Despite the hard-won improvements in the environment in some
parts of northwest China, deterioration is still an overall trend.
Desertification, water shortages, low vegetation coverage and a
sharp contradiction between human activities and land viability are
the main factors marking the region, according to Ma Songyao, a
researcher from the State Laboratory of the Cold and Arid Regions
Environmental and Engineering Research Institute under the Chinese
Academy of Sciences.
Desertification. Desert covers 2.6 million
square kilometers of Chinese territory, and the figure is
increasing at an annual rate of 2,460 square kilometers. In
northwest China alone, the figure has reached 1.5 million square
kilometers, accounting for 56.1 percent of the country's desert
area. Severe soil erosion now affects 1.7 million square kilometers
of northwest China, accounting for 57.0 percent of the region and
47.4 percent of the nation's total eroded land.
Water shortage. Long drought and human
encroachment have overturned the ecological water balance in
northwest China. Rivers are running dry, lakes are drying up and
underground water levels are dropping. The area has low
precipitation, quick water evaporation, frequent droughts and poor
water reserves. While the region represents a third of the nation's
land area, it has only a tenth of its water resources, with
precipitation decreasing steadily from northeast to northwest. The
area of Aibi Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region, has fallen from 1,200 square kilometers in
the 1950s to 500 square kilometers today. More than 30 percent of
the lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have become small saltwater
inland seas, while many of those in the area of the Yellow River
headwaters area have dried up. Drought and the shortage of water
are the most obvious problems holding back sustainable development
in northwest China.
Low vegetation coverage. Forested acreage
stands at 2.3 million hectares, or 4.8 percent, far lower than the
country's average of 13.0 percent. Forest and vegetation around the
river sources are steadily withering, with little ability to
conserve water and stabilize runoff. There are vast grasslands in
the region, but 75 percent of their area has only sparse vegetation
at best.
Human encroachment. The natural environment is
extremely fragile in northwest China. Rapid population growth has
resulted in excessive use of land resources, resulting in damage to
vegetation and reduced soil fertility. The already-fragile
environment is weakening.
Ma reports that their studies of the interaction between the
environment and the economic and social development of northwest
China have achieved preliminary results. The central government has
issued policies on eco-agricultural construction in the desert and
oases in northwest China, the loess plateau and the grasslands, as
well as the mountainous regions of western Gansu
Province and the irrigation areas along the Yellow River, where
conditions vary widely.
(China.org.cn by Li Jingrong, April 21, 2004)