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Industrial pollution and environmental impacts The Pearl River Delta has had for centuries the reputation of a rice growing and fish breeding region. Men started to settle in the Northern limit of the Delta thousands of years ago. Since then, urbanization has played an important role in the Pearl River Delta. Canton, Shenzhen and Dongguan are cities with today a population greater than 10 million inhabitants. The farming soils of the Pearl River Delta have rapidly given way to urbanization and industry. These sudden urban and economical developments have heavily pressured the regional environment. Moreover this growth took place in a quite anarchist way, local collectivities of the region competing one against another to attract foreign and national investments. The very fragmentary structure of the governance of the Pearl River Delta economic zone makes difficult, if not impossible, all coordination of measures aiming at treating the delta environmental problems.