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US donation to help reduce rural air pollution
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-09-20 22:48
The United States Environmental Protection Agency made a total of US$300,000
of donation Monday to help implement innovative, community-based programs to
reduce indoor air pollution from household energy use in China.
The donation was offered to the Institute for Environmental Health and
Related Product Safety (IEHS) of the China Center for Disease Control and
Prevention, and the China program of The Nature Conservancy of the United
States, respectively, with each receiving US$150,000.
Within the next two years, the IEHS will implement a project in Guizhou and
Gansu to help improve health through affordable, reliable, clean, safe and
efficient household energy use.
Meanwhile, The Nature Conservancy will use the grant on a rural alternative
energy program in Yunnan to help reduce local fuel wood use by 75 percent in the
next ten years. The Nature Conservancy also hopes to use alternative energy to
meet the rural communities' energy needs to achieve dual biodiversity and health
benefits.
The grants are being made available as part of the Partnership for Clean
Indoor Air that was launched by the US Environmental Protection Agency and other
partners at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in
September 2002.
Over 70 public and private organizations have joined the Partnership for
Clean Indoor Air so far with a common goal to save lives and provide practical
solutions.
The Partnership's mission is to reduce exposure to indoor air pollution from
household energy use for five million people by 2010 so that they can live
healthier, more productive and better quality lives.
According to the World Health Organization's World Health Report (2002),
indoor smoke from solid fuels is a major risk factor contributing to the global
and regional burden of disease. More than two billion people still burn
traditional fuels like firewood, coal, crop residues and dung indoors for home
cooking and heating. This widespread use results in the premature deaths of an
estimated 1.6 million people annually.
In remote Chinese rural areas, indoor air pollution was mainly caused by
cooking stoves without venting facilities and the shortage of
environment-friendly energy such as biogas.
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