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CHINA REVIEW ISSUE 12 SPRING 1999 G. ,#*. f t'.h:*

Environmental Degradation in Southwest China 1999

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Page 1: Environmental Degradation in Southwest China 1999

CHINA REVIEWISSUE 12 SPRING 1999

G. ,#*.f

t'.h:*

Page 2: Environmental Degradation in Southwest China 1999

ENVIRONMENT

E,NVIRONME,NTAL

DE,GRADATION IN

ecosystems are among the most diverseliving assemblies in Asia. Since 1950the forests have been indiscriminatelyfelled reducing forest cover from 30oloto l3o/o. This has threatened b io-diversity, causing drastic declines ofmammal and bird counrs, recurrenrflooding and erosion, and recurrentsnow disasters. These not onlythreaten g lobal c l imate, but a lsoundermine the livelihood of the localpeople. China is the nation with thelongest continuous culture on earth,and f rom the ear l iest t imes (TheShang Dynasry 1766-1122 BC) there

is evidence of both a conservatione th i c and an unde rs tand ing o fenvironmental processes. Environ-mental consciousness used to bere inforced not only by ru lers butthrough Daoism, Confucianism andBuddhism but it appears to have beenretained mostly as an ideal which wasgradually superseded by modernity.Al though the recorded h is tory ofsouthwest China is not as old as HanChina there is evidence that the peoplehave lived sustainably with their fragileworld for 2,000 years, and still todayexhibit a conservation ethic deeply

CHINA REVIE\T SPRING 1999

SOUTH\TE,ST CHINA

JoHN Sruorpy

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Ird*;t

Deforestation in Central Ganzi Prefecture

The People's Republic of China is richin cultural and natural diversity withover 50 ethnic groups and is listed bybiologists as a 'megadiversity'

country.In terms of biodiversity it comprisesmore than 30,000 species of higherplants and 2,100 terrestrial vertebrates.Several hundred species are endemic toChina, the most famous being thegiant panda, the lesser panda and theYangtze crocodile.

Much of this variety is found in anarea of southwest China, where ina few locat ions the untouched

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Page 3: Environmental Degradation in Southwest China 1999

ENVIRONMENT

embedded in thei r animist ic andBuddhist traditions and supported byhistoric government decree. Moderniryrather than enhancing the well-beingof the peoples of southwest China isseemingly destroying their environ-ment, their kinship patterns, socialcohesion, ind igenoue cul ture androbbing them of their means of life.

Last year China announced veryambitious plans for forest conservationand the provision of funding to re-deploy loggers as tree planters. It hashowever taken the very serious floodsthat occurred in China last summerfor both the State and local govern-ment to introduce desperate measures,i n an a t t emp t t o ame l i o ra te t heproblem. It was not until l7 Augustthat the author i t ies admit ted thatsome of the f looding was due todeforestation in the upper reaches ofthe Yangtze fuver. fu a result, a com-plete fell ing ban was introduced inwes te rn S i chuan , p lans fo r l ogchannels at Ertan hydroelectric powerstation were suspended, and US$52mi l l ion a year was re leased to re-deploy loggers in reforestation. Inorder to facilitace reforesrarion, it wasannounced that 9 million hectares ofgrazing land would be closed. Similarmeasures were institured along theupper reaches of the Yellow River andin Yunnan Province and TibetAutonomous Region.

Although these measures are generallywelcome there are already signs thatthe logging bans are being flouted,and officials who question if fundingfo r conse rva t i on i s a sus ra inab leincome stream. Concerns have beenexpressed about the impacr of the banand pas tu re c l osu re on rhe onemillion Tibetans who are dependenton the logging industry and there isconcern that most of the funds forreplanting wil l go to Han Chineseforestry workers, which may heightenethnic tension.

