Abstract

PIP: By the year 2000 a Great Green Wall of forests may be crossing the country from northwest to northeast, a total of 53 million hectares of green protection from encroaching deserts and erosion, stretching through 12 provinces to increase the nation's forest cover, which now stands at a mere 12.7% of China's territory. Soils have been degraded to a critical level only within the past 150 years. At present, about one-sixth of the total land is affected by erosion. In 1988 more than 11 million hectares of farmland, one-tenth of the total sown acreage, suffered from severe drought. Another 7.5 million hectares of crops were flooded, and grain output has been dropping steadily. China is now importing more than 1 billion tons of food staples to feed its population. In all big cities including the capital Beijing, sulphur dioxide and dust levels in the atmosphere surpass the norm set by the State. The most seriously polluted city in China is Benxi, situated in Liaoning Province, which contains some 420 factories. Shanghai has become a preview of what is in store for many Chinese cities unless urgent anti-pollution measures are designed and implemented. Much of the city's municipal and industrial wastes are simply flushed untreated into rivers and shallow coastal waters. Some 34 billion tons of municipal and industrial wastes are flushed into China's rivers and streams every year. A highly lauded forest farm in Sichuan Province credits afforestation with increased precipitation in the dry season, reduced soil erosion, and a halt to the flooding of some 10 rivers in the region. Many of China's 32,000 species of higher plants are endangered; and similarly, many of the nation's 2200 species of birds and animals, like the giant panda, are threatened with extinction. The country's gigantic population remains the key problem as well as the key to its solution.