BEIJING (AP) – China’s capital and much of the north of the country were enveloped in the worst sandstorm in a decade on Monday, causing hundreds of flights to be canceled.
Skyscrapers in the center of Beijing seemed to fall from view amid the dust and sand. Traffic was narrowed and more than 400 flights from the capital’s two main airports were canceled due to high winds and poor visibility.
The National Meteorological Center said Monday’s storm had developed in the Gobi Desert of the Inner Mongolia region, where schools had been advised to close and the bus service was added to reduce residents’ exposure to the harsh conditions. Reduce.
Such storms were frequent in the spring, when sand from western deserts blew eastward and hit areas as far as northern Japan.
The massive planting of trees and shrubs in sensitive areas has reduced the effects on other parts of the country in recent years, but the expansion of cities and industries, along with mining and overgrazing, has put a constant strain on the environment across China. With its mix of desert and grassy steppe, Inner Mongolia is particularly prone to extreme weather due to resource exploitation.
Like COVID-19, believed to have spread by bats and other wildlife, sandstorms remind us of the need to respect nature, says Zhou Jinfeng, secretary general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation conservation group .
“Along with the pandemic, that’s another big lesson we need to take and change our behavior,” said Zhou.
The National Meteorological Center predicted that the sand and dust would hit 12 provinces and regions, from Xinjiang in the far northwest to Heilongjiang in the northeast and the eastern coastal port city of Tianjin.
“This is the most intense sandstorm weather our country has experienced in 10 years, and it covers the widest area,” the center said in a post on its website.
It was not clear whether the storm was linked to a recent general deterioration in air quality, despite efforts to end Beijing’s suffocating smog.
The ruling Communist Party has pledged to reduce CO2 emissions per unit of economic output by 18% over the next five years. Environmentalists say China needs to do more to reduce its dependence on coal, making it the world’s largest emitter of climate-changing gases.