Chinese newspaper cites: South China’s environment

Notes from Hong Kong’s English language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, on environment and land-use problems and opportunities relevant to South China.

Agriculture and Environment

June 24, 2009: China’s four trillion yuan stimulus package aimed primarily at large infrastructure projects (e.g. highways, airports, and railroad) is cutting into China’s established minimum of 120 million hectares of arable land, the amount needed to feed China’s 1.3 billion people up to 2020. A renowned agricultural expert as well as many others already have warned the drop below 120 million hectares already occured earlier.

Jan. 7, 2009: Xinhua reports that the severe unemployment problems of migrant workers and graduating university students, land seizures, and corruption may lead to escalating social clashes this year at a time when China’s President is stressing a “harmonius society”.

Dec. 19, 2008: As many as 9 million workers returned to the countryside in 2008 because of China’s economic crisis. Job opportunities in rural areas are few which is raising the government’s concern about maintaining social stability.

Dec. 18, 2008: Many migrant workers from China’s farms have started to return to the countryside because of the economic crisis and closure of factories. The People’s Daily reports that it may be difficult to maintain social stability because of these population shifts, and that it could threaten the rule of the Communist Party.

Dec. 4, 2008: Concern exists by China’sMinistry of Land and Resources for the effects that the government’s (two year) 4 trillion yuan economic stimulus package may have on maintaining the 120 million hectare-minimum of arable land. Arable land will be used for infrastructure development if needed.

Nov. 26, 2008: A three-year study by China’s Academy of Sciences, and Academy of Engineering reported that a 33,000 sq. km loss of arable land has occurred from soil erosion in the last 50 years. The remaining 120 million hectares of arable land is under contined pressure and must be maintained to assure the needed grain production to 2020.

Nov. 14, 2008: Ten minitries and departments of China’s government prepared a plan designed to assure a 95 percent self-sufficiency in grain production to 2020. Increasing concern for recent international grain crises has acted as a warning. The plan calls for China to maintain 120 million hectares of farmland and to protect it from urbanization and development

July 7, 2008: China’s Premier Wen Jiabao encouraged grain farmers to increase their grain output to assure China’s food security. He said that the continued decrease in arable land from industrialization had to stop.

April 5, 2008: The amount of arable land in Guangdong Province continues to shrink at a rapid rate says the Guagdong Statistics Bureau. The arable-land loss is related to displacement of farmland by industrial development and general property development. In 2007, the amount of arable land in Guangdong had dropped from that of 1998 by 30 percent.

April 5, 2008: The Guangdong Statistics Bureau reports that Guangdong Province now has about 313 square meters of arable land per capita. Industrial and commercial development mainly have led to the farm-land loss. Province yield losses over the last ten years are 34 percent. In addition, the population of local residents and migrant workers has increased rapidly.

March 20, 2008: Hong Kong’s Organic Resources Center reports that almost two-thirds of some 220 vendors who claim to be selling organic produce in fact are selling uncertified “organic” products. Evidence provided by vendors to prove certifications is sparse.

January 19, 2008: The Director of the Guangdong Province Environmental Protection Bureau reported that seriously high levels of heavy metals (cadmium, copper, zinc, and chromium) exist in some soils and vegetables of the Province including those of the Pearl River Delta. The Head of the vegetable department of the South China Agricultural University says that vegetables grown on these soils have absorbed the heavy metals and, thus, the contaminants cannot be washed off.

June 14, 2007: China’s State Environmental Protection Administration reported that water and air quality in China’s cities seriously worsened in 2006. Sewage treatment showed improvement but air quality showed a decline in increasing numbers of cities.

June 5, 2007: Plant scientists of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Botany are conducting research on developing plants that will grow in water three times saltier than sea water. Using molecular and genetic engineering they hope to be able to cultivate vegetables in salt water when China no longer has enough fresh water and land for agriculture. They believe that normal plant-breeding processes are too slow.

April 14, 2007: The Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources warned that China is approaching the danger point of not being able to feed its people because of the continued reduction in its arable land. One-third of the farmland lost in 2006 was used for construction purposes whereas 55 percent was destroyed by natural disasters and ecological deterioration.

October 13, 2006: The Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources reported that about 362,000 hectares of farmland was lost to construction projects in 2005 alone. Over the next 15 years they hope to use only an additional 2 million hectares of farmland for construction purposes leaving the mainland’s total crop land at 120 million hectares.

