Nature - Chinese Science Minister: "The Ecological Situation Is Terrible"

[hatrack]

Counting the cost of decades of breakneck development, Chinese scientists and policy-makers last week outlined the daunting challenges they face in trying to halt the country's environmental degradation.

Government officials at the Symposium on Ecosystem Monitoring and Evaluation in Beijing promised to step up investment in ecological conservation and restoration over the next five years, although no precise details were given. Other delegates warned that the lack of a national long-term strategic plan for the environment, compounded by insufficient coordination among government sectors, could jeopardize such efforts.

"The ecological situation is terrible," admits Xu Jun of the Ministry of Science and Technology. More than a quarter of China's grasslands, for instance, have been lost to farming and mining activities in the past decade, and 90% of the country's remaining 4 million square kilometres of grassland is in poor health. The grassland loss contributes to problems such as water shortages and sandstorms.

Coastal areas are under even greater pressure — from pollution, drainage and development. "Of all ecosystems, wetlands are the worst hit," says Yu Xiubo, an ecologist at the Beijing-based Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

EDIT

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110301/full/471019a.html

[Nederland]

1. The Chinese are where we were 40 years ago...

...back when rivers caught fire from all the unregulated waste being dumped into them.

In the US, political pressure from those types of events resulted in the creation of the EPA and lots of federal regulations being imposed. It will be interesting to see how a government that is not a democracy responds to this problem.

[hatrack]

2. Except that the US had about 203 people million back then - China has about 1.33 billion now

And 95% of them live in an area about the size of the US east of the Mississippi.

It will be interesting indeed!

[phantom power]

3. and also except...

that we solved some of our environmental problems by exporting our pollution to... China.

Wonder who they'll export their pollution to?

[Dead_Parrot]

4. The way things are going...

...back to the US

:hide:

[GliderGuider]

5. Ka-zing!

If the US wants to repatriate your manufacturing base, they'll end up repatriating the socialized costs as well.
Fortunately the series of global recessions that started two years ago are going to make the whole question moot... So how are Americans at knapping flint these days? :evilgrin:

[phantom power]

7. most of us are a little out of practice

[seeviewonder]

6. What's really sad is that China (CHINA!) is starting to realize their

impact on our environment. Most Repubs don't even recognize environmental degradation for what it is here in the U.S. and we've known about impacts for decades here.