NW China Facing Problems From Desertification, Water Loss, Population Gain

[hatrack]

EDIT

At the forum, held in Xining in Qinghai Province on Saturday and subtitled "Population, Development, Harmony and Cooperation", the head of the NPFPC, Zhang Weiqing, said that the population of the northwest has been rising continuously over a long period, and that its share of the national total has risen from 6.88% in 1982 to 7.23% by 2003. Ethnic minorities in the northwest are largely exempt from China's draconian "One Child Policy", but much of the population growth also arises from Han Chinese communities defying national family planning regulations. A recent editorial in China Youth Daily said that areas in China's west were having more children because they were poor, and were becoming poorer because they were having more children.

The rate of growth is putting immense pressure on the environment and resources of the region, said Zhang Weiqing, with water shortages worsening. The subsequent deterioration in the quality of arable land has been taking its toll on the predominantly rural population, but the insufficient water supplies are also restricting the rate of urbanization in the region, he pointed out, and thus holding back economic growth.

By 2010, the northwest region will be suffering water shortages amounting to 6.5 bln cu m, Ma Li, the head of the Population Development Research Center, said at the forum.

EDIT

The northwest is included in China's vast and ambitious "South-North Water Diversion Project", which aims to "optimize" national water resources by shifting them from the fertile south to the arid north. However, the construction of the western branch, which involves a 750 mile canal bisecting the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and connecting the upstream of the Yangtze to the upstream of the Yellow River, is regarded as an engineering nightmare, and even under the most optimistic assessments, it is likely to take several decades to complete. Much of China's north faces serious water scarcity, largely as a result of overdevelopment. However, in the far northwest, the parlous conditions of its waterways (including the shriveling upstream of the Yellow River), the expanding desert, the growing effects of global warming and the sheer distance of the region from the coast make the situation even more of a challenge. Further population growth is adding further pressure, officials at the forum said.

EDIT

http://www.interfax.cn/showfeature.asp?aid=4385&slug=CHINA-DEVELOPMENT-NORTHWEST

[cliss]

1. Overpopulation....

This is a theme I'm hearing a lot about lately. This sentence is confusing: "they were having more children because they were poor, and were becoming poorer because they were having more children".

I'm not sure what the author meant here. I'm assuming birth control is available everywhere in China - is it? Also, what form of birth control do they use?

The rest of the article is ominous - water shortage, desertification.

[phantom power]

2. Disturbing.

To my knowledge, China is the only nation with an explicit population control policy. If they can't keep their population stable, who can?

[Boomer]

3. A losing battle

Beyond explicit, well into draconian, and meeting resistance every step of the way. Which means the Western approach of relying on persuasion isn't going to accomplish squat.

The one factor which seems to hold down birth rate is increased standard of living, but increased standard of living means that a few well-to-do children probably use as many, if not more, resources than many children living in poverty.

How many different ways can you spell "d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r"?