For much of this period, official data were suppressed or manipulated, independent monitoring was obstructed, and environmental activists faced detention.
lørdag 28. februar 2026
China’s Growth and destruction of the Environment
China’s transformation into the world’s second-largest economy over the past four decades is one of the most rapid industrializations in history. It has also produced environmental damage of corresponding magnitude and duration. At its peak between 2005 and 2015, air pollution in northern China regularly exceeded levels considered immediately dangerous to human health; independent studies estimate it caused between 1.6 and 2.2 million premature deaths annually. More than 60 % of monitored groundwater and roughly one-fifth of the country’s arable land have been classified as polluted, in many cases heavily, with cadmium, arsenic and other toxins entering the food chain.
For much of this period, official data were suppressed or manipulated, independent monitoring was obstructed, and environmental activists faced detention.
For much of this period, official data were suppressed or manipulated, independent monitoring was obstructed, and environmental activists faced detention.
