CHINA/FILE: OLYMPICS - The Beijing Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee are united in their drive to clean up Beijing for the Olympics next year

The Beijing Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee are united in their drive to clean up Beijing for the Olympics next year. Top officials from the International and National Olympic Institutions met in Beijing, China on Thursday (October 25) for the opening of the 7th World Conference on Sport and Environment. China's will host the two day event and is keen to display its environmental credentials and development since it won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games 7 years ago. Beijing launched itself into a flurry of clean up slogans and activities that have increased during the run up to next August. As a result, the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games was awarded the Montreal Protocol Public Awareness Award for the elimination of ozone depleting substances. Liu Qi, the Chinese Minister for Sport, was keen to emphasise that the clean up act had not stopped. "We should take great effort to realise a green olympics, actively use advanced environmental protecting techniques, consecutively enhance promotion and education on environmental protection, notably improve the environment and work hard to construct a livable city, these are important conditions to host a successful olympics," said Liu Qi. Jacques Rogge, head of the International Olympic Committee, has expressed concern over Beijing's air quality in the past and has hinted at the need to reschedule some of the events. He spoke of the need to provide appropriate conditions for athletes, regardless of their competitive standard. "Be it the elite athletes participating in the Olympic Games or the grassroots athletes in millions of sports clubs over the world, they need clean and healthy conditions in which to train and compete. We are all too aware that the fragile condition of the environment would therefore pose a direct threat to the future of sports," said Rogge. He gave his speech on the same day as an International Olympic Committee inspection team gave their opinion on the suitability of Beijing's environment. So far, Beijing has spent millions of dollars on its project to clear the city of its smog before the Olympics. "We know that Beijing 2008 has to tackle important environmental issues. These problems are linked to the the impressive economic development of china. The Olympic Games have brought some of these problems to the surface and encouraged the authorities to tackle them faster and more effectively as the city wants to present the best condition to the worlds best athletes," said Rogge. The IOC's inspection team reported that they found no "risks or dangers" in the preparations for next year's Games, although air pollution would continue to be monitored. Beijing has planned contingency measures should the air pollution persist until the Games. Alongside its air pollution project, Beijing also promised to clean up its water system, at plants such as Qinghe Water Treatment Plant. It pledged to treat 90 percent of the city's daily waste water by August 2008 and to recycle half of the resultant effluent. On Wednesday (October 23) officials announced that the target would be met by the end of the year. Recycled water now accounts for ten percent of the city's supply, additional recycled water will fill the huge Olympic lake at the centre of the Olympic venues. However, state media reported in August that more than half of China's 3 billion population still live without any form of sewage treatment. A report by the United Nations Environmental Programme released on Thursday also cast a shadow over Beijing's air. It agreed that Beijing was on course to hold a Green Olympics but insisted that air quality remained a problem.

ITN Source | October 26, 2007

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