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By Laurie Goering
OXFORD, England, April 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) -W hen environmentalist Ma Jun set out to tackle pollution fromChinese industries, it seemed a near-impossible task.
Taking polluting factories to court was difficult. Factoryowners were powerful, and the incentives were stronger to cutenvironmental corners than comply with regulations.
But China's government, worried about public anger overworsening pollution, had begun collecting real-time emissionsdata from factories and when Ma asked for water pollution databe made public, officials agreed, giving him fodder for an app.
"I was very surprised when the government said yes," he saidat the Skoll World Forum on Entrepreneurship, where he wasawarded a $1.25 million prize.
"This is a clear sign of the political will of the centralgovernment to solve the environmental problem," he said.
Using the data, Ma's Institute of Public and EnvironmentalAffairs (IPE) built a mobile phone app that lets users see on anhourly basis whether a factory or power plant near their home isviolating pollution standards.
It has been downloaded by three million people in China.
Violations pop up as a red square on a map and can be taggedon social media, often to the local environment agency's accounton Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese hybrid of Facebook and Twitter.
As a result, factories that used to pay fines year afteryear are facing new sources of pressure, Ma said.
The IPE also brought the violations to the attention ofmultinational companies such as Apple, Gap and Uniqlo, whichsource products from the offending factories. Within a month ofcontacting the first 29 companies, 28 agreed to act, Ma said.
"At the beginning, (factories) were resistant," Ma said.
But as growing numbers of buyers told them their contractswere at risk, that changed.
"They decided it was time to fix it," he said.
PEOPLE'S HELP NEEDED
Today, more than 1,800 factories and 120 international firmshave taken steps to reduce pollution because of public pressurebrought about by the app, Ma said.
Using additional air pollution data now included in the app,380 cities in China can check their air quality hourly.
Wang Bidou of the Shandong Environmental Protection Bureausaid letting the public use real-time data to hold polluters toaccount was "a warning to all of the 15,000 companies on thepollution map".
The eastern China province, a heavy coal user, has been oneof the most active provinces in addressing pollution, Ma said.
Ma said the success of Beijing-based IPE's initiative hashelped the Chinese government become more confident abouttransparency and pollution control.
Since agreeing to release water pollution monitoring data,the government has opened access to emissions data fromstate-owned enterprises, steel companies and coal-fired powerplants.
This year, a new environmental protection law came intoeffect that for the first time gives people the right to knowabout, participate in and supervise environmental efforts.
Providing citizens with access to real-time companyemissions data puts China ahead of most other nations, Ma noted.
Taking on China's polluters has not been easy. When violations are pointed out, some factory owners "are in a verybad mood, some are threatening", Ma said.
But several things helped his project, including the factthat its data is based on government monitoring.
"We are looking for a solution. We don't want to destroythem ... This is about helping transform our economy," he said. (Editing by Megan Rowling and Belinda Goldsmith)
