Deforestation in China

Can you imagine that maybe one day in future, the pandas in the above picture will not have their forest to live in?

After taking "Deforestation in Kalimantan" as the topic of my group presentation this term, I was surprised to find out the current deforestation status in Kalimantan. Therefore I'm very interested to study the deforestation in China. 

I've found the below picture which shows the greening map of China shot from a satellite. It clearly shows that the north-western China is facing very serious deforestation problem. 

According to the National Greening Commission, forest coverage had increased to 18.6% last year, comparing to 12% two decades ago. The increase was largely due to the recent reforestation efforts. The trees are immature and the quality of forest is low. If you travel in the west of China, you would easily encounter entire hillsides where the timber has been razed to the ground, as shown in the below pictures. 

China introduced a logging ban in 1999 after rampant tree cutting had been blamed for soil erosion and severe flooding along the Yangtze River. During the last five years, Chinese loggers annually exceeded logging quotas by an average of 75 million cubic meters.


Following a logging quota system and widespread domestic logging bans in the late 1990s, China's rising demand for imported wood and wood products has been seen as a driving force behind destructive timber cutting in neighboring countries, according to environmental groups such as Greenpeace. According to the forestry administration, China legally imported more than 30 million cubic meters of timber in 2011.


A widespread flooding has struck northern regions of China August last year. On Aug 7 2010, the rainstorm has loosened the mud and rock that buried and killed more than 1,000 people in Zhouqu, in the north-western China province of Gansu.

The scientists said, the mudslide was caused by geology, but it was worsen by deforestation. The disaster has brought that summer's nationwide death toll from floods and landslides to more than 3,000, which was the highest number in a decade.

Fortunately more and more people have realized the challenging situation we are facing today and more people are posing a question. It was discussed at length during the National People's Congress in Beijing few months ago, particularly by specialists in the advisory body which meets at the same time. There are encouraging signs of a greater understanding on the need to plant and maintain trees on a long-term basis. After all, tree planting has deep roots in Chinese culture. 

I'll use the below ads to end this blog. The four Chinese characters shown in the picture mean - forest, woods, wood, "a cross". It warns people that deforestation will lead to destructive environment where no one could survive in the end.