Area: Asia, eastern
Reference: Agriculture; Environment
Title: CHINA: BIG FLOODS CAUSED BY DEFORESTATION IN TIBET
hong kong jul 30 (ips/yojana sharma) -- china's alleged abuse of
tibet's environment is being blamed for its worst floods in the last
50 years, with at least seven provinces and 50 million hectares of
farmland under water in the last two months.
''the chinese have destroyed the tibetan ecology to such an
extent that it will affect the neighbouring countries, some of which
are already experiencing unnatural floods,'' the tibetan spiritual
leader, the dalai lama, said in a recent interview.
ironically, china may not have calculated that its disregard for
the himalayan environment would contribute to flooding on a massive
scale in china itself.
the yangtze river has had a history of devastating floods, so
much so that it is known in china as the ''river of sorrow''.
but chinese officials now believe that with 200 million people
affected, the present floods are among the worst this century.
prof. chen lianshou of the national meterological centre believes
the disaster was the result of a combination of factors, including
the greenhouse effect, volcanic ash from the eruption of mt.
pinatubo in the philippines and smoke from the burning oil wells of
the gulf war.
only a very few chinese scientists have dared to express the
concern that deforestation and topsoil erosion in tibet may have
helped alter climatic conditions, contributing to the overflow of
the yangtze.
but prof robert thurman, a tibetologist from the u.s.-based
columbia university in the united states, is convinced that while
this may not be the only factor, the devastation of tibet's ecology
may have a major part to play in the current catastrophe.
just returned from an overland tour of eastern tibet, thurman says
he was shocked at the enormous environmental damage in the areas
where the yangtze and its tributaries rise.
''indiscriminmate logging at the rate of sixty truckloads an
hour has removed the roots that bind the soil,'' he told journalists
in hong kong, describing ''huge floats of logs cascading down the
rivers''.
with the loggers have come the chinese settlers who have been
given land in tibet by the chinese government intent on
''colonising'' tibet to ease the overpopulation in neighbouring
chinese provinces.
the new settlers' general ignorance of mountain conditions and
their application of lowland agriculture to the hills has further
devastated the land, says thurman. (more/ips)
china: big (2)
these observations have been borne out by other visitors to
tibet. china watchers are convinced that the road-building
programmes in tibet and the adaptation of rivers for transportation
are for the purpose of large-scale logging of the area.
robbie barnett, director of the tibet information network,
reports that during a trip he took in 1988, he saw evidence of
massive felling of primary timber -- ''complete hillsides cleared in
one stroke'' -- and almost no evidence of reforestation.
experts have determined that changes in forest cover in the
himalayan hills are altering local and global weather conditions.
deforestation causes heavy rains to run straight off denuded
slopes, carrying away the fertile topsoil with it. the sediment is
deposited downstream causing rivers to overflow their banks.
deforestation in the eastern himalayas and nepal is widely
accepted now as being a major factor behind the almost annual cycle
of floods occurring in bangladesh adn some parts of eastern india.
but the role of deforestation and poor farming methods in tibet
is yet to be accepted as contributing to flooding in china, partly
because beijing is extremely sensitive to any criticism about its
activities in tibet which it occupied in 1959.
in the flood-hit province of jiangsu, provincial officials are
too busy mobilising relief operations and completing the mammoth
task of laying some 32 million sandbags along the riverbanks to
begin contemplating the wider cause of the flooding.
''you cannot blame 1,000 mms of rain in two months -- which is
jaingsu's mormal rainfall for a whole year -- on logging,'' said
muong yiuzhong, jiangsu's official in charge of provincial flood
relief operations.
but nancy nash of the hong kong-based environmental group, 'the
buddhist perception of nature', says ''40 years of plunder, including
'haircut felling' -- that is, chopping everything in sight -- is
bound to have an effect''.
but, says nash, china still prefers to blame its floods on
natural causes.
''the floods have been a massive propaganda victory for the
leadership and they have been able to reap millions of dollars in
foreign aid, so why should they admit that the disaster is of their
own making?'' she says. (end/ips/en/nd/ys/lm)