandstorm, sending AQI off the chart. It’s hard to say we’re moving forward if you can not see what’s ahead. pic.twitter.com/m0wS5oYg6O
– Li Shuo_Greenpeace (@ LiShuo_GP) 15 March 2021
The weather system originated in a winter storm that swept through Mongolia, killing at least nine people and knocking out forces in several parts of the country. In northern China, the air has exceeded airborne particle danger levels.
The air quality readings reached 999 on Monday after averaging about 80 during most of 2020.
China’s weather office has issued a ‘yellow warning’ for the storm. The event, according to the NPR, has expanded from the northwestern provinces of Xinjiang and Gansu to Inner Mongolia and Hebei Province. Overall, the storm affected 12 provinces and cities, NPR reported, citing state media.
The weather was compared to the “airpocalypse” events that hit the country in recent years before Chinese Communist Party leaders took steps to reduce pollution levels.
Beijing officials issued a home order for children and the sick and elderly because the smoke from it discolored the air. The effects are expected to continue at least Tuesday morning, according to the Times.
President Xi Jinping has said that a “green revolution” is needed in the country and that China will increase its efforts to reduce carbon emissions, but this target is often in conflict with accelerated economic development. Heavy pollution over the past few days has been linked to increased steel and cement production, and the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently told local officials four steel mills in Hebei province had not adequately reduced emissions, according to the Times.