'We cannot turn the clock back, and

whether we like it or not, moderniryhas impacted southwest China 's

1999 SPRING CHINA REVIE\T

mountain peoples. There are lessonswe can a l l learn f rom China 'sdisastrous floods, about our view ofthe natural world and our paradigmsof resource management. If some ofthe measures China has introducedresult in new perceptions of the forestas a multifunctional resource, sus-tainable eco-forestry managementsystems, the empowerment of localpeople as forest stewards, fairer accessto fesources and forest systems thatenhance local wel l -being and theenvi ronment , i t wi l l represent aturning point.

Southwest ChinaSouthwest China is deeply dissectedby fou r o f As ia ' s l a rges t r i ve rs(Bramaputra, Salween, Mekong andYangtze), that f low in a southeastcourse through deep limestone andsandstone gorges. Elevation rangesfrom 2,000m to more than 7,000mand the area is dominated in the eastby Minyak Gangkar (7,590m). Thesteep slopes are mostly covered byconiferous forest, and the region con-tains China's largest forest resource,Nowadays this vast region, known torhe indigenous Tibetan people asKham is d iv ided for pol i t ica l andhistor ica l reasons between fourChinese provinces and comprises 47count ies. The region was charac-terised by its very rich biodiversity.There are sti l l believed to be over1,500 species of higher plant, more

than 90 mammal species, more than350 bird species, and more than 25rept i le and amphib ian species. Ofno te a re 52 con i f e r spec ies , 10pheasant species and 330 mushroomspecies.

DeforestationThe forests of southwest China, wereamong the most extensive areas offorest cover in the whole of China,and include the forests of southeastTibet , western Sichuan, nor thernYunnan, southwest Gansu, andsoutheast Qinghai. Since 1950, whenthey were designated China's

'second

timber production base' and macro-scale timber production enterpriseswere established, all these areas haveexperienced indiscriminate fell ing.The destruct ion was caused by'p lanned' commercia l t imber ex-traction, and not through populationpressure. The forests of southwestChina have seemingly never beenmanaged on a sustainable basis, andmost of them lack a management planor any form of monitoring. Timber isnot only requi red for China 'sbooming economy, but it is often themost important source of cash revenuefor local administrations, enablingthem to fund education, health andinfrastructure. State forest enterprisesare required to sell a minimum timberquota, which is often as much as threetimes the sustainable yield, at a pricethat is often below production costs.

Deforestation in Central Ganzi Prefecture

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ENVIRONMENT

To compensate for this they sell evenmore timber on the free market and insome areas annual felling is four timesmore than the sustainable yield. As aresult forest cover in Tibet has fallenfro* 970' (1950) to 5o/o (19s5) , inYunnan ftom 55o/o (1950s) to 30o/o(1975) and in Sichuan from 30o/o(1950) to 6.50/o (1998),

Some of the most disquieting reportson deforestation come from Sichuanand Yunnan. Although deforestationbegan i n t he ea r l y 1950s rap idacceleration did not begin until the1960s. In theory the 104 state forestareas should only fell 760,000 cubicmetres a year on a sustainable basis,but they have exceeded 2 mill ioncubic metres year-on-year. Logging,clearing of forest for cultivation,expansion of pastures and forest fireshave so seriously upset the ecosystemin the mountainous prefectures ofwestern Sichuan that envi ron-mentalists fear that the Yangtze,whose t r ibutar ies dra in the pre-fectures, will become as bad as theYellow River. Of the provinces' 139counties only 12 now have forestcovering more than 30o/o of the land,22 have between 20o/o and 30%o, but91 have less than l0o/o, and 14counties have less than lol0. Yunnanstill ranks fourth in China in terms oftotal timber resources, but in relativeterms the province's deforestation hasbeen even more extensive than inSichuan, and its loss of forest landappears to be by far the worst inChina. In the early 1950s about 55oloofYunnan was covered by forests, butby 1975 it had dropped to 30olo andannua l wood consumpt ion wasdouble the growth rate. To makematters worse large-scale clear fellingis widely practised, tree planting totree felling ratios are very low (1:10),

tree seedling survival rates of less than30o/o are common, less than 40o/o ofwoody biomass is utilized and onlya.bout 7o/o of mil l ing wastes areut i l ized. Four decades of forestdestruct ion have threatened theregion's biodiversiry environment andclimate.

