** On behalf of Chen Min: Guangdong PM2.5 monitoring release will be divided into three steps

Environmental protection has been increasingly concerned by people, especially the monitoring of PM2.5 which was known to the general public last year. This year, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Environmental Protection formulated for the first time the implementation of the “Ten Practical Things for the People's Livelihood in the Year”, among which was the announcement of PM2.5 monitoring results. Guangdong Environmental Protection Office announced that it officially announced the PM2.5 monitoring results in the PRD from March 8th. For this purpose, the province will speed up the construction of the PM2.5 monitoring network.

How will Guangdong achieve the goal of PM2.5 monitoring in the “10 Practical Things for the People's Livelihood in the Year”? Recently, Chen Min, deputy director of the National People's Congress and deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Environmental Protection, said that Guangdong plans to take three steps. The first step is to publish data on 17 sites in the PRD, and the second step is to increase environmental protection in Shaoguan, Zhanjiang and Shantou. Key cities and model cities, monitored and released in 2013. The third step was to conduct comprehensive monitoring and release on the market in the remaining 21 prefectures in 2014.

Chen Min stated that after the “Pearl River Delta Clean Air Action Plan” was promulgated, it was found that compared with the current rate, the compliance rate between PM2.5 and ozone monitoring in the Pearl River Delta region has dropped by 10% to 30%. Therefore, she said that in the future, he will pay more attention to the joint prevention and control of regional air pollution and coordinated control of air pollutants.

Zhong Nanshan, deputy to the National People's Congress and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that monitoring sites should be fully implemented this year. Prevention and control can be carried out in key areas instead of waiting until 2015. He suggested that Guangdong should set up a monitoring network this year across the province, not just in the Pearl River Delta region.

The topic of PM2.5 did not end there. Netizens are also very supportive and have many questions. Recently, Wu Xiaoqing, vice minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, nearly 1,500 PM2.5 monitoring sites will be built in China and the initial investment will exceed 2 billion yuan. How will this huge market split? Will PM2.5 monitoring equipment be purchased domestically or imported? How difficult is the new national standard of PM2.5 to connect with the world? These have become topics of concern for netizens.

It is reported that at present, foreign monitoring instruments have their own defects, and there is no one instrument that can accurately determine the concentration of PM2.5, and the country has not issued monitoring equipment procurement standards. According to a related person in charge of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, Beijing intends to purchase related instruments from the United States. Wu Xiaoqing also stated that PM2.5's new national standard has achieved international standards, but it is only connected with the world's "low rail".