Thailand: Garbage becomes the most serious environmental problem

New Straits Times 20 Mar 14;

BANGKOK: Garbage becomes the most serious environmental problem in Thailand due to improper disposal, especially industrial and infectious wastes, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.
Director-General of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Pollution Control Department, Wichien Jungrungruang on Wednesday said that industrial wastes in Thailand now amount to as much as two million tonnes yearly, accounting for 77 per cent of all garbage in the country.

Wichien noted that improper disposal and illegal dumping, including that of industrial wastes, have continued and there are five Thai provinces with the highest amounts of accumulated garbage, including Songkhla, Samut Prakan, Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani.

At present 20 million tonnes of garbage are left unattended nationwide daily.

The Director-General urged the Ministry of Industry's Department of Industrial Works to tackle the problem and said that it was time for Thailand to apply a standard system to handle garbage.

Wichien pointed out that the latest incident showed that the garbage crisis in Thailand was a lingering fire at a garbage dump site in the Bang Pu municipality of Bangkok's adjacent Samut Prakan Province, which started on March 16 and has remained, affecting more than 300 locals.-- BERNAMA

Read more: Garbage becomes the most serious environmental problem - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/garbage-becomes-the-most-serious-environmental-problem-1.522916#ixzz2wZ82Dppb

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China's smog driving top foreign talent away: U.S. business survey

Natalie Thomas PlanetArk 20 Mar 14;

China's smog driving top foreign talent away: U.S. business survey Photo: Alex Lee
A tourist boat, decorated with green lights, travels on the Pearl River amid heavy haze in Guangzhou, Guangdong province March 3, 2014.
Photo: Alex Lee

China's smog is making it harder for foreign firms to convince top executives to work in the country, the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing said on Wednesday, offering some of the strongest evidence yet on how pollution is hurting recruitment.

Some 48 percent of the 365 foreign companies that replied to the chamber's annual survey, which covers businesses in China's northern cities, said concerns over air quality were turning senior executives away.

Pollution is "a difficulty in recruiting and retaining senior executive talent", said the report. The 2014 figure is a jump from the 19 percent of foreign firms that said smog was a problem for recruitment in 2010.

China's slowing economy, however, remained the top risk for companies, the report added.

Foreign executives increasingly complain about pollution in China and the perceived impact it is having on the health of themselves and their families. Several high-profile executives have left China in recent years, citing pollution as the main reason for their decision to go.

Almost all Chinese cities monitored for pollution last year failed to meet state standards, but northern China suffers the most. It is home to much of China's coal, steel and cement production. It is also much colder, relying on industrial coal boilers to provide heating during the long winter.

The capital Beijing, for example, is surrounded by the big and heavily polluted industrial province of Hebei. It is also choked by traffic.

By contrast, China's commercial capital Shanghai, in the south, suffers less air pollution. Indeed, a similar survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce's Shanghai branch did not ask if pollution was affecting recruitment.

Premier Li Keqiang "declared war" on pollution at the opening of the annual session of parliament this month, part of a push to wean the world's second biggest economy from credit-fuelled growth to more sustainable development.

China also pledged on Sunday to make 60 percent of its cities meet national pollution standards by 2020.

Lulu Zhou, associate director of the Beijing Office of international recruitment agency Robert Walters China, said some foreign executives were using pollution to negotiate higher salary packages.

"We have seen some senior level professionals ... who are concerned about relocating to Beijing because of the pollution," she said.

In a sign of the growing corporate concern over pollution, Japanese electronics firm Panasonic Corp has told its unions it will review the hardship allowance paid to expatriates in China because of the air quality, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

And a state-owned Chinese insurer said this week it would offer Beijing residents insurance cover against health risks caused by air pollution, promising to pay out 1,500 yuan ($240)to policy holders hospitalized by smog.

The policy, available for people aged 10 to 50, will also pay out 300 yuan when the city's official smog index exceeds 300 for five consecutive days, a level considered "hazardous", according to a notice posted on the People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) website (www.epicc.com.cn).

Beijing's official air quality index (AQI), which measures airborne pollutants including particulate matter and sulphur dioxide, routinely exceeds 300, and sometimes hits levels higher than 500.

