30 April 2015: The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a Contaminated Site Management Project to help clean up contaminated sites and improve soil pollution management in two provinces in China. Qing Wang, World Bank, said the project will help the Government of China sustainably manage contaminated sites and reduce environmental and health risks, while contributing to China’s implementation of the Stockholm Convention (SC) on the Elimination of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

Contaminated sites include: land containing substances that are hazardous to the environment or human health; abandoned industrial and mining sites; electronic waste sites; waste disposal sites; and agricultural land contaminated with heavy metals and agrochemicals.

The project, financed by a US$15 million Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant, aims to: support China’s policy-making efforts in this area; improve capacity to manage contaminated sites; develop technical guidelines for prevention and control of soil pollution; train government officials, clean-up professionals and offending companies; enhance public awareness and participation; provide technical assistance to prevent contamination; and demonstrate the clean-up process and remediation technologies that can be scaled up in China.

Gustavo Fonseca, GEF, acknowledged that China’s rapid industrialization has left an “unintended legacy of polluted industrial and commercial areas.” While relieving poverty for hundreds of millions of people, GEF notes, industrialization also has deteriorated China’s soil, air and water quality. Soil pollution is a particularly serious health and environmental threat, as it: contaminates the food chain with heavy metals, fertilizers and pesticides, POPs and solvents; pollutes ground and surface water; and hinders redevelopment of scarce urban land. [GEF Press Release] [Project Website]