China:Beijing's Olympics organisers have been warned again that the city's foul air is a concern for the staging of the 2008 games in August, although the hosts have also been praised for fulfilling many of the environmental pledges made when it bid to host the games.
The sky over Beijing was yellow-tinged and badly polluted again yesterday after a week of clear blue autumn skies. The good weather coincided with the 17th Party Congress and may have been down to cloud-seeding to clear the air and traffic controls.
Chief Olympic inspector Hein Verbruggen spent three days checking out the city and did not anticipate any "risks or dangers" in the preparations, while air pollution was being closely monitored. Mr Verbruggen, who is head of the International Olympic Council's (IOC) co-ordination committee, was confident the games would be of the highest standard even if there was a lot to be done in the remaining 287 days. "There is nothing, and I repeat nothing, that is any risk or danger for the organisation of next year's games," he said.
IOC chief Jacques Rogge said staging the games had encouraged the Beijing authorities to tackle the environmental problems. He praised initiatives such as efforts to close down polluting factories, eliminate 300,000 cars with high emissions, convert coal-burning furnaces to natural gas downtown, afforestation projects and the control of dust particles from building sites.
"Despite all these efforts, time may be running out, and the conditions required for the athletes competing in endurance disciplines might not be met 100 per cent on a given day. For this reason, we may have to reschedule some events so that the health of athletes is scrupulously protected," Mr Rogge said in a speech to open the World Sport and Environment conference in Beijing.
A report issued earlier by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) said Beijing was on course to hold a Green Olympics as promised, but warned that air quality remained a problem. It was particularly worried about the high levels of small particulate matter (PM10), which are sometimes more than 200 per cent above recommended safe levels, and the UNEP report doubted the government's assessment that the PM10 levels were caused by airborne dust and sand and said emissions from coal-burning would appear to be largely responsible.
Beijing organising committee (BOCOG) executive vice president Jiang Xiaoyu said Beijing would continue its efforts to clean up the smog but had planned contingency measures which include taking 1.3 million cars off the roads and shutting big polluting factories temporarily.