Beicology: A Sign of Recovery for Migratory Birds, and More

原创 Joey Knotts theBeijinger

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How bad is the smog these days, really? Who is keeping tabs on the state of our drinking water? What has the government done about carbon emissions lately? In Beicology we turn our focus toward environmental news in the capital.

Migratory birds over Beijing a sign of recovering ecology

Bird watchers have reason to rejoice as several rare migratory birds have been spotted in and around the capital these past few weeks. Even if you can’t find joy in a pair of skyward-pointed binoculars and a paperback field guide, you can still appreciate the birds’ return as an indication of a better Beijing – specifically its forests and waters.

According to Beijing Daily (via Weibo), a litany of rare birds, from Baer’s pochard to the reed parrotbill (pictured at top), have come for a visit, along with over 1,000 swans.

Swans enjoy the springtime in a north Beijing reservoir following a long migration

Gao Wu, a bird expert at Capital Normal University, told Beijing Daily that the birds are a sign that efforts to clean and protect Beijing's major water reservoirs and to expand its forests are working. "The ability to secure food, drink, and safety are the basic conditions for birds to choose a region to supply and rest during the migration process. If these conditions are not met, they will not come," said Gao.

As they say, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander – which in this case is Beijing’s ecological environment – and that is positive news for a city plagued by decades of water pollution and sprawling land use.

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Major SOE shamed after ignoring Ministry of Ecology and Environment warnings

Just because you’re owned by the state doesn’t mean you can get away with whatever you want. That is the lesson from a recent public shaming of a major state-owned metal trading corporation, as reported by Caixin Global (caixinglobal.com).

Among several other major offenders, China Minmetals Corporation was named in a series of reports by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment as having fallen short of its ecological responsibilities as required by law.

A Ministry of Ecology and Environment official conducts his inspection of a Minmetals company in Hubei Province

As the scathing report on Minmetals emphasizes, the corporation and its subsidiaries repeatedly failed to heed the advice of officials. "Since 2017," the report reads, "Minmetals Group has conducted little research on the outstanding ecological and environmental problems pointed out by the Central Environmental Protection Inspector, and the supervision and management intervention has not been in place."

But the offenses are more egregious than that. For example, the corporation claimed that it had cut nearly 9,000 tons of sulfur dioxide emissions, even though 95 percent of the cuts were from a company that Minmetals no longer owned.

The report also claims that Minmetals was less than truthful about correcting the damaging behavior of one of its manufacturing companies, apparently allowing the company to continue producing piles of hazardous waste after claiming to have rectified the situation.

While it’s not as good as a major fine, a good old-fashioned name-and-shame might just do China’s environment some good.