SLOWING ECONOMY THE BIG CONCERN

Despite the concerns over pollution, China's cooling economy, which government leaders project to grow this year at about 7.5 percent, posed the greatest risk to companies, according to those polled in the Beijing survey.

Firms increasingly reported a stagnation or contraction in operating margins compared with previous years, it said.

As a result, more foreign firms saw China "as just one of many investment possibilities", the report said.

Nevertheless, a majority of companies surveyed remained optimistic about the business outlook for the next two years.

"This optimism is driven by our membership's confidence in their own ability to adjust and deal with the challenges," said Mark Duval, China president of the American Chamber of Commerce.

Many members had high expectations that recently announced economic reforms might deliver, Duval added.

But two in five respondents to the Beijing survey said the business climate had become less welcoming for multinationals, with a similar number saying foreign firms were being singled out in a series of pricing and corruption investigations.

Those investigations have targeted various sectors, including pharmaceutical and milk powder multinationals, as well as American technology companies.

Most recently, China's anti-monopoly regulator said Qualcomm Inc. was suspected of overcharging and abusing its market position. The U.S. chip giant has said it was cooperating with the investigation by the National Development and Reform Commission.

Respondents also chafed at perceived state enterprise favoritism, with 77 percent believing policies benefiting state-owned firms had negatively impacted their business.

"My judgment is that the biggest area that drives (this response) would be market access," said Duval.

Protection of trade secrets and company name theft were among other issues worrying businesses. Half of all respondents said that protecting confidential company data was a concern.

Other difficulties were a lack of clarity and inconsistency in the application of laws and regulations, the survey said. ($1 = 6.1920 Chinese yuan)

(Additional reporting by Ritsuko Ando in Tokyo. Editing by Dean Yates)

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Climate change fuelled storms, rising seas cost China $2.6 bln in 2013

Reuters 20 Mar 14;

(Reuters) - Climate change fuelled storm waves and rising sea levels cost China 16.3 billion yuan ($2.6 bln) and killed 121 people in 2013, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said.

China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases which scientists say is driving climate change.

Southern Guangdong province was hit hardest, recording 7.4 billion yuan worth of damage, the SOA said in a new report. Storm waves caused 94 percent of the destruction, it said.

Climate change-linked rising, warmer seas cause more frequent storms and typhoons, flood coastal areas, contribute to coastal erosion and salinate farmland, said SOA.

Average sea-levels in China have risen 2.9 millimetres on average every year since 1980, faster than global sea-level rises, said SOA.

"Sea temperature, air temperature, air pressure and monsoons are the main causes of the irregular sea-level changes," it said.

Temperatures in coastal zones in China have increased by 0.34 degrees Celsius per decade since 1980 and sea surface temperatures by 0.18 degrees, it said.

China plans to put in place a number of policies to protect itself from rising seas, which threaten megacities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin.

The government will solidify embankments in vulnerable areas, build submerged breakwater constructions and convert some coastal farmland.

China also aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP to 40-45 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. (Reporting by Stian Reklev and Kathy Chen; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Indonesia: Mangrove protection still hit and miss

Julie Mollins CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) Reuters 19 Mar 14;

When Ulva Takke heard that a foreign-owned firm planned to set up an iron ore mine on the tiny island of Bangka in the province of North Sulawesi, she joined forces with other residents in a protest that went all the way to Indonesia’s supreme court.

Takke owns a scuba-diving business on the 4,800-hectare (ha) island, which is populated by fewer than 3,000 people and supports a small tourism industry, as well as fishing, aquaculture and agriculture.

Although the community won its appeal against the mining project, news reports indicate that the company is still preparing to begin work, a move that could put pristine habitats at risk, including lowland tropical rainforest, mangroves, freshwater sago swamp and coral reefs.

“If so, it’s going to be a big disaster,” Takke said. “Livelihoods of traditional fishermen and coconut harvesters will be destroyed and many people will be displaced.”

Takke was among more than 100 delegates debating solutions to the threats faced by Indonesia’s mangrove forests at the Restoring Coastal Livelihoods conference hosted at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) by Indonesia’s Mangrove Action Project (MAP) and the Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP).