August 16, 2006: Sulfur-dioxide air pollution in Guangdong Province rose from 693 kilotonnes in 1997 to 1294 kt in 2005, worsening acid rain. Hong Kong experts believe that to reduce pollution in the Pearl River Delta polluting industries must be moved to remote parts of Guangdong.

Water

July 24, 2009: The Mayors of Guangzhou and Foshan led 2000 people in an 800 meter swim in the Pearl River even though Guangzhou’s Environmental Protection Bureau reported that the river’s water quality only reached “level four” which is fit for factory use but not for swimming.

June 8, 2009: The annual amount of trash cleared from the sea around Hong Kong doubled over the past decade now reaching 12,900 tonnes. This amount is 5 percent above the 2007 figure. Yet, these amounts do not include 15,500 tonnes collected from beaches.

February 19, 2008: The Ministry of Health conducted a national survey on drinking water and found that at least 40 percent of the surface drinking water in rural areas is unsafe and that also 46 percent of rural groundwater was unsafe. No more than 30 percent of the rural water supply coming from centralized systems is sterilized.

January 26, 2008: Qingyuan in the mountains of northern Guangdong Province has attracted 2,000 industrial operations from the Pearl River Delta over the past five years for a boom in economic development. Its Mayor says though that only 35 percent of the city’s sewage is treated and thus it flows to some large, wealthier cities to the south. Industrial- and mining-waste also pollute the water. Next year a new highway will connect Guangzhou and this northern region and concern exists that more industries will move north further adding to pollution.

December 11, 2007: The Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that although Guangdong Province, the most populated in China, receives abundant rain, 40 percent of its rivers are too polluted to supply drinking water, and about 60 percent of waste water returns to the environment untreated. Drought now plagues the region and the government plans to increase the price of water.

June 16, 2007: Meizhou, a city in northern Guangdong Province, was seriously damaged by floods from heavy rains. The New Express reports that the damage was accentuated by the many, small illegal hydroelectric dams and their reservoirs in the area. The individuals who built them opened the flood gates when the reservoirs filled sending large volumes of water down stream to add to the flooding from the rain.

April 16, 2007: The Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported that the Yangtze River overall was deteriorating from pollution. They added that they also have fears of potential adverse effects arising from the Three Gorges Dam.

April 14, 2007: A Senior Engineer of the State Oceanic Administration’s South China Sea Marine Prediction Centre said that pollution carried by waters of the Pearl River estuary are adversely affecting Hong Kong’s waters and that the associated ecological damage was not repairable over the short term. Water at the mouth of the Pearl River was classified as suitable only for industrial purposes. The main pollutants are nitrogen, phosphorus, and petroleum in addition to a variety of heavy metals.

Forests

April 8, 2008: The extreme southern part of Yunnan Province known for its extensive tropical forests and wide variety of wildlife now is being converted rapidly into large rubber plantations. Encroachment of rubber trees into the native forest in the lowlands and highlands has researchers at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS, worried about the fate of this unique ecosystem. The demand in China for rubber to produce automobile tires is driving the land conversion. A recent study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences says that about 67 percent of the region’s rainforests were converted to rubber plantations between 1976 and 2003 and the rate of conversion is increasing rapidly.

November 17, 2007: The Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Hong Kong, reported that Buddhist pine trees, prized symbol for Fung Shui, may be eliminated from Hong Kong in the next few years because of their cutting by smugglers and subsequent sale in the China mainland. In the last ten months 421 Buddhist pine trees have been cut. One thousand or so have been taken by smugglers since 2003.

September 12, 2007: The shrinking amount of agricultural lands in China has stopped the program of tree planting on farmland and marginal land for slowing soil erosion and flooding. The Ministry of Land and Resources reports that 5.38 million hectares of arable land was planted to trees between 2001 and 2005. Of the arable land lost during this period 87 percent was a result of the tree-planting program.

May 15, 2007: Wetland reclamation and destruction, and road building have greatly reduced the mangroves near Xiamen, Fujian Province. Here in the 1950s, mangroves covered 320 hectares but only 13 today.

March 14, 2007: A report by the environmental NGO, Friends of Nature, criticized China’s widespread efforts to replant trees in once forested lands that are now barren. Fifty billion trees have been planted over the past 25 years which now cover 53 million hectares and comprise one-half of China’s forests. Two-thirds of the trees are conifers. Many have died from being planted too close together allowing pests and diseases to spread easily. Concern is expressed in the report for the chances of wildlife survival in such artificial forests.

September 29, 2006: China’s State Forestry Administration reports that illegal logging, the cause of much flooding, has been brought under control in most areas. Yunnan Province and those of China’s far northeast still have particular problem areas.

June 13, 2006: Xinhua reports that coastal vegetation in Hainan Island has been so damaged from locals starting new agribusinesses and aquaculture activities that the central government now plans to spend 1.1 billion yuan over five years to repair the damaged coastal vegetation.

April 12, 2006: The New Express reported that Guangdong Province now is covered with at least 600,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantings. Now, forestry experts are studying whether these trees from Australia are adversely affecting soil quality and whether they are using excessive amounts of water.

Wildlife

March 29, 2009. The Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department seized 100 frozen, pangolin carcasses from smugglers attempting to move the wildlife into mainland China for sale to restaurants. The smugglers escaped using high-speed boats.

February 1, 2008: About 1,000 snakes, some poisonous, were confiscated by members of Guangdong’s agricultural bureau in Foshan from four smugglers. The snakes, contained in 95 boxes, were headed for Guangdong markets the Guangzhou Daily reports.

January 26, 2008: An 18 month study of fish in the waters of the Pearl River Delta shows that 92 species of the 381 species present in 1989 are being eliminated by pollution in the water. In addition, dams now block fish migration pathways adding to the problem.

January 12, 2008: Two wildlife smugglers who used containers to bring 2,800 pangolins and 2,600 giant lizards into Fujian Province from Indonesia and Malaysia have been given a two-year suspended death sentence by the Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court. Xinhua reports the wildlife value at 30 million yuan.

September 21, 2007: Guangdong forest police caught eight wildlife smugglers. The Guangzhou Daily said that the smugglers were in possession of 16 bear paws, 81 frozen pangolins, and 23 live pangolins.

July 24, 2007: Xinhua reported another incident of wildlife smuggling in South China. Local police in Guangxi Province confiscated 270 live, protected crocodiles from Vietnam being smuggled into Guangxi

March 25, 2007: The endangered specie golden-coin turtle is being trapped illegally in Hong Kong and south China for sale in the mainland for use in Chinese medicines. Poachers can receive as much as HK$15,000-350,000 for one turtle in the mainland.

February 20, 2007: Health authorities in Guangdong Province have prohibited restaurants from selling civet-cat cutlets because of the possible link the animal has to the SARS disease. The civets come from the illegal trade activities in South China.

April 3, 2007: The city of Foshan, situated just south of Guangzhou, has had its health authorities ban the eating of field mice, a popular food, because some vendors poison the mice and then sell them to restaurants.

March 15, 2007: Eight dynamite blasts used for illegal fishing occurred over a three-month period in Hong Kong. The explosions kill all fish species and destroy reefs which provide valuable fish habitats. The Hong Kong police and the Agricultural, Fisheries, and Conservation Department are following the UNEP tests locally on their sonic-instrument technology.

February 28, 2007: Hong Kong customs officers confiscated 4.5 metric tons of smuggled fish and turtles worth about HK$210,000 and arrested four mainland smugglers. The high prices for such animals during the Lunar New Year is the cause of the smuggling.

January 20, 2006: Hong Kong Chinese import wild birds for release by religious or community groups to obtain blessings. An estimated one-half to one million birds are imported each year for such releases. However, some of the birds are infected with bird flu. The Chairman of the Animal Welfare Group in Hong Kong recommends that the government stop this practice because of the seriousness of bird-flu infections.

October 11, 2006: The Guangzhou Daily reported that nearly 10,000 pieces of snake skin were seized by Custom’s officials at Huangpu. The skins are being smuggled out of China on fishing boats. Eighty-five skins were from large, endangered snake species.

September 1, 2006: The China Youth Daily wrote that in Guangxi Province, tiger-bone wine sales were soaring. The sale of the wine produced by steeping tiger skeletons in the wine earns the industry tens of millions of yuan annually from the sale of 200,000 bottles.

April 16, 2006: A spokesperson for China’s State Forestry Administration said that illegal trade in rare plant and tree species and wild animals will continue so long as a mainland demand exists. China’s growing economy in part fuels the trade.

May 11, 2006: Hong Kong’s customs officers confiscated 605 elephant tusks worth HK$8 million which had been hidden in a secret compartment in a container ship from Cameroon traveling through Singapore. The ivory was headed for Macau. The cache was the largest uncovered in 20 years.