30

Biodiversity threatenedAt the national policy level China hasa sol id record in the area of b io-diversity conservation, and was one ofthe f i rs t countr ies to rat i fy theConvention on Biological Diversityand to develop an Agenda 2I port-folio. However policy has made verylitt le difference to the peoples ofsouthwest China, where many of thereseryes lack stafi, funds, infrastructureor a management plan. The inter-national conservation community hasfocused on the panda at the expense ofother endangered species.

Although the biodiversity of southwestChina is s t i l l considerable, de-forestation is doing away either singlyor in concert with much of the naturalfoundation requisite for such diversiry.The most dominant tree species in thetemperate and subalp ine zone ofsouthwest China include Picea, Pinus,Abies, Tiuga, Quercus, Juiperus, andLarix and at lower level Fagaceae,Lauraceae, Araliaceae, Mano liaceae andmany species of bamboo.

Deforestation is posing a threat tothe dominant forest species, andespecially to a number of very raregymnosperms (e.g. Metasequoia g$p-tostroboides). A great deal of infor-mation exists on extinct or endangeredbirds and mammals in China. Manyofthe endangered species are found insouthwest China and inc lude 18mammal and 23 bird species. \fhereforests have been indiscriminately cut

Stuck in snow in Mongay, neu Shiqu Town

this has resulted in large declines inmammal and b i rd counts. Thereduction in predators, has resulted ina massive infestation of rodents andsmal l mammals in many areas ofsouthwest China resul t ing in thedegradation of over 8 million hectaresofpasture and extensive areas of'blacksands' where no grazing can occur.

Environmental and climaticchangeDeforestation is not only responsiblefor very high rates of evapo-transpiration and albedo (heat andlight reflection), but also a reductionin water retaining capacity that hasresulted in extremes of water run-off.These extremes have seemingly ledeither to drought and desertificationor erosion, debris flow and floods.Increased albedo has been linked withthe exacerbation of snow disasters andincreased erosion and floods have ledto degraded hydroelectric and irri-gat ion systems, loss of l i fe anddamage.

The 1996 and 1998 snowdisastersSnow disasters in southwest China areoccurring with greater frequencnlength and severity and are beinglinked with global climate change,local deforestation and overgrazing.The two most recent d isasters in199516 and 199718 resulted in thedeath of many nomads and hundredsof yaks. The loss of tree and grasscover appears not only to reduce

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CHINA REVIE\T SPRING 1999

Page 5: Environmental Degradation in Southwest China 1999

ENVIRONMENT

uanspiration, and sround inf-iltration,but also to al lou' increased run-off,erosion and albedo. Trees and grassabsorb heat and lighr. reducing albedoand regulating climare. The loss of treea n d g r a s s c o v e r i n c r e a s e s a l b e d oresu l t ing in ex t remes in c l imate ingeneral and colder and lonqer periodsof snow in part icular. The tradir ional

w a y o f l i f e o f s o u t h s ' r s r C h i n a ' snomadic pastoral ists is alreadv underth rea t f rom modern iser ion . seden-tarisation and the markct economv,and recurrent snos'disasters Jppear rothreaten their ven' existencc.

The 1998 f loods

L a s t s u m m e r , C h i n a e x p e r i e n c e d

severe floods effecting manv oi .{.sia'sl a r g e s t r i v e r s . T h e Y a n g r z e R i v e rexperienced the worst f- looding since1954, claimins more than 3,650 livesand causing more rhan US$30 billionin damage. A l though mosr o f rhef lood ing occur red in the Ch ineselowlands i t a lso occur red on rheT ibe tan p la teau. In T ibe t AR, theYarlung Tsangpo (Bramaputra), theKyi-chu and other rivers rose to recordlevels resulting in the loss ofat least 53people and 4,000 head of l ivestock

