{"id":27831,"date":"2009-03-12T13:46:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-12T13:46:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-05-14T18:38:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T18:38:32","slug":"2831-china-plants-trees-amid-eco-worries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/uncategorized\/2831-china-plants-trees-amid-eco-worries\/","title":{"rendered":"China plants trees amid eco worries"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

As they do every March 12, an estimated three million people took up shovels this week to plant saplings, helping to reinforce the man-made ecological barrier known as China’s Great Green Wall. If the plan is completed as scheduled in 2050, trees will cover over 400 million hectares or 42% of China’s landmass, creating arguably the biggest man-made carbon sponge on the planet. Initiated in 1978, the tree belt is supposed to stretch 4,480 kilometres from western Xinjiang to eastern Heilongjiang.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While the forests are designed to stop sand and dust storms, a greater threat comes from an unsustainable demand for wood. As a result, China’s forest quality has declined significantly, diminishing biodiversity and putting extra pressure on woodland overseas to satisfy an appetite for timber that has – until the current economic crisis – grown hugely in the past decade.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The decline of biodiversity is a problem across China. Although tree coverage has increased from 12% to 18% of the nation’s land area, many saplings are planted in semi-desert areas where they deplete water supplies. Life beneath tree canopies is declining because of over-hunting, gathering of funguses and herbs, and the tendency to replace old-growth forests with tracts of fast-growing trees.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“China plants more trees than the rest of the world combined,” says John McKinnon, head of the EU-China Biodiversity Programme. “But the trouble is they tend to be monoculture plantations. They are not places where birds want to live.”<\/p>\n

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See full story<\/a><\/u><\/font><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite massive tree-planting efforts, China’s insatiable demand for timber has led to a critical decline in the quality and quantity of the country’s forests and reduced biodiversity, the Guardian<\/em> reported. The demand also has exposed China’s northern frontiers to erosion, dust storms and floods, according to environmentalists and international advisers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"country":[],"class_list":["post-27831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChina plants trees amid eco worries | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite massive tree-planting efforts, China’s insatiable demand for timber has led to a critical decline in the quality and quantity of the country’s forests and reduced biodiversity, the Guardian reported. 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