Hi all, Before my first visit to China several years ago, I viewed many photos and images of old China. My impression was that the physical environment was very degraded with very little greenery and trees around. Looking at the old of photos of Felice Beato and Father Nani confirmed that there were very few trees about in the late Qing period. The landscape appeared equally bare in later images even up untill the 1970's.


The environs around Beijing appeared like a dusty desert. The hills around the Great Wall were bare. There was only dirt around the Ming Tombs. West lake around Huangzhou was equaly bare. Not a tree is sight on the farm lands in Shaanxi province.

What I find firsthand now is how green many parts of China appear. Billions and billions of trees seem to be sprouting up everywhere. Around the large cities like Shanghai and Beijing many areas of waste land are thickly planted with young trees. Further out many hills appear to be verdant and lush, even around the Great Wall, and in Henan, Jiangsu and Zheijiang and other areas I have visited.

It is obvious there is a serious effort in tree planting and it does appear quite widespread. By the size of the trees, most don't appear to be more than 5 or 10 years old.

I find these recent environmental developments very encouraging and positive. Is this trend universal in China?

Any opinions on this?

I think its a universal truth that all country will increase their greeneries and parks for better health and living standards.

The better off a nation is, the better its environment ought to be thanks to the increase cost of human labor forcing low end industries out of business; in this thought, China's coastal cities are increase their spending on beautifying their cities [somehow this reminds me of many sim games like Caesar/Zeus and .. Sim city], however, most cities that are just getting by probably won't increase their spending till they have a fatter budget to play with.

I think a better environment isn't on the more important issue on the Chinese budget concern when they have 1) education 2) retirement 3) medical concerns far more dooming then a crappy environment everyone is now use to. Besides, if you got people making 1$/day [I think that isn't too bad for some people in China] you will have industry of low quality that have low standards and probably don't care about environment, so I suppose if you have a economic output maps [exclude natural resources such as coal, iron, etc] the wealthier they are the greener they are.

I just caught a comment on CCTV9 today that the closing of the factories in Beijing for the Olympics has made everyone super aware of how much pollution they put out and there is going to be a huge effort to curb pollution and work to get rid of the worst factories.
This is a great thing to hear and I hope that the plan is carried through.

The tree planning policy has been carryied through for more than 4 decades. China is one of few countries in Asia that has enjoyed an increasing forest coverage in the past decade. Now there has been another campagin which is called " returning the farm land to forestry". For what I know in some provinces the campaign has been a phased success as the number of rare spieces like elephants, bears and clouded leopards rebounds rapidly.

The Chinese has realised the importance of environmental protection. In the city where I am living, the rivers which cross the city were once heavily polluted. But now you can even find water birds there. And a few months ago, plastic bags are forbiddened to use in supermarkets. People are encouraged to pick up the old tradition as using baskets to carry goods. For many cities I have travelled, the environment get improved.

However the challenge is still ahead and needs to be tackled seriously. THere is huge demand for energy to boost the economy while the highly pollutional coal power plants are still the main source. In the near future, no alternative is expected to emerge. The coal is everywhere in China and to establish a coal power plant is much cheaper than anyother cleaner power plants. This is a dilemma, on one hand, environment needs protection, on the other hand, the government has to ease the tension of enegy supply and create more job opportunities for the huge labour force.

One alternative is to continue the current strategy of having even car plates' cars to be on roads on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and odd plates' cars on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Second stratey is to encourage people to ride bicycles and take public transport like MRT and buses to work. That way, pollution would be curbed in a certain way.

also, in the next 6 months, the China government must make sure factories causing pollution must meet its "greening" standards or at least stop teir operations till the paraolympics and winter olympics is over which is at the end of this year.

This way, we can seee clear skies in China for at least few more months.

Did the government reassign the old factory workers new jobs when the closed down the factories? I think it's a pretty important factor when trying to balance the well-being of the people.

I assume whoever got relocated got a lump sum, and to operate else where. other then that I hear no assurance.

I know many factories do have anti pollution devices, but they seldom use them so as to save cost. One entrepreneur told me to maintain the anti pollution device would cut off 30% of their net income. I said but you still had 70%. He just shrugged and said no one would do that. Many of these entrepreneurs would rather purchase the limousines to show off than refrain a little from their greedy and do something helpful to the environment. The local environment watch dogs always turn blind eyes to them. They take the GDP growth more important than the environment protection as the GDP growth determines their political careers. I think the central government should use the satelite to watch over the pollution. It has been proven an extremely effective way to use satelite to monitor the illegal farm land occupation. There is supposed to be no technical difficulties in doing so.

Actually, do you think China is able to maintain its pollution free environment and air until the end of this year?

Hi all, I have just returned from China recently and I was pleased how environmental issues are a big topic and there seems to be an increased awareness of the environment. I did not go to Beijing so no one can accuse this of being cosmetic gestures for the Olympics. I went to Yunnan, Guangzhou, Sichuan, Anhui and Fujian.

I was impressed at the ban of plastic bags nationwide and the availiablity of recycling rubbish bins. There was considerably far less litter everywhere I visited than I have seen on previous occasions. I visited a recently established wetland area in Yunnan for migratory birds. I saw many recent plantings in particular around degraded and erosion prone areas. The upgrading of public transport with new subway lines in Guangzhou and Chengdu is a positive step in relieving traffic congestion.