1999 SPRING CHINA REVIE\r

(mostly yak). More than 40 counties

were a f fec ted and most o f T ibe t ' s

roads were damaged. Flood frequency

has been increasing in both Tibet andsouthwest China. During the QingDynasty (1644-1911) the Yangtze

flooded every decade and between

192l-1949 the frequency rose to oncee v e r y s i x y e a r s . I n t h e 1 9 8 0 s t h efrequency rose to a large flood everytwo years. Now the situation is much

worse w i th f loods in 1994, 1995,

1996 and last year. Although some

have blamed the weather (el nifio and[a nif ia) and heavy snow melr, mosthave blamed heavy agriculrure, intensel o g g i n g a n d r v a t e r c o n s e r v a n c y

projects. All these facrors have raised

the r i verbed. f - i l l ed i t w i th s i l t and

made it nearlv impossible to control.

Th is has fo rced the au thor i t ies to

cons ider d ras t ic measures and has

p r o m p t e d a n i n c r e a s e i n e n v i r o n -

mental activism.

Fell ing bans

The Ch inese governmenr f i rs t

officially recognized the link between

defores ta t ion and env i ronmenta l

destruction after the f loods of 1981

a n d 1 9 8 3 , a n d m e a s u r e s w e r e

implemented in some areas. Chineseforest researchers have for many yearsbeen developing pragmat ic eco-friendly silvicultural and harvestingguidel ines for southwest China 'smountain forests. All these measures,however well intentioned, have rarelybeen translated into best practice onthe ground. Best practice has alwayshad to compere wi th the 'soc ia l is t

market forces ' . Af ter near ly fourdecades of timber mining, the floodshave led government to consider moreclosely both logging pract ices andreforestat ion in the headwaters ofmany of Asia's largest rivers. In midAugust the State Council admittedthat the Yangtze River flooding wasrelated to soil erosion in the upperreaches and it urged all governmentsto protect thei r forests. Sichuanprovincial government responded byint roducing a fe l l ing ban f rom ISeptember 1998 in an area of westernSichuan, the Chuanxi Forest Area,comprising 4.5 million hectares in 54counties. The government also closed9 million hectares of grazing land tofacilitate reforestation and abandonedplans for log float channels at theErtan power station. In late August the

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ENVIRONMENT

State Council further urged 5l keyforestry enterpr ises in the upperYangrze and Yellow River to stoplogging and the State ForestryAdministration stated that no singlenatural tree should be felled in theupper Yangtze. ln early SeptemberYunnan Province announced a fellingban a long i ts sect ion of the upperYangtze and in December Tibet Auro-nomous Region ordered all lumberprocessing mills in southeasr Tiber(Chamdo and Nyangtri prefectures) tocease operations.

Reforestation and forestconservationEven before the recent floods planswere afoot for a raf t o f forestrymeasures that included cuts in loggingquotas, felling bans, a very large forestconservation project and an emphasison afforestation, forest protection andfo res t t ou r i sm. I n 1997 the S ra teannounced a felling ban in its naruralforests from I July 1998 (includingthe upper Yangtze and Yellow Rivers)and agreed to provide US$2.3 billionin l oans o r c red i t t o a l l ow fo res tworkers to move f rom logging toplanting. Sichuan agreed to focus ontree planting rather than logging, andis expected to receive US$722 millionto support a forest conservat ionprogramme. After the floods the StateCounci l , Premier Zhu Rongj i andlocal government encouraged t reeplant ing, forest conservat ion andforest tourism, rather than felling, andencouraged the use of the US$2.3bil l ion loan to turn loggers into treeplanters.

Environmental activismEnvironmental activism is a relativelynew phenomenon in China and hasonly begun to surface in southwestChina in the iast f ive years. In late1995 the gove rnmen t o f Yunnanplanned to log 100 square mi les ofv i r g i n f o res t i n Dechen T ibe tanAutonomous Prefecture (TAP), one ofthe last refuges of the endangeredgolden monkey (Rhinopi thecusroxellanae). China's fi.rst officiallyrecognized environmental organisation

