The southernmost Hainan Province has successfully reduced the emission of pollutants and kept its air the cleanest in China amid robust economic development for the past five years, an official has said.

 

"Air pollution indicators are lowering while GDP per capita has almost doubled during the period," said Lin Shiluan, head of the provincial department of land and environment resources.

 

The province ranked first in 2004 in a survey of biological environment by the Environmental Monitoring of China, which is evidence of Hainan's environment-friendly development, Lin said.

 

The total emission volume of all the six major pollutants has been below the national standards, according to the official.

 

Hainan is one of China's most popular tourist destinations because of its tropical environment and beautiful coastlines.

 

Besides the control on pollution, the island province has made an effort in forestation. It has forested a stretch of 285,300 ha between 2000 and 2005, increasing the forest coverage to 55.5 percent.

 

Hainan strengthened the protection on natural forests after taking the lead in banning deforestation on them, said Zhu Xuancheng, head of the province's forestry bureau. It has 659,300 ha of tropical natural forest and over 133,300 ha of tropical virgin forest currently.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2006)