The three-day meeting was part of a project of the same name supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and facilitated by the non-governmental organization Oxfam in 72 villages throughout the province of South Sulawesi. The project focused on restoring coastal intertidal resources including mangroves, and on improving aquaculture and coastal agriculture management.

RESTORATION REMEDIES

Delegates discussed concerns reported by MAP that Indonesia’s Ministry of Fisheries is considering converting vast tracts of mangroves to increase aquaculture production.

The fisheries plans sit in marked contrast to the plans of the Ministry of Forestry, which has put in place a sustainable strategy for mangrove protection and use, according to Ben Brown, MAP’s chief technical advisor.

“Policy regarding the whole intertidal region was very unclear. Even policy around protected areas wasn’t adequate — there was a lot of illegal conversion and degradation, so even in protected areas anyone could write a permit for land conversion and change.”

Conference delegates worked on developing strategies for collaboration to ensure coastal communities can negotiate with government officials, academic scholars and other stakeholders.

“The key message of the seminar was that government mangrove agencies should be strengthened with greater community involvement,” Brown said. “Let’s not disregard these agencies and say they won’t work — let’s try to strengthen them and provide them with clear tools that aren’t prescriptive and overly simplistic.”

Since 1980, Indonesia has lost more than 26 percent of its mangroves, which have shrunk in area from 4.2 million ha to 3.1 million ha in large measure due to an increase in aquaculture ponds created as part of the “blue revolution” of the late 20th century. Mangrove ecosystems are favored for shrimp production because they are flooded twice a day in intertidal areas between land and sea, with brackish water creating an ideal habitat.

Scientist Jurgenne Primavera, a Philippine-based mangrove specialist with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the Zoological Society of London, proposes the use of protective “mosaic landscapes” to help restore degraded coastlines.

“Instead of a company coming in and saying they’re going to produce an unknown quantity of shrimp, they must instead say they’re going to look at the entire community, then the ecosystems — starting with the mangroves,” Primavera said.

COASTAL DEFENSE

Mangroves also help protect coastal areas from erosion and inland areas from high waves.

Since Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines in November 2013 — killing more than 6,200 people — coastal buffer zones that mangroves can provide have become a major concern, Primavera said, adding that there are many abandoned fish ponds that could be converted back to mangroves.

In the Philippines, coastlines are almost completely dedicated to fish ponds, she said.

Primavera proposes shoreline barriers characterized by a band of mangroves and a beach forest, with aquaculture ponds, beach resorts and other developments in the landward zone behind the coastal buffer zone.

“I’m proposing for the Philippines … a minimum 100-meter solid green belt of mangroves and/or beach forests,” she said. “A green belt would serve to both restore and maintain the coastline and aid shrimp producers trying to get certification for organic shrimp — as the Vietnamese government has planned for the Cà Mau Peninsula in the south of the country,” she said.

RISING SEAS

Another threat to mangroves and coastlines under discussion is rising sea levels caused by global warming.

“We don’t know what sea-level rise is going to be — we know the direction it is going, but we don’t know the rate and the magnitude,” said Dan Friess, an assistant professor with the University of Singapore who is measuring the surface elevation of mangroves in Thailand and Singapore to establish a baseline.

“Once a mangrove starts to break up, trees are lost and by that point it is too late to save it,” he said.

“Mangroves are not static and can tolerate a certain amount of flooding, but over time they can drown. What we are most interested in is whether we have the mangroves that have the ability to respond to whatever rate sea-level rise may be, and how we can manage a mangrove to help it respond.”

CARBON DYNAMICS

Carbon-rich mangrove ecosystems have a crucial role to play in global climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies — not only do they provide a wide range of ecosystem services, but research indicates they store higher amounts of carbon than other forest types, according to Daniel Murdiyarso, a principal scientist with CIFOR.

It is estimated that mangrove deforestation generates as much as 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation globally, despite accounting for just 0.7 percent of tropical forest area, Murdiyarso said.

“Combined with low-oxygenated, water-logged soils, mangrove ecosystems have the potential to offset emissions that cause global warming,” he said.

Murdiyarso heads up SWAMP, a collaborative project that includes the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Oregon State University and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) designed to deliver wetlands data for use in developing programs for the sustainable management of wetlands in the tropics.

“The conference gave us a chance to demonstrate the use of our protocol, which allows us to assess carbon stocks and its dynamics on both intact and degraded mangrove ecosystems,” Murdiyarso said.

For further information on the topics discussed in this article, please contact Daniel Murdiyarso at d.murdiyarso@cgiar.org

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El Nino weather pattern will likely hit Peru next month - government

Marco Aquino PlanetArk 20 Mar 14;

The feared El Nino weather pattern will likely hit Peru with a "weak to moderate" intensity starting in April, affecting the fishmeal industry on the country's northern coast, the government said on Wednesday.

The prediction, by Peru's official El Nino commission, comes on top of forecasts from around the world that the climate phenomena will probably strike this year.

El Nino occurs, on average, every three to five years, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is characterized by a warming of surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. It can trigger droughts in some places and floods in others.

In Peru, El Nino threatens to batter the fishmeal industry by scaring away abundant schools of cold-water anchovy.

Temperatures in the Pacific are expected to rise two to three degrees Celsius above normal this year, said German Vasquez, the president of the government commission.

"We expect anchovy resources to move toward southern Peru," Vasquez told reporters, adding that Peruvian waters would likely stay warmer until around the middle of 2014.

Peru is the world's top fishmeal exporter, producing about a third of worldwide supply. The industry is concentrated along the northern and central coast.

(Reporting By Marco Aquino; Writing by Mitra Taj; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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China draws up plan to tackle widespread soil pollution

Dominique Patton PlanetArk 20 Mar 14;

China's environmental authorities have passed a plan to tackle soil pollution as the government becomes increasingly concerned about the risk to food posed by widespread contamination of farmland.

About 3.33 million hectares (8 million acres) of China's farmland - about the size of Belgium - is too polluted for crops, a government official said in December, after decades of industrial development and poorly enforced laws allowed poisonous metals and discharge to seep into soil and water.

The plan, together with a soil pollution law in the drafting stage, is expected to focus on protecting food supplies and ensuring that contaminated crops do not enter the food chain.

China has time and again published policies and plans aimed at addressing environmental problems but it has long struggled to bring big polluting industries and growth-obsessed local governments to heel.

The top leadership is increasingly worried about the problem, with premier Li Keqiang declaring a 'war on pollution' during his opening speech of parliament this month.

The vice-environment minister, Wu Xiaoqing, told reporters this month the new soil pollution plan would help to create the legal mechanism to stop soil the problem getting any worse.

Meeting this week, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said cleaning up soil was a first priority for food safety and a fundamental basis for creating a healthy environment, according to a report published by the ministry's official newspaper on Wednesday.

The discovery last year of dangerous levels of cadmium in rice produced in Hunan, the country's top rice-growing region, caused an outcry with members of the public venting frustration that even their staple food appeared to be unsafe.

The plan proposes measures including targeting various sources of soil pollution as well as management of land for agriculture and setting up a process for cleaning damaged soil.

A recent government agency survey found that restoration of contaminated soil accounted for only 3.7 percent of the environmental protection business in China, highlighting the potential for growth.

Agriculture minister Han Changfu said this month pilot projects had been launched to rehabilitate farmland.

However, pollution experts have told Reuters the projects were only small and did not begin to redress the extent of the problem. One of the major concerns is who will eventually pay for clearing up polluted soil.

The action plan, approved in principle, will be submitted to the State Council, or cabinet, for approval. The ministry is also working on a draft law on soil pollution.

(Reporting By Dominique Patton. Additional reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Best of our wild blogs: 20 Mar 14

Sea Slugs and Stormy Seas
from Pulau Hantu

How much do we know about our Eurasian Tree-sparrow?
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Butterflies Galore! : Horsfield's Baron
from Butterflies of Singapore

Frogs on my mind
from Life's Indulgences

Photos: Forests, peatlands, plantations, and deforestation in Riau from Mongabay.com news by Rhett Butler

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Singapore's overall air quality to stay in moderate range

Channel NewsAsia 19 Mar 14;

SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) said Singapore's overall air quality was in the moderate range on Wednesday. It is expected to stay in that range for the next 24 hours.

As of 8pm, the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) was between 28 and 37, while the 24-hour PM2.5 measurement was in the moderate range of 15 to 20 micrograms per cubic metre.

