title: The Haze Nightmare Following the Economic Boom in China: Dilemma and Tradeoffs.
abstract: This study aims to expand on a deeper understanding of the relationship between rapid economic development and ensuing air pollution in China. The database includes the gross domestic product (GDP), the value added of a secondary industry, the per capita GDP (PGDP), greenhouse gases emissions, and PM2.5 concentrations. The results indicate that China's PGDP has continued to rise over the past decade, and the rate of PGDP slowed down from 1980 to 2004 (slope = 5672.81, R² = 0.99, p < 0.001) but was significantly lower than that from the year 2004 to 2013 (slope = 46,911.08, R² > 0.99, p < 0.001). Unfortunately, we found that total coal consumption, annual steel production, and SO₂ emission had been continually growing as the overall economy expands at temporal scale, with the coefficient of determinations greater than 0.98 (p < 0.001). Considering the spatial pattern aspect, we also found a significant relationship between GDP and greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, severe air pollution has negatively impacted the environment and human health, particularly in some highlighted regions. The variation explained by both total SO₂ emission and total smoke and dust emission were 33% (p < 0.001) and 24% (p < 0.01) for the rate of total pertussis at temporal scale, respectively. Furthermore, at the spatial scale, pulmonary tuberculosis rates and pertussis mainly occurred in area with serious air pollution (economically developed region). It can be summarized that the extensive mode of economic growth has brought a number of serious environment and human health problems. Thus, a new policy framework has been proposed to meet the goals of maintaining a healthy economy without harming natural environment, which may prove integral, especially when coupled with long-term national strategic development plans.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. sunjian@igsnrr.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China. wangjn@cib.ac.cn.|Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China. wangjn@cib.ac.cn.|Ecological Restoration Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu 610041, China. wangjn@cib.ac.cn.|International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), G.P.O. Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal. wangjn@cib.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jinniu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China. weiyq@lzb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yanqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. liyr@igsnrr.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yurui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. miaoliu@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D004391:Dust; D057217:Economic Development; D058735:Environmental Policy; D059066:Gross Domestic Product; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust; D052638:Particulate Matter; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide
keywords: PM2.5; SO2 emissions; haze; industrial soot emissions; pertussis and pulmonary tuberculosis; policy framework