Great efforts have been made by the Chinese government to curb
the ecological deterioration in the Qinling Mountains, the
country's north-south demarcation. Enterprises of heavy polluters
in the concerned provinces, such Shaanxi, Henan and Gansu, have
been shut down; tourism-related exploitations, which have caused
adverse effects on eco-environment, have been stopped; and real
estate development is forbidden at the foot of the mountains.
The Qinling Mountains lie as a natural demarcation between
China's northern and southern natural environments. The range is
also a watershed between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River
valleys, and a key water source on the middle line of the
south-to-north water diversion project. The mountains' particular
geomorphologic structure blocks cold air from the north, conserves
water resources, and helps adjust climate. The mountain range not
only acts as a vital ecological protective screen in central China,
but its influences can reach as far as provinces on the lower
reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers.
However, with the economic development and intensified human
activities in the past decades, Qinling has been suffering
ecological degradation. The rate of forest coverage has decreased
from 64 percent 50 years ago to 46 percent at present, and forest
resources storage has decreased by 70 percent. While eco-tourism is
developed, the numerous restaurants and hostels dump their domestic
garbage into the mountain valleys, damaging the natural environment
for vegetation. Sewage water, waste residue, domestic trash
discharged from enterprises and residences without disposal have
polluted the Fenghe, Bahe and Heihe rivers and their 17 tributaries
originated from the mountains.
The increasingly deteriorating eco-environment of Qinling will
affect China's sustainable development and the coordinated
development of eco-environment and social economy, to which the
Chinese government has attached great importance.
In March 2001, the State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA) set Qinling Mountains one of the 10 state pilot ecological
functional reserves. Governments at various levels, that of
provinces, cities and counties situated along the mountain range,
were required to restore the local eco-environment
systematically.
The Shaanxi provincial government has started a special
pollution-striking action in the north foot of the Qinling
Mountains, where the ecology is most seriously destroyed and
pollution is the most difficult to control. According to the
Shaanxi Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau, in Xi'an alone,
capital city of Shaanxi, 407 enterprises have been set as targets
of the program. It's hopeful that these efforts can effectively
contain the eco-environment of Qinling from worsening.
The ecological rehabilitation of Qinling is a long-term project,
though. According to the government plan with a total investment of
24.5 billion yuan (US$3 billion), by 2015, the landscapes of the
Qinling Mountains will become as beautiful as they used to be and
the natural ecology will be restored.
He Fali, director of the Shaanxi Provincial Environmental
Protection Bureau and chief of the Qinling ecological restoration
project, says he and his colleagues are determined to make Qinling
clear again so as to leave the future generations a "green
heritage."
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting May 5, 2004)