)z

'Friends of Nature' (FON), the well

known environmental writer TangXiyang and others teamed up too rgan i se a campa ign ro save themonkeys . FON founde r , L i angCongje led a lerter-writ ing campaignand mobi l ized the media to drawat tent ion to the s i tuat ion. tVhen

county officials protested that loggingwas a key source of revenue, thecentra l government in tervened.Off ic ia ls agreed to hal t logging i fconservationists could find alternativeincome st reams. Eco- tour ism, sus-ta inable harvest ing and mushroomsa les have been sugges ted . Morerecently FON has lobbied furiouslyinside China to raise awareness of such

Deforestation in Central Ganzi Prefecture

issues as re-afforestation and the plight

of the endangered Tibetan antelope.In a letter received by the Neu' York

based group, Human R igh ts fo r

C h i n a , o v e r 3 0 0 e n v i r o n m e n t a l

activists and respected scholars from

l9 provinces claimed that the floods

were caused by poor environmentalmanagement in the Yangtze r i verbasin, and they were cri t ical of the

government for using the disaster as ameans of gaining publicity for the roleo f t h e m i l i t a r y . I n S e p t e m b e r am e m b e r o f F O N a c c o m o a n i e d a

Chinese Central TV crew to film thewidespread logging going on in MewaCounty (Ngawa TAP), despite thegovernment ban. Tibetans, however,have not been encouraged to speak sofreely about damage ro thei renvironment caused by mining. tVhen

for example Kabukye Rinpoche,expressed concern about envi ron-mental damage caused by gold miningnear the Nabzur monastery (Ser taCounty, Kandze Prefecture) he wasimprisoned for six years and accusedof 'counter-revolutionary-splitt ism'.

The Rinpoche (Reincarnate Lama) wasvery wel l respected and h isimpr isonment caused widespreadanger among Tiberans.

The impact of the newmeasuresThere is no question that desperatem e a s u r e s a r e r e q u i r e d , i n c l u d i n g

sustainable forest management, bur

there are those who ques t ion thewisdom of a fel l ing ban in isolat ion

f rom o ther measures . There wereinitial concerns that the logging crews

in western S ichuan wou ld s imp ly

move across the Yangtze and destroythe forests of western Kham (eastern

Tibet AR), China's largest remaining

old-growth forest, as they had done

CHINA REVIE\f SPRING 1999

Page 7: Environmental Degradation in Southwest China 1999

ENVIRONMENT

before from Yunnan. However on 9

December 1998 the Tibetan govern-

ment o rdered the shutdown o f a l l

lumber processing mil ls in southeast

T ibe t and announced tha t fo rmer

loggers would be re-emploved as tree

p l a n t e r s . T h e r e w e r e a l s o i n i t i a l

concerns that the ban onlv appl ied to

s ta te fo res t rv en terpr ises , bu t loca l

authorit ies also inst i tuted their own

bans.

It is questionable i f al l those depen-

dent on the logg ine indusrn 'can be

re-employed in tree plantine and how

the c losure o f 9 mi l l ion hec tares o f

g r a s s l a n d w i l l i m p a c t r h e l o c a l

economy. Already there is evidence

that the ban is being flouted and there

are those in the forest industry who

are not convinced that their incomes

wi l l be sus ta ined f rom fb res t con-

servation and protecrion.

T h e r e i s a l s o c o n c e r n a b o u t t h e

capacity of the forestn' departments,

and the w i l l i ngness o f the T ibe tan

p e o p l e t o e n g a g e i n m a j o r r e -

forestation. Although there are some

very good large nurseries in western

Sichuan, they tend to onlv include a

few industr ial species, and survival

rates of planted trees have been very

low. If the forests of southrvest China

are to be mutifunctional and managed

on a sus ta inab le eco- fo res t ry bas is

there appears to be a need for a large

network o f smal l v i l lage nurser ies ,

growing a variery of species of use for

industry, local subsistence and coftage

indus t ry , and fo r env i ronmenta l

protection and enhancement.

