300 years to undo desert
By Ben Blanchard |
January 5, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AT the current rate of progress, it will take 300 years to turn back China's advancing deserts, a senior official said yesterday, bemoaning the low level of investment in fighting the problem.
Over a quarter of China's land area is covered by desert, or land which is turning into desert, putting crops and water supplies at risk.
"The area of land being desertified is enormous, and prevention work most difficult," Liu Tuo, head of China's anti-desertification efforts, told a news conference.
"There is about 1.73 million square kilometers of desertified land in China, and about 530,000 square kilometers of that can be treated. At our present rate of treating 1,717 square kilometers a year, I've just calculated we'll need 300 years," he added.
"Investment is quite insufficient, with a huge gap existing for our needs," Liu said.
In some parts of China, which he did not name, regional governments were not taking the problem seriously. "They say it is important, but their actions show that's not the case," Liu said.
But Zhu Lieke, deputy head of the State Forestry Administration, claimed some success in reducing the area of desertified land in the past five years, though by less than half a percentage point.
Over a quarter of China's land area is covered by desert, or land which is turning into desert, putting crops and water supplies at risk.
"The area of land being desertified is enormous, and prevention work most difficult," Liu Tuo, head of China's anti-desertification efforts, told a news conference.
"There is about 1.73 million square kilometers of desertified land in China, and about 530,000 square kilometers of that can be treated. At our present rate of treating 1,717 square kilometers a year, I've just calculated we'll need 300 years," he added.
"Investment is quite insufficient, with a huge gap existing for our needs," Liu said.
In some parts of China, which he did not name, regional governments were not taking the problem seriously. "They say it is important, but their actions show that's not the case," Liu said.
But Zhu Lieke, deputy head of the State Forestry Administration, claimed some success in reducing the area of desertified land in the past five years, though by less than half a percentage point.
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