CONSERVATION THREATS




hina's huge and growing population puts a lot of pressure on the country's natural resources. Per capita availability of agricultural land, water, forest, and other resources is well below the world average. The ever increasing demand for land for agricultural activities, besides urban and industrial expansion, road building, and dam construction, leaves the remaining uncultivated areas of wilderness at risk. Pollution, poaching, and logging continue to take a heavy toll on China's fast­diminishing wildlife and natural forests.

Meanwhile China's relatively backward industry threatens the country's development. It makes inefficient use of resources, fails to effectively control pollution, and largely ignores the human costs of environmental degradation. Already, industrial wastes have polluted about 150,000km2 of agricultural land or 10 per cent of the total farmland across China. A further 150,000km2 have been polluted, to some extent, by agricultural chemicals. China also has the dubious distinction of having five of the world's 10 most air polluted cities.




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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature