Beijing,Tianjin, Hebei to Jointly Reduce Smog

Fog and smog shroud streets and buildings in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2013. The city was again hit by heavy fog and smog with temperature surging to this year's new high of 19 degrees Celsius on March 8. [Xinhua]

Beijng, Tianjin and Hebei Province have teamed up to curb air pollution, which has reached hazardous levels in the region several times this year, The Beijing News reports.

Surrounding China's capital Beijing and Tianjin, one of the country's four municipalities, Hebei Province plans to plant 100 million trees and expand its forests by at least 280,000 hectares in 2013.

Beijing will complete the afforestation of 23,000 hectares and create more than 10 urban forests, each covering a 666-hectare area.

"Three regions are now improving the air pollution prevention and control mechanism, including unified plans for major environmental projects, joint enforcement and supervision of the environmental law, emergency management of pollution incidents, cross-regional pollution prevention, environmental information sharing and early-warning and crisis management of regional air pollution," said Zhang Qingwei, Governor of north China's Hebei Province.

"The new mechanism requires the support of scientific research and management capabilities beyond the administrative boundaries," said Zhu Tong, a professor at the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at Peking University. "It requires clear system design and laws and regulations."

Environmental experts say north China has become one of the world's worst areas in terms of air pollution. According to monitoring data from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, severely hazy weather occurred in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region five times in January.