Nation sets up comprehensive green tracker

China has established the world's largest ecological and environmental monitoring network supported by advanced technologies, and this will help strengthen the enforcement efficiency of environmental laws, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said.

At a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office on Friday, Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu disclosed that the number of monitoring stations that the ministry directly oversees across the country stands at over 33,000.

These facilities cover all prefecture-level cities and above, key river basins, and sea areas, monitoring a wide range of elements including water, air, soil, noise, oceans and ecosystems, he said.

The minister also noted significant strides in making the monitoring network more digital and intelligent by integrating advanced technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing.

"As China advances its pollution control efforts and the Beautiful China initiative, demand has grown for more accurate, comprehensive, and timely monitoring data," he stated.

Against this backdrop, he said the ministry must urgently transition its primary methods of sampling, analysis, operation, and maintenance in environmental monitoring from manual approaches to automated, digital, and intelligent ones.

The country has managed to achieve full-process automation in environmental monitoring procedures such as sampling, sample delivery, and analytical testing, he said.

While monitoring surface water, for instance, the use of drones for automated sample collection reduces the time required by over 70 percent, he said, adding that such an application has unique advantages, particularly in remote areas.

In the analytical testing phase, some laboratories can perform automated, continuous analysis and testing without human intervention even in complete darkness, increasing efficiency by more than eightfold compared to manual operations, he added.

The country's air and water monitoring network is slated for a smart overhaul of its operational diagnostics and maintenance, Huang said.

After the upgrade, he said the maintenance frequency of such facilities will be reduced from once a week to once a month, cutting manual involvement by over 70 percent.

He revealed that the intelligent transformation has been underway in 143 air automatic monitoring stations in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Huang also went on to highlight the rapidly accelerating use of AI in environmental monitoring.

The ministry has established ecological environment spectrum databases and sound signature libraries in its efforts to leverage AI to accurately pinpoint the sources of environmental problems.

With the help of sound recognition AI technology, for example, noise sources can be rapidly identified — whether they originate from construction, transportation, or social activities, he said.

This enables more targeted and efficient supervision, allowing public noise pollution concerns to be addressed more effectively, he said.

Yu Huiwen, vice-minister of ecology and environment, said intelligent environmental monitoring means as well as facilities, including satellite remote sensing, infrared imaging, drones, and unmanned ships, have significantly reduced the workload of environmental law enforcement officers.

In the domain of air pollution control, for instance, the ministry has developed data models that can help identify 48 types of problems across seven major scenarios, including high-concentration pollutant zones and abnormal emissions from key sources, he said.

Leveraging leads provided by such technological means, Yu said the ministry has managed to unearth and promote the verification of 260,000 environmental violations regarding air pollution so far in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

"The accuracy rate of those identified clues has increased from 40 percent at the very beginning to over 85 percent now," he said.