NEA said showers in parts of Peninsular Malaysia and central Sumatra on Wednesday afternoon helped to further improve the haze situation there.

Nine hotspots were detected in Peninsular Malaysia while 26 were found in Sumatra.

NEA added that the low hotspot count is due to cloud cover.

As of 4pm, the air quality in most areas of Peninsular Malaysia was in the good range.

NEA said over the next few days, prevailing winds in the surrounding region are forecast to blow mainly from the northeast, and Singapore can expect thundery showers in the afternoon.

- CNA/fa

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Malaysia: Recent rains fail to refill dams

patrick lee The Star 20 Mar 14;

PETALING JAYA: Rainfall in the Klang Valley in the past few days has done little to replenish Selangor’s drying dams, with its largest only weeks away from dipping below critical capacity levels.

Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) director Md Khairi Selamat said water levels at most of the state’s dams did not rise despite the rain.

“There has been no water capacity increase in six of the dams in Selangor,” he said, adding that only the Klang Gates Dam saw a very small rise in water level, since cloud seeding started on March 15.

Last Thursday, LUAS on its website stated that the Sungai Selangor Dam was at 40.53% capacity. Latest capacity readings for the state’s largest dam, as of 8am Tuesday, was 38.97%.

The other dams also saw lower water levels than last week: 90.49% (Batu); 51.23% (Klang Gates), 57.55% (Langat), 74.91% (Semenyih), Sungai Tinggi (67.58%) and 90.48% (Tasik Subang).

The Star previously reported that the Sungai Selangor dam’s critical capacity point was at 30%, and that this might be reached in about 24 days from now.

Md Khairi said the release of water from the Sungai Selangor dam, which serves 60% of the state’s water needs, would gradually be limited to 500 million litres a day.

Sungai Tinggi, he added, would also be limited to a water release of between 100 to 200 million litres a day.

He said state-owned company Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB) helped LUAS by releasing water from ponds in Bestari Jaya into nearby rivers, estimating that about 223 million litres could be released per day.

In 2013, the demand for treated water in both Selangor and the Klang Valley was at 4,641 million litres a day.

National Weather Forecast Centre director Muhammad Helmi Abdullah said weather conditions suitable for cloud seeding were expected to last until this Sunday.

“It might not be so good next week. We’re monitoring the conditions every day,” he said.

Muhammad added that there might be a “temporary break” in seeding-conducive weather then, though he did not say how long this would last.

Cloud seeding resumed in Malaysia on March 15 after the Royal Malaysian Air Force recalled a C-130 Hercules from MH370 search duty for this purpose.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili previously warned that unless rainy weather came to Malaysia, a water emergency might be declared.

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Indonesia: Haze handling in Riau should not become regular agenda -- President

Antara 19 Mar 14;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the work to prevent land fires in the Riau province was conducted systematically and involved all parties, so the handling of land fires should not become a regular agenda.

"April through October (would be dry season), the root problem that causes the land fires must be tackled, and it is the only way to overcome the haze problem in Riau," the president said when opening a limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office on Wednesday evening.

The president when meeting with fire fighters in the Riau province on Saturday, March 15, asked for an increase in fire fighting operations and urged fire fighters to extinguish the blazes within three weeks.

"The intensity of the operations must be increased and I hope they can be finished in three weeks," he said.

The cabinet meeting, which took place at the Presidential Office starting 03.00 p.m., also discussed Malaysias request for help to search for its missing airplane.

Also present at the meeting were Vice President Boediono, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto, Coordinating Minister for Peoples Welfare Agung Laksono, Finance Minister Chatib Basri, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, National Police Chief Gen. Sutarman and National Defense Forces Chief General Moeldoko. (*)

Editor: Heru

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Indonesia: Jakarta land reclamation for giant sea wall project

The Jakarta Post 20 Mar 14;

The city administration is seriously considering the inclusion of a land-reclamation project in its master plan for a giant sea wall at Jakarta Bay.

The giant sea wall will curb floods in the North Jakarta area, which are exacerbated by the rising sea level and high tides.

Jakarta deputy governor for spatial planning Sarwo Handayani said recently that while the master plan was still being drafted by the administration, it had decided to expand the land along the coast of North Jakarta to accommodate the sea wall.

