Lake fights losing battle with desert
Source: Xinhua |
October 11, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
GAZING at tourists on camels disappearing into the distance, a 62-year-old man working at a scenic desert location wonders how long he can keep his job.
"If the lake dries up, there will be no tourists and I will lose my job," said Yang Ming who works as a cleaner in Dunhuang, a major stop on the ancient Silk Road in northwest China's Gansu Province. He makes 700 yuan (US$105) a month at present to support his family.
The lake he refers to is Crescent Lake. Together with Echoing Sand Mountain, it draws more than 1 million tourists each year.
The lake has been encircled by desert for thousands of years but now it is dramatically shrinking.
The water surface has dropped more than 3 meters in the past 60 years, and even dried out three years ago.
Zhang Hua, former deputy director of the Dunhuang Water Authority, said the Danghe River was proving insufficient to meet the needs of the lake.
"Each year, the Kumtag Desert pushes back forests for 3 or 4 meters," said Gao Hua, director of the Forestry Bureau of Dunhuang. "This is a big threat to the ecology of Dunhuang City."
Dunhuang is just one example of the threat of water shortages to the vulnerable ecology in northwest China, where about 1.7 million square kilometers of territory in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia, or 17.7 percent of China's land space, have been covered by desert.
Wang Jihe, former director of the Gansu Desertification Control Research Institute, said China had spent nearly 1 trillion yuan on ecological conservation and environmental protection during the past decade.
A total of 27.7 million hectares of cultivated land had been converted to forest, with farmers in 2,279 counties of 25 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions receiving compensation and subsidies, said Wu Lijun, an official with the State Forestry Administration.
The plight of Crescent Lake and Dunhuang, has even attracted the attention of Premier Wen Jiabao.
Wen, who had worked in Gansu for 14 years, said: "Ecological conservation is vital. It is China's responsibility to keep Dunhuang from vanishing."
"If the lake dries up, there will be no tourists and I will lose my job," said Yang Ming who works as a cleaner in Dunhuang, a major stop on the ancient Silk Road in northwest China's Gansu Province. He makes 700 yuan (US$105) a month at present to support his family.
The lake he refers to is Crescent Lake. Together with Echoing Sand Mountain, it draws more than 1 million tourists each year.
The lake has been encircled by desert for thousands of years but now it is dramatically shrinking.
The water surface has dropped more than 3 meters in the past 60 years, and even dried out three years ago.
Zhang Hua, former deputy director of the Dunhuang Water Authority, said the Danghe River was proving insufficient to meet the needs of the lake.
"Each year, the Kumtag Desert pushes back forests for 3 or 4 meters," said Gao Hua, director of the Forestry Bureau of Dunhuang. "This is a big threat to the ecology of Dunhuang City."
Dunhuang is just one example of the threat of water shortages to the vulnerable ecology in northwest China, where about 1.7 million square kilometers of territory in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia, or 17.7 percent of China's land space, have been covered by desert.
Wang Jihe, former director of the Gansu Desertification Control Research Institute, said China had spent nearly 1 trillion yuan on ecological conservation and environmental protection during the past decade.
A total of 27.7 million hectares of cultivated land had been converted to forest, with farmers in 2,279 counties of 25 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions receiving compensation and subsidies, said Wu Lijun, an official with the State Forestry Administration.
The plight of Crescent Lake and Dunhuang, has even attracted the attention of Premier Wen Jiabao.
Wen, who had worked in Gansu for 14 years, said: "Ecological conservation is vital. It is China's responsibility to keep Dunhuang from vanishing."
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