常州污染事件暴露中國棕地隱患

Beijing is scrambling to respond to reports that hundreds of students at a high school built on the site of a former pesticide factory have become ill, in a rare case of public acknowledgment of the dangers of brownfield sites in China.

據中國媒體報道，數百名初中生因學校建在一座化工廠的舊址而患病，中國政府目前正對此事作出緊急迴應，罕見地公開承認了國內棕地(brownfield site)的危險。

The Changzhou Foreign Language School moved to a new campus in the industrial city in eastern China last autumn. By December, students were complaining of rashes, nosebleeds and strange smells, according to a series of reports in Chinese media, culminating with a report by state-owned broadcaster CCTV this weekend. Some students had been diagnosed with cancer, the reports said.

常州是中國東部的一座工業城市，常州外國語學校(Changzhou Foreign Language School)於去年秋季遷入位於該市的新校區。根據中國媒體的連續報道，去年12月，學生們就抱怨出現皮炎、鼻子出血等身體不適症狀，空氣中也有異味，連國有的中央電視臺(CCTV)也在上週末對此作出報道。新聞中表示，部分學生已被診斷出患有癌症。

On Monday, the environment ministry said it was “attaching great importance” to the case, which comes as the department is preparing an action plan for soil pollution across the country. Two years ago it declassified a report that showed the extent of soil pollution after initially labelling it a “state secret”.

本週一，中國環保部表示對此事已予以“高度重視”，該部正準備對全國土壤污染制定行動計劃。兩年前環保部曾解密了一份有關土壤污染程度的報告，該報告最初被標註爲“國家機密”。

China is littered with brownfield sites, many of them only superficially rehabilitated before being redeveloped for residential and other uses. Experts involved in the national action plan have estimated that clean-up costs could mount to RMB7tn ($1.1tn), roughly equivalent to one-third of national foreign exchange reserves.

中國各地散佈着棕地，其中許多隻在表層進行了修復，然後就重新開發成住宅或做其他用途。據參與環保部全國行動計劃的專家估計，清理費用可達7萬億元人民幣（合1.1萬億美元），約等於中國外匯儲備的三分之一。

The World Bank has proposed that developers of abandoned sites pay to rehabilitate them in order to get greater value in subsequent sales. However, there are few safeguards to ensure corners are not cut, and many brownfield sites’ commercial value is insufficient to cover the cost of a clean-up.

世界銀行(World Bank)曾提議開發商可以爲廢棄地址支付修復費，從而在隨後的銷售中獲得更大價值。但是沒有多少保障措施來確保開發商不會走捷徑，而且許多棕地的商業價值並不足以覆蓋清理費用。

Chinese reports on the Changzhou school said the previous tenant, a chemicals and pesticides factory, had buried chemical waste on the site before it relocated in 2010.

據相關中文報道，常州外國語學校新校址之前的承租者是一家化工廠，這家工廠於2010年遷走，此前曾將化工廢物掩埋在地下。

“The tragedy that has occurred in Changzhou shows just how dangerously lax China’s hazardous chemical management is,” said Ada Kong, Greenpeace campaign manager in East Asia for toxic chemicals.

綠色和平(Greenpeace)東亞分部有毒化學品項目經理江卓珊(Ada Kong)表示：“常州發生的悲劇說明了中國的危險化學品管理是多麼鬆懈。”

China had hoped to tackle air and water pollution first but policymakers are becoming aware that the problems of water and soil pollution are intertwined. Last week, the water resources ministry said more than 80 per cent of shallow groundwater wells it had surveyed were polluted.

中國起初也曾希望解決空氣和水污染問題，但政策制定者們逐漸意識到，水和土壤污染問題錯綜複雜。上週中國水利部表示據調查，國內80%以上的淺層地下水受到污染。

Both soil and water pollution are exacerbated by China’s practice of continually relocating factories, whether because of complaints about pollution or urban sprawl.

隨着工廠的不斷搬遷——可能因爲污染投訴，也可能因爲城市擴張——中國的土壤和水污染正在加劇。

The Nature Conservancy, a US-based environment group, estimated on Monday that preventing or ameliorating pollution in water catchments that together make up only 6 per cent of China’s land area would improve drinking water quality for 73 per cent of its people.

美國環保組織大自然保護協會(Nature Conservancy)在週一表示，只要對僅佔中國國土面積6%的集水區的污染加以預防或改善，就能提高73%的國民的飲水質量。