Of course China has a long way to go and significant improvements will not happen overnight. Major issues such as air quality, the natural environment, over dependance of fossil fuels and water quality are still big problems.

But I feel there is a genuine trend towards improving the environment that appears very encouraging indeed.

changsham, that is good to hear that people in China are becoming increasingly aware of the horrible pollution in their country. When was the last time you went to China? How much has the situation improved since then? I know that China is a land of great beauty. It is just sad that so much of it destroyed by the pollution. Hopefully, things will continue to improve and the people of China will work together to improve the pollution problem there.

Hi Chen6. I only came back last week. I would stress that environmental issues are still not ideal and I believe progress is still slow. It will be a huge task given the population pressures. But it is good that environmental issues are in the public conciousness these days.

It depends on where one is in CHina, the perception of the country green efforts may be more or less apparent. Of course big cities where international activities are held will be held to a much hiiigher standard than some local little town where the local industry dictates the quality of life and of the air in that area. One only needs to compare 2 northern cities, Beijing where the tree planting efforts/new policie on curbing emission (and that has been going on for years) with that of one of the most polluted city in the world Linfen Shanxi （临汾 山西） province where coal mining industry is the lifeline for that whole city, one can see that the environement and pollution are still a major area China will needs to deal with for years to come...
Encouraging news, the local Beijing govmt has just instituted a new regulation this week (after the Olympics completed) that all govt cars need to curb emission by 30%, and all private automobiles will be prohibited to operate more than 6 days per week. Depending on one's license plate, there is one day per week one cannot operate that car. Good move , after the banning of plastic bag in Beijing just a while back!

Is the emission curbing by 30 percent only in Beijing or is it throughout all of China? China now needs to invest in greener cleaner energy sources because alot of the pollution is coming from those coal plants. wind,water, solar,etc.... China's pollution affects the rest of the world as well so countries with advanced green technology should share it with the rest of the world because as I said earlier, one country's pollution isnt limited to polluting that one country. It affects the rest of the world as well.

I think there is a mood for change, especially in Beijing, where people can see the difference regulation of environmental impacts can have benefits.

I was up in Beijing in the week before the Paralympics, and the thing that struck me was the willingness of the government to allow a public debate on this isue in the pages of China Daily. Once upon a time tha would never have happened with regards to such a contentious issue. Not only is there a mood for change, but the government recognises it.

I do have to say, though, that there is still a long, long way to go. Although there was less smog, I went for a run at 7 am one morning and my lungs were burning from inhaling whatever was in the air. I think it was VOCs. I decided to give up exercise for the week. Still, everything has to start somehwere, and they are making a start.

Just asking, now is already mid-november, and the 2 olympics are already over, how's the air in China now? Is still as "clean" as it was during the Oympics and Para-Olympics? Are the reforestation efforts by the Chinese government still as extensive now? How about the traffic on the roads? What about recycling efforts?

China definitely needs to be more environmentally-friendly. It is expected by 2025 that there will be more Chinese car owners than American car owners. China is a massive nation, with many people densely populated in cities. Therefore to fight pollution and climate change China must become the greenest counrty in the world. During the Olympics it was widely publicised that China is becoming more greener. Hopefully this continues, with practical measures.

Hi all, I recently saw some land restoration in Yunnan. Areas previously heavily deforested and eroded areas being restored. Also extensive tree planting on banks of the upper reaches of the Yangtze river.

It seems like the Chinese Government has been reading up on the effects of erosion!

A controversial construction project is being undertaken in China, called the Three Gorges Dam project. I was watching a documentary on the Three Gorges Dam. The issue with this construction is that it has destroyed old towns and people have not been properly compensated by the Government. Other issues include the increased likelihood of earthquakes and sedimentation.

That is good news! I remember when I was in Yunnan in 2005, on a field trip from Kunming to a nearby tourist town on the east side, all the hills are sparsely wooded, mostly deforested - completely contrary to what I have thought of a green Yunnan countryside with pine forests!

THE STRAITS TIMES



Nov 22, 2008
Soil erosion threatens crops


BEIJING: More than a third of China's land is being scoured by serious erosion that is putting the country's crops and water supply at risk, a three-year nationwide survey has found.

Soil is being washed and blown away not only in remote rural areas, but also near mines, factories and even in cities, the official Xinhua agency cited the country's bio-environment security research team as saying.

Each year, about 4.5 billion tonnes of soil are lost, threatening the country's ability to feed itself.

If the loss continues at this rate, harvests in China's north-eastern breadbasket could fall 40 per cent in 50 years, adding to erosion costs estimated at 200 billion yuan (S$44.8 billion) in this decade alone.

'China has a more dire situation than India, Japan, the United States, Australia and many other countries suffering from soil erosion,' Xinhua quoted the research team as saying.

Beijing has long been worried about the desertification of its northern grasslands, and scaled back logging after rain rushing down denuded mountainsides caused massive flooding along the Yangtze in the late 1990s.

But around 1.6 million sq km of land is still being degraded by water erosion, with almost every river basin affected.

Another 2 million sq km is under attack from wind, the report said.

The survey was the largest on soil conservation since the Communist Party took control of China in 1949.

REUTERS


What's the CCP going to do about this massive soil erosion?

Careful Shawn, that sounds very political and such things are not allowed here.

I didn't mean to be political....but this's a serious problem