The curtain fell for the sixth national conference on environmental protection on Tuesday in Beijing as yellow sand blanketed the city.

Premier Wen Jiabao referred to the sandstorm as an explicit indication of the seriousness of the deteriorating environment.

"Repeated sandstorms should send a warning to us all, we should feel heavy loads on our shoulders while meeting here to discuss environmental problems," Wen said.

Premier Wen admitted to the meeting that the country was facing all the environmental problems that had appeared at the different stages of the industrialization process in developed countries.

He added that serious pollution and deteriorating ecology has caused heavy economic losses and posed threats to people's health and normal lives.

Ancient Chinese sage Confucius said: "Facing humiliation borders on bravery." The frankness to look at and talk about our problems is a good way to begin solving them.

This is just the position the central government has taken to the environmental situation at present.

What the premier said has revealed that the central authorities know exactly how serious the country's environmental pollution is and it is high time that greater efforts be made to push the implementation of specific measures in a down-to-earth manner.

Again the premier emphasized the responsibility of local authorities for environmental protection, which has long been considered a hard nut to crack for environmental watchdogs at various levels. Environmental protection will be taken into consideration when the performance of local authorities is assessed.

These measures are undoubtedly right. But how they can be carried out effectively has been left unresolved. The decision by the State Environmental Protection Administration last week to establish offices for big regions directly under its auspices is a step forward to push the enforcement of environmental protection rules.

But it is far from enough. The penalties that are likely to be inflicted onto local officials are not severe enough to force them to choose the environment when it is in conflict with economic benefits. Often, local authorities put economic benefits before environmental considerations. That explains why the environment has deteriorated to such an appalling state.

Sometimes we find it hard to believe that seriously polluting projects have been launched in some regions. We hope that investigations are conducted into what is behind those polluting industrial projects and that those who are found to be responsible are dealt with according to the law.

Only appropriate penalties can coerce local authorities to take environmental protection in a serious and earnest manner.