Central and northern China have been under an alarming winter drought for three months now. The places that are affected have been put on maximum alert. Some 300 million yuan have been released by the government, in addition to the 100 million already pledged, to combat the
consequences of the lack of water for agriculture and residential areas. 10.33 million hectares of cereal crops are affected, threatening 43% of the winter cereal crop of the country. Upwards of 6 million animals are starting to suffer from lack of drinking water.
Beijing and Hebei province have not seen a drop of rain for about a hundred days. Winter is traditionally a dry season with frozen soil but the lack of water prevents the renewal of groundwater resources, increasing scarcity in the capital since September 2008.
Two of the most affected provinces, Anhui and Henan, which have never experienced little precipitation in fifty years are among the most populous and poorest places in China. The drought could cut 20% of crops and push grain prices. Many of their inhabitants, working in factories in China to supplement urban incomes with agricultural earnings, are now having a
difficult time finding jobs because of the economic slowdown.
Some say that the intensity of the winter drought shows how China is vulnerable to the consequences of global warming. Experts, as well as Chinese and foreign environmentalists, have been sounding the alarm for years over the absence of an environmentally-sound water supply infrastructure in most places.
Perhaps because of the ever-present need to combat poverty, people in China only look for immediately accessible solutions that are in the short-term. Most of the time, they only employ reactionary stop-gap measures. That is why environmental controls and regulations are scarce in the country. Here is one huge territory that has not imbibed the spirit and principle of sustainable development, always ignoring the signs of the times and refusing to learn the important lessons.
Images courtesy of Daylife