A l t h o u g h f o r e s t t o u r i s m , o r e c o -

t o u r i s m , h a s h u g e p o t e n t i a l a s a

means of support for conservation and

community development, there is a

need fo r bo th env i ronmenta l and

s o c i o - c u l t u r a l s e n s i t i v i t y . O v e r -

developed forest parks, characterised

by large conctete hotels, wide roads

and poorly placed power lines will not

attract western tourists and tourist

facilities and infrastructure should be

developed that are in keeping with

local conditions and building sryles.

1999 SPRING CHINA REVIE'Sr

Conclusion

Al though a fe l l ing ban is under -

standable, an integrated, ethno-friendly'sustainable

suite' of measures appears to

be necessary to redeem the situation. In

order to secure the co-operation of the

local people in both conservation and

afforestation they need to 'own'

the

programme. There is a need to ensure

that local people are empowered as

forest stewards, and forest manage-ment plans enhance their well-being

a n d t h a t o f s o u t h w e s t C h i n a ' s

biodiversiry.

Fores ts nee d to be v iewed as

multifunctional resources (rather than

t i m b e r m i n e s ) a n d s u s t a i n a b l y

managed on an eco- fo res t ry bas is

pred ica ted on loca l fe l t needs ,

de f in i t ions o f 'p rogress '

and ind i -

genous knowledge and practice. The

fores ts o f sou thwest Ch ina need

management systems that ref lect a

d ivers i ty o f ro le and need and

mechanisms for full co-operation with

the local people. Most of southwest

China's forests lack an inventory, a

management plan or any form of local

mon i to r ing . Capac i ty bu i ld ing in

Remote Sens ing , Geograph ic

Information Systems, Global Position-

ing Sys tems and mon i to r ing tech-

niques appears to be required given the

vastness and remoteness of the terrain.

Eco- tour ism, has the po ten t ia l to

provide much needed income and a

m e a n s o f s u p p o r t i n g n a t u r e c o n -

servation but there are dangers of elite

capture, overdevelopment, and further

environmental destruction. Although

the peoples of southwest China are

known fo r the i r hosp i ta l i t y and

l a r g e s s e , a m a j o r t o u r i s m i m p a c t

assessment appears to be appos i te

before major eco-tourism development

begins.

Mul t i func t iona l fo res ts requ i re

appropriate nurseries similar to the

community forestry nurseries found in

Nepal. Large single species nurseries

may be efficient and easy to manage

and provide the most suitable species

for industry, but they don't always

provide the opt imum species forenhancing b iodivers i ty , water andso i l conse rva t i on o r l oca l need .Community nurseries are local andcan be developed in concert with theneeds and requirements of the localpeople and their environment.

Given the fell ing bans, the need insouthwest China for income and thedemands of China 's booming eco-nomy, research into 'wood substitutes'is required. Southwest China producesvast amounts of t imber and mill ingwaste and has potential for fibre cropproduction in agro-forestry sysrems.Biocomposite technologies based onfibre crops (for example flax, hemp,willow and poplar ar close spacing onvery short rotations) or forestry/agri-cultural waste could be developed as acottage industry both to provide localincome and to supply China with awood substitute.

'\7'e all need to use the recent floods

as a t u rn ing po in t t o rev iew ou repistemologies of progress and thenatura l wor ld. Our paradigms ofrprogressr and 'development '

pre-dicated on neo-liberal greed, selfish-ness, environmental exploitation andwestern development discourse havefailed the poor, the marginalized andt h e w o r l d ' s m i n o r i r y m o u n t a i npeoples. As the world searches forhol is t ic , eco- f r iendly and ethno-f r i end l y a l t e rna t i ves , i nc reas ingattention is being paid to indigenousparadigms. \7ho knows, we may evenlearn from the indigenous peoples ofsouthwest China the secrets ofsusta inable l iv ing as Planet Ear thapproaches the year 2000. td

This article is a concise version ofa fully referenced paper that isavailable on the author's website.(http://ourworld.compiiserve.com

/homepages{ohn-Studley/China-re.htm)

John Studley is a Rural Deuelopment Eco-

Forestry Specialist. He has worked among

Asia's mountain peoples in northwest Nepal

and southwest China since 1984.

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