Atmosphere

Aug. 5, 2009: Because of the large numbers of factory closings that have hit Guangzhou in the last six months, the number of smoggy days (90) have been cut in half (49). The South China Institute of Environmental Sciences has expressed concern that as the factories reopen the smog will return.

March 26, 2009. Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University reported that very fine particulate matter in Wan Chai’s air was about five times higher than that recommended by the World Health Organization. Such fine particles can infiltrate into a person’s lungs and blood stream directly. The particulate matter’s source is mainly from automobiles.

March 25, 2009. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs warned its citizens of possible health hazards from air pollution they may encounter when in Hong Kong. The warning is expected to have a negative effect on tourism in Hong Kong.

Jan. 9, 2009: An award-winning study led by Nanjing University finds that 10 percent of Jiangsu Province’s birth defects — congenital heart disease, cleft lip, and hydrocehpalus — are caused by environmental pollution. Jiangsu is one of China’s richest provinces. Birth defects here are about one percent whereas in China’s poorer provinces the figures ar much higher.

Jan. 6, 2009: A poll of some 1000 people conducted by the Hong Kong Baptist University showed that the air pollution has caused 20 percent of the local and foreign population to consided leaving Hong Kong. They also reported that perhaps 10 percent of foreigners turn down Hong Kong employment because of the city’s air pollution.

Sept. 4, 2008: The Guangdong Protection Bureau reported that throughout the Pearl River Delta region 53.4 percent of the rainfall was classified as acid rain for the first six months of 2008, a figure up 7.1 percent from the same period in 2007. The average pH was 4.81. The increase took place in spite of the closure of thousands of polluting factories.

Sept. 13, 2008: China’s vice minister of environmental protection stated that economic and social development in the Pearl River Delta is being threatened by severe air and water pollution. The vice-governor of Guangdong Province also said that regional air pollution was worsening.

June 12, 2008: The Civic Exchange of Hong Kong published a new study stating that the elderly and children of the Pearl River Delta are suffering the most from air pollution. They report that 10,000 premature deaths and 440,000 hospital-bed days were caused by air pollution during 2003-2006.

May 1, 2008: The Guangdong Environmental Protection Department, and the Environmental Protection Bureau said that the the cities of the Pearl River Delta had poor air quality in 2007 and that ozone pollution had worsened. Of these, Foshan had the worst air quality 18 percent of the time. The Delta as a whole had bad to worse air quality 34 percent of the time.

April 4, 2008: China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection reported that the worse smog in china existed to the west of the Pearl River Delta. In addition, The Guabgdong Meteorological Bureau said that in 2007, 27 major cities and counties in the Province experienced the worst smog in the last 59 years

January 17, 2008: The Guangdong Meteorological Bureau reported that in 2007 the smog was the worst in the last 59 years. Record numbers of smoggy days were recorded in 27 major cities and counties. Parts of western Guangdong had as many as 240 smoggy days. Even in the more remote northern areas where industrialization is growing, some towns went from three days of smog in 2005 to 182 last year.

July 5, 2007: The Guangzhou Research Institute of Tropical Oceanic Meteorology reported that all of the rainfall in Guangdong Province for the first three months of 2007 averaged pH values below 4. Rainfall since 2000 has been measured as acid 70 percent of the time. Damage from the acid rain has adversely affected 15 of 21 of Guangdong’s major cities, their agriculture, buildings, and historic sites. The main contributors to the acid rain are emissions from automobile exhausts and coal-fired power plants.

March 1, 2007: Guangdong in 2006 had the highest air-pollution levels since 1980. The city had 120.4 smoggy days in 2006 which is the second highest since 1950. Respiratory diseases are up sharply. The frequency of acid-rain days in 2002 stood at 40.5 percent but climbed to 75 percent in 2006. Growth in heavy industry in the Pearl River Delta primarily is responsible.

March 22, 2006: Research at the University of Hong Kong for Science and Technology shows that much of the air pollution in Hong Kong originates in Hong Kong and not just in the industrial regions of the Pearl River Delta.. Increased efforts on the part of Hong Kong’s government will be required to solve the air pollution problem.

July 31, 2006: American scientists at air-monitoring stations near San Francisco have detected particles from Chinese and other Asian coal-fired power plants, smelters, and diesel-truck exhausts. Some of the particles are from dry soils and soils related to areas of deforestation. The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that sometimes as much as 25 percent of air particles above Los Angeles come from mainland China. With China’s steadily growing economy, it is expected that increased air pollution will be measured soon.