 |
Experts Fear Vanishing Wetlands
The Dongting Lake, China's second largest freshwater lake, will vanish into nothing in 273 years due to increasing silt caused by massive soil erosion upstream, an official warned Friday in Beijing.
Ma Fu, deputy-director of the State Forestry Administration, raised the alarm at a symposium on the protection of China's wetlands, which was attended by a group of experts from the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Over reclamation of the lake's flooded and marshy land has eroded the lake's upstream and surrounding lands, according to Ma.
Annually, up to 130 million cubic meters of sand is washed into the lake with about 100 million cubic meters, or 76 per cent, of it then deposited on the bottom of the lake, raising the lake bed by 3.7 millimeters, Ma quoted the latest statistics as saying.
"This increasing sedimentary build-up rate will cause the lake to disappear if it cannot be stopped," Ma warned.
Ma made it clear that the worst problem causing the shrinkage of China's lakes today was the increased reclamation of lake areas throughout the country over the past decades.
Other major problems facing China's protection of the wetlands today include its overuse as a water supply; pollution by chemical fertilizers and pesticides, a shortage of funds and insufficient co-operation between different agencies responsible for the protection of the wetlands.
Sediment build up has also lead to the deterioration of one quarter of China's existing 84,000 reservoirs, which have a designed storage capability of 460 billion cubic meters.
So far, uncontrolled reclamation caused by the increasing pressure of supporting a growing population has used up 24 to 50 per cent of the lake areas on the East China Plain and 23 per cent of China's total lake area.
Wild rats have also contributed to destroying valuable wetland areas.
China's 66 million hectares of wetlands, which account for over 10 per cent of the world's total, are believed to have been eroded due to excessive exploitation of the soil and water resources and the serious effects of pollution.(China Daily)
In This Section
|