Bluer skies

The high number of "blue sky" days in the latter part of the year has allowed Zhang Yajun, a 29-year-old resident of Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, to take more walks with her baby daughter.

"I remember the heavy smog during the winters of 2013 and '14 that made me cough a lot," she said, noting that the improvement in air quality has been obvious in the past two years.

Last year, the average concentration of PM2.5－hazardous fine particulate matter that can enter the lungs and blood-stream－in the smog-plagued Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster fell by more than 30 percent from 2013, when the area was shrouded in thick smog.

In August, the average concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing fell to 38 micrograms per cubic meter, a year-on-year decline of more than 19 percent and the lowest level since 2013, according to data from the capital's environmental protection bureau.

"Control of air pollution has been a top priority in the past five years," said Liu Bingjiang, head of air quality management at the ministry, who added that air quality will continue to improve in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster and neighboring provinces.

"From October (this year) to March 2019, 28 major cities in the northern region will see the concentration of PM2.5 fall by at least 15 percent, while Beijing, Tianjian and Shijiazhuang will see reductions of 25 percent and the number of severely polluted days will fall by 20 percent."

To facilitate government efforts to reach those targets He Kebin, dean of Tsinghua University's School of Environment, is currently leading a team of researchers in Hebei province. He's team is just one of 28 that will head to cities across the region to conduct research into the sources of air pollution.

In addition to a stronger focus on air pollution, the country has also seen reductions in soil and water pollution as a result of greater efforts to limit the number and volume of toxins－such as agricultural chemicals－either being illegally discharged or leaching into the ground, and therefore, rivers, lakes and water tables.

Meanwhile, measures to improve the rural environment in about 100,800 villagers across the country have resulted in better lives for more than 190 million people in the countryside in the past five years, the ministry said.

Green coverage has expanded and the area of desertified land continues to shrink, as a result of afforestation projects designed to prevent soil erosion and reclaim affected land.

Last year, a report by the UN Environment Program, called the Strategy and Actions of China's Ecological Civilization, offered an explanation of the model and highlighted innovations such as the "ecological redline", boundaries imposed to prevent construction or other human activities within specified areas aimed at allowing flora and fauna to develop naturally.

In the report, Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP at the time the report was published, expressed the hope that the world could better understand the strategy and be inspired to promote global action for sustainable development.

Tougher punishments

In the past five years, many existing laws and regulations have been revised to make them more effective, while a host of new legislation has been passed to redouble efforts to prevent pollution.

For example, the revised Environmental Protection Law, which came into force on Jan 1, 2015, gives environmental inspectors greater powers, and ensures that polluters face higher fines and a range of tougher punishments and even jail sentences.

Last year, a record 137,800 cases were filed against people and companies accused of contaminating the environment, according to the Supreme People's Court.

In addition, by September the central government had launched high-level inspections across every province, autonomous region and municipality.

"By Sept 15, the inspectors had delivered 12,846 pollution reports to provincial and city governments, and 94.5 percent have already been dealt with," the ministry said.

By the end of August, more than 12,000 government officials nationwide had been held accountable for poor environmental protection performances, it added.

According to Liu Changgen, deputy director of central-level inspections at the ministry, inspection teams will visit 10 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster and neighboring provinces by the end of the year.

"The leading officials and governments will conduct stricter monitoring to implement the protection policies and measures," he said.

Shi Xiaofeng contributed to the story.