Shanghai Daily news

China will initiate an international research project to tackle the severe water and air pollution in Asia next year, a senior scientist announced yesterday at a city-hosted international science forum.
The long-term objective of the project, known as the Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study, is to develop a prediction capacity to estimate various environmental changes over the next decade, scientists said.
The focus will be on the Yangzte River Delta, the Mekong River Delta and the Ganges River Delta, representing the most densely populated regions.
"The water and atmospheric pollution in China and Asia is posing a rocky threat to the people's health," said Fu Congbin, a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences who heads the steering committee of the project.
He addressed the international Shanghai Scientific Forum yesterday.
The forum, organized by the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology, is a part of the 28th General Assembly of the International Council for Science, which will hold its six-day session in Suzhou in Jiangsu Province from today on.
Fu said the Chinese government has appropriated an annual US$300,000 to support the project and at least six countries - including India, South Korea and Thailand - have indicated their willingness to participate.
He explained that once the project is activated, researchers from the participating countries will gradually establish a large-scale ground observation system to identify environmental changes in the region.
Meanwhile, China and other involved countries will utilize their satellites and launch more orbiters to form a remote sensing network to monitor the atmosphere, the ocean and the monsoons.
Researchers said that Asia has 57 percent of the world's population.
However, its air pollution is twice the world's average and its per capita water supply is only 44 percent of the world's average.
In China, about 50 percent of its rivers have been polluted and its per capita water supply is 33 percent of the world's average, Fu said.
He said the study of the monsoon in Asia will help scientists solve environmental problems such as drought, flood and pollution.