Desertificiation in China

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Historically the Chinese has had an established a balance between man and nature. However, the twentieth century has seen a reversal in this relationship. China has adopted many damaging and exploitative practices, especially after the establishment of the communist People Republic of China (PRC) (Jiang, 2007). Years of ecological abuse have left China in an environmental crisis. Land degradation, specifically desertification, is one of the most pressing and important ecological issues. In 1978 the PRC’s Standing Committee initiated the Three-North Shelterbelt Development Programme (TNS). When completed in 2050 the shelter belt is planned to surround the northern dry lands and to improve forest coverage in arid and semiarid China from 5% to 15% (Wang, et al., 2009). The TNS successes are measured on a politically charged set of standards while negative effects are downplayed by the CCP. The result is a policy based on politics and designed to threaten symptoms rather than solve the problem. Relative to its cost and size, the Three-North Shelterbelt policy of afforestation has been unsuccessful in addressing the desertification crisis in Northern China.

Due to its population, modern history, and political system, it is not surprising that China is facing large scale environmental problems like desertification. China is a large country in many respects. Geographically, China is the fourth largest country in the world with 9,596,961 sq km of total territory. China has an extremely diverse range of climates and terrains; the most important to this paper are the desert, arid, and semi-arid regions in the Northern regions. China has an impressive geography but its true size is its population of 1.3 billion people, ranking it as ...

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...to be amended to support a wide range of methods than just afforestation.

Conclusion

Despite being the world second biggest economy and strong centralized government China still faces many pressing issues. The many ecological crisises throughout out the country need to be addressed in a rational and sustainable matter. Though not the most published issue, desertification in Northern China is one of the countries largest and most damaging environmental challenge. Since the late 1970’s China has been attempting to maintain and reverse desertification. Through out this entire time the TNS has been the largest and oldest of those attempts. While the Three North Shelter Belt has certainly benefited the efforts to halt desertification, is not nearly as effective as it is portrayed and that there are other more effective but less politically attractive alternatives.

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