Subhash Staff asked 5 years ago
I need facts and statistics on deforestation and desertification in China. Please share
Sameer Staff answered 5 years ago
Deforestation, the process of cutting, clearing, and removing rainforests, occurs due to various activities such as logging, mining, oil and gas extraction, cattle ranching, agriculture, and geopolitical factors.
Tropical Rainforests, despite covering only 6% of the Earth’s surface, host more than half of all plant and animal species globally. They play a crucial role in human life by providing diverse resources such as carbon storage, climate regulation, water purification, and mitigation of natural hazards like floods. Furthermore, forests house about 90% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, with 57% of remaining rainforests situated in the Neotropics, including 30% in Brazil.
Global deforestation rates present concerning statistics:
- Approximately 4 acres (1 hectare) of forest are lost every second, equivalent to two U.S. football fields.
- Every minute, around 149 acres (60 hectares) of forest vanish.
- Daily, deforestation claims an area of about 214,000 acres (86,000 hectares), surpassing the size of New York City.
- Annually, an alarming 78 million acres (31 million hectares) of forest are lost, an area larger than Poland.
- On average, 137 species face extinction daily, totaling 50,000 species per year.
Between 1960 and 1990, global deforestation rates raised significant concerns, leading to substantial forest cover loss in various regions:
-
- Atlantic coast of Brazil: 90-95%
- China: 70%
- Central America: 50%
- South America: 70%
- Philippines: 90%
- Madagascar: 95%
- El Salvador: 70-85%
- Sumatra: 85%
China, known for its massive population of over 1.3 billion and remarkable biodiversity, covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, ranking as the world’s second-largest country by land area. Despite having only 12% forest cover, China possesses extensive forested land, making it a prime target for conservation efforts.
China boasts a diverse range of forests, including cold coniferous forests in the north, moist conifer forests with bamboo thickets, subtropical forests dominating central and southern regions, and tropical and seasonal rainforests in Yunnan and Hainan Island.
However, rapid urbanization and industrialization have significantly impacted China’s natural resources, particularly its forest cover. Since 2000, urban areas have expanded by an average of 10% annually, with projections suggesting an addition of 400 million urban residents by 2025. This unprecedented urbanization rate, rising from 17.4% to 46.8% between 1978 and 2009, has led to substantial deforestation. By 1988, China had depleted approximately 289.33 million hectares of forests.
The decline in forest cover, plummeting from 30% in 1950 to just 18.8% by 1980, has resulted in observable environmental changes, including reduced precipitation levels, heightened wind velocity, and increased flooding. Deforestation exacerbates desertification, notably seen in the rapid expansion of the Gobi Desert, devouring grasslands at a rate of nearly 2,250 miles per year. This encroachment limits agricultural space and triggers intense sandstorms, such as the one in May that blanketed 1 million square miles of northern China in dust, exacerbating air pollution in cities like Beijing.
Despite being listed among the top 15 countries with the most forest by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 2001, China’s forests face significant threats. Approximately 36% of China’s forests are under threat due to high population densities, necessitating urgent preservation efforts. In 2011, Conservation International highlighted the forests of southwest Sichuan as one of the world’s ten most threatened forest regions.
Between 1998 and 2001, the Chinese government allocated over 40 billion yuan towards protecting vegetation, offering farm subsidies, and converting agricultural land into forests. In a span from 1999 to 2002, China successfully transformed 7.7 million hectares of farmland into forested areas.
Since 1978, China has pursued the ambitious Three-North Shelter Forest Program, also known as the Great Green Wall, which endeavors to combat desertification by erecting a 2,800-mile barrier of trees to impede the encroaching Gobi Desert. This initiative has seen the planting of over 66 billion trees, resulting in the creation of the world’s largest artificial forest. However, despite some localized successes in slowing desert expansion, challenges persist in curbing its relentless march.
The Grain-for-Green Program incentivized farmers to convert over 69.2 million acres of former cropland and scrubland into forested areas. By 2015, China’s forest cover had expanded by 32%.
Scheduled for completion by 2050 at an estimated cost of $8 billion, the Great Green Wall is considered one of the most extensive ecological undertakings in history. Yet, criticisms have been leveled at its execution, citing unplanned and questionable methodologies. While China’s planted forests cover more than 500,000 square kilometers as of 2009, making it the largest artificial forest globally, challenges such as winter storms and poor soil quality have hindered progress.
As of March this year, China’s artificial forests spanned 69.3 million hectares, surpassing the land area of France. However, planting fast-growing trees in arid regions like northern China has led to groundwater depletion, land erosion, and overfarming. The lack of biodiversity in these forests renders them vulnerable to diseases, as evidenced by the loss of one billion poplar trees in 2000 due to disease outbreaks.
According to Liu Tuo, head of the desertification control office in the State Forestry Administration, approximately 1.73 million square kilometers of land in China have turned into desert, with 530,000 square kilometers considered treatable. However, at the current rate of reclamation, it would take 300 years to reclaim this desertified land, assuming no further natural disasters or setbacks occur.
China’s vast outer regions boast abundant resources, yet they contribute to the 2.6 million square kilometers, or one-third of China’s territory, classified as desert or wasteland. Desertification poses a significant challenge for Beijing, as the expansion of the country’s deserts threatens environmental, economic, and political stability. Roughly 2.6 million square meters of land in China consist solely of sand or rock desert, an area approximately seven times the size of Germany.
In 1998, devastating floods, intensified by deforestation and heavy rainfall, claimed the lives of over 4,000 individuals in southern China. In response, China implemented ambitious reforestation policies aimed at stabilizing soil and mitigating flooding risks.
Initially, these efforts appeared successful. By 2013, China’s Grain-for-Green Program had incentivized farmers to plant more than 69.2 million acres of trees on former cropland and scrubland, resulting in a 32 percent increase in the country’s tree cover by 2015.
However, a closer examination reveals that much of the newly planted tree cover does not constitute true forests, as highlighted by a recent study. Many reforestation projects focused on planting a single tree species, resulting in ecologically homogeneous landscapes reminiscent of monoculture plantations.
The adverse consequences of excessive natural resource exploitation have prompted a critical reevaluation of our relationship with nature. In the face of global uncertainty, it is imperative that we learn from past mistakes and actively support reforestation and other environmentally friendly initiatives to safeguard a sustainable and secure future.