“Nothing is definite yet, but one thing is certain — we will try to reclaim some land in order to accommodate the project,” Sarwo told The Jakarta Post.

The administration is currently in the process of finding an investor for the Rp 280 trillion (US$24.7 billion) project.

The Artha Graha Group expressed investor interest during a meeting with North Jakarta Mayor Heru Budi Hartono earlier this month.

Sarwo confirmed that no other investors had come forward.

Heru said no deal had been made with Artha Graha during last week’s meeting.

“At the meeting, just concepts for the project were discussed,” said Heru as quoted by kompas.com.

Heru also revealed that if Artha Graha won the project tender, it planned to build a Disneyland-inspired theme park on the site of former Hotel Radin in Ancol, North Jakarta, in a joint operation with the administration.

The giant sea wall project was the brainchild of former Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo.

Besides the sea wall, the administration also plans to build 17 artificial islets off Jakarta’s northern coast, in order to strengthen the coastline. Some parts of North Jakarta are vulnerable to flooding as they are below sea level. (dyl)

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Chinese insurer offers Beijing residents cover against smog

David Stanway PlanetArk 19 Mar 14;

A state-owned Chinese insurer will offer residents of Beijing insurance cover against health risks caused by air pollution, promising to pay out 1,500 yuan ($240) to policy holders hospitalized by smog.

The policy, available for 10-50 year olds, will also pay out 300 yuan ($48.56) when the city's official smog index exceeds 300 for five consecutive days, a level considered "hazardous", according to a notice posted on the People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) website (www.epicc.com.cn).

Beijing's official air quality index (AQI), which measures airborne pollutants including particulate matter and sulphur dioxide, routinely exceeds 300, and sometimes hits levels higher than 500.

The capital is on the frontline of a "war on pollution" that

Premier Li Keqiang declared earlier this month in a major policy speech. Beijing is choked by traffic and surrounded by the big and heavily polluted industrial province of Hebei.

Last month, the city's environmental protection bureau issued an air pollution "yellow alert" for the first time, triggering a series of emergency measures to reduce dust from roads and construction sites.

(Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Chinese smog insurance: travel agency offers air pollution policies
China's largest online travel agency, Ctrip.com, has launched a 'haze-travel insurance package', allowing tourists to claim compensation for trips ruined by pollution
Will Coldwell theguardian.com 19 Mar 14;

China's largest online travel agency is now offering tourists "smog insurance", permitting travellers to claim financial compensation should their city break be blighted by bad air. Ctrip.com has created the "haze-travel insurance package" in collaboration with the Chinese insurance firm Ping An and has been selling the new product since Tuesday.

The insurance is focused on six cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an, all of which are popular with tourists – and also suffer from poor air quality. Pollution in China was recently described by scientists as like a "nuclear winter" and smog frequently grounds flights and keeps tourists at home. On one day during a recent bout of bad weather, Beijing's Forbidden City saw visitor numbers drop to 11,200: a quarter of its usual daily draw.

Under the new insurance package, tourists who spend at least two days in the designated city while pollution levels are high will be able to file claims. The level of pollution that triggers an insurance claim varies between the cities but for visitors to Shanghai, claims can be made if the air pollution index exceeds 100. In the past month the city experienced 17 days over this level.

Evidently aimed at domestic rather than international tourists, the premium comes to 10RMB (£1) and travellers can claim 50RMB (£5) per day.

The data for the pollution will be measured using the China Air Quality Index app, which broadcasts the levels of all the country's major cities and is among the top 10 most popular weather apps in China. The popularity of the app is in itself an indication of the lengths Chinese people will go to avoid pollution.

In Hong Kong, bad air quality and poor visibility has led visitors to pose for photos in front of a photo backdrop of the city's skyline. However, when it comes to smog insurance not all tourists in the country are convinced. Tian Yiyi, a sales representative with a Shanghai-based furniture company, told China Daily that despite travelling widely she would not be buying the premium. "The premium does not go directly to tackle the heavily polluted air," she said. "I would like the money to be put to better use."

Qian Yigang, 28, a technician at a Shanghai-based IT company told the paper: "People travel around for fun. If their mood is upset by poor atmospheric conditions, it cannot be fixed by money."

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