China has established the world's largest ecological environment monitoring network during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), achieving full coverage of monitoring elements such as water, air, soil, and noise, said Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu on Friday.
The network includes over 33,000 monitoring stations directly overseen by the ministry, covering all prefecture-level and above cities, key river basins across China, as well as maritime areas under China's jurisdiction, Huang said at a news conference in Beijing.
The minister highlighted the significant advancements in automation across the entire monitoring process.
By leveraging modern technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, the ministry has continuously advanced the intelligent transformation of the monitoring network. Currently, the entire process, including sampling, delivery, analysis and test, has been automated, the minister said.
"Taking surface water monitoring as an example, using drones for automatic sample collection can save over 70 percent of sampling time and offers unique advantages in remote areas. In the analysis and testing phase, 'black box laboratories' can automatically and continuously complete analysis and testing work, even when the lights are off and no one is present, achieving an efficiency increase of more than eight times," said Huang.
In terms of upgrading monitoring equipment, China has implemented intelligent diagnostics and maintenance for water and air automatic monitoring stations and instruments. By applying new technologies such as "AI+", the ministry can utilize intelligent recognition, analysis, and qualitative screening to accurately identify the sources of problems. For instance, sound fingerprint recognition technology can quickly determine whether noise originates from construction, transportation, or social activities, providing effective strategies for targeted management and addressing issues like noise disturbances, the minister added.
China establishes world's largest eco-environment monitoring network during 14th Five-Year Plan: minister
