A senior official said here Friday that the emission of major pollutants has dropped sharply over the past five years despite a high average economic growth rate of 7.7 percent.

Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, told a news conference that the overall quality of water and atmosphere environment has remained stable, the environment of some cities and areas has been improved, the protection of biological environment has been reinforced and nuclear and radiation safety has been secured.

Statistics show that compared with 1998, the emission of sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand both dropped 10.3 percent in 2002, while the discharge of solid industrial waste was down by 58. 9 percent.

He said that the World Bank has estimated that in the past 10 years, China contributed half of the world's total decreased waste that may cause damage to the ozone layer.

Nonetheless, he said, China still faces a severe environment situation as its total emission of waste is still far too much for the environment to bear.