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Olympic Air Quality

With the start of the Olympics rapidly approaching, China is preparing to take dramatic action to boost air quality in the Beijing region. Reporter Shannon Van Sant examines the nation's plan to cut factory production and ban more than a million cars from the road.

Related NBR Stories & Links

• 05-30-08: China's Building Boom
• 10-16-07: "Commentary" - China's Strengths & Weaknesses
• 09-17-07: China Goes Green to Get Green
• 06-23-06: Air Pollution is Putting a Choke Hold on Hong Kong Business

External Links/Articles*

• Beijing 2008
  This is the Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
• China's Ministry of Environmental Protection
  The Ministry of Environmental Protection is an agency of the People's Republic of China. It offers daily air quality data as well as other information about environmental issues in China.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  The EPA is a US federal agency charged with protecting human health and the environment. This links to an April 2006 fact sheet authored by the EPA titled, "The Integrated Environmental Strategies (IES) Program in Beijing, China." It includes a discussion of efforts to improve the air quality in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.
• The World Bank (PDF Document)
  The World Bank "helps to improve the safety net systems of developing countries through technical assistance, knowledge dissemination and direct lending." This links to a February 2007 World Bank report titled, "Cost of Pollution in China: Economic Estimates of Physical Damages." The report was prepared by a joint Chinese and international team and was published by the World Bank's Rural Development, Natural Resources and Environment Management Unit for the East Asia and Pacific Region.

*Clicking these external links will take you off the NBR web site on PBS.org. NBR has no affiliation with these sites.