Environmental degradation and health risks in Beijing, China.
As China's capital city, Beijing is experiencing unprecedented environmental degradation accompanied by complex interactions between urbanization and global environmental change, which places human health at risk on a large spatial and temporal scale. For sustainable development that supports environmental and human health in Beijing and during the upcoming "green" Olympic games in 2008, experts and political leaders must acknowledge the urgent health risks from environmental changes related to urbanization. A range of urban health hazards and associated health risks in Beijing result from a variety of factors including heat islands, air pollution, water crisis, soil pollution, infectious diseases, and urban consumerism; in addition, some hazardous health conditions are associated with inequality in living and working conditions. The authors suggest 2 main areas for policy action and research direction: (1) the need to get full-scale information related to environmental monitoring data and health data (and then to provide new methodological approaches and techniques to implement interventions) and (2) the need for effective cooperation among different sectors.
Qi
Jun
J
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yang
Linsheng
L
Wang
Wuyi
W
D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D003141:Communicable Diseases; D004782:Environmental Health; D006291:Health Policy; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D014507:Urbanization; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis
D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014873:Water Pollutants