Download Pearl River Delta

Case Study-The balance between environmental concerns and
economic development in China’s Pearl River Delta
Pearl River Delta
Describe the location of the Pearl River Delta
 SE China
 River drains into the South China Sea
 Hong Kong to the eat of the delta
 Macau to the west

What are the physical and human advantages of locating in the Pearl River Delta?
Human Factor
 Large population of China- 1,338,299,500 – (2010Source: World Bank, World
Development Indicators) which provides a massive market for goods and a huge source
of labour for the factories
Physical factor
 Large container terminals for importing raw materials and exporting finished goods
What are the industrial places and what do they produce?
 Guangzhou-Honda cars, pharmaceuticals, food
 Shunde-microwave ovens
 Zhongshan-electric lighting
 Zhuhai-computer games, consoles, golf clubs
 Shenzen-70% of world’s photocopiers, 80% of world’s artificial Christmas trees
What environmental problems has the industrial activity created?-air pollution (acid Rain), water
pollution and deforestation
 Air pollution-acid rain (rainwater containing sulphuric acid, nitric acid and compounds of
ammonia. Theses pollutants have been pumped into the atmosphere by manufacturing
industry and vehicle emissions) in 2007 8 out of 10 rainfalls in Guangzhou a city in the
province of Guangdong were classified as acid rain
 Water pollution-1/2 of the wastewater in Guandong’s urban areas is not treated before
being dumped into rivers
 Deforestation-uplands been exploited and considerable reduction in vegetation cover
leading to serious erosion of land by water

How have the Chinese government tackled environmental problems?
 Guangdong’s government has pledged to reduce the chemical pollution of the river by
15% by 2010 from the 2005 levels
 The Environmental Protection Bureau is using these measures to tackle the problem
1. higher sewage treatment charges
2. stricter pollution regulations on factories
3. tougher national regulations on vehicle emissions