China: Overpopulation

        

Overpopulation is one of the more common, human induced causes which could lead to desertification. With high birth rates, this could force the farmers to change traditional methods of land use as more land is needed for food crops. However, since some places don’t have that option, they are forced to maximize the crop production on the current land available. This would lead to over cultivation, which reduces the soil’s fertility, and causes the soil to be left exposed as vegetation and crops can no longer survive well in the soil. Without the vegetation to act as cover from the strong sun, water from the ground can be easily evaporated, and this leads to the once arable land to become barren and desertified. Also without vegetation to anchor the soil, the layer of top-soil can be blown away by the wind, further decreasing the productivity of the land. As the land productivity decreases, it causes the farmers to search for new areas, often using deforestation as a method to acquire new territory. The cycle of productivity loss begins again, resulting in cumulative causation.

Increase in immigration also can lead to desertification. Those immigrants can come from anywhere – war stricken areas, refugees and also those who have been forced out of their land due to desertified land. This increases the demand for wood for cooking, heating and building new houses, and this causes deforestation in the local area. Over time, the land loses its productivity, beginning yet again another cycle. Both these causes of over population and immigration then lead to unsustainable management, as the areas resources are depleted at a much faster rate than they can be replenished, and this can potentially lead to desertification.

        One example would be in Dunhuang, a former Silk Road oasis in the Gobi. Local farmers have cotton fields threatened by desertification. The lake was once famous throughout China, attracting millions of visitors, but now it looks like a village pond, fading fast as the desert sucks up more & more water. In the 1960s, the lake used to be 10 meters deep – now it is barely 1 meter. The desert threatens to engulf the village and the ancient town, which has seen its population soar from less than 40000 people in the 1950s to nearly 200000 today. Since it is an oasis, it is limited in resources and area; coupled with a rapidly expanding population the usage of resources has increased to unsustainable levels. As the resources are depleted at a much faster rate than it can be replenished, this would lead to unsustainable management and thus desertification.

        Climate plays a very important role in this situation. As seen in Figure 3, the Northern and Western regions are semi-arid, exposed to less frequent and fewer amounts of precipitation. Due to the low rainfall, this will eventually lead to a dry season, and will act as a cycle. This will continue to intensify and become more frequent over the years, and will eventually lead to the rivers and lakes in the region drying up. The vegetation and crops then succumb to dryness in the area, and die, and this would decrease the protective vegetation cover. However, the farmers in the area are still reluctant to move out of the area, as that is where their crops are, where the resources come from and also it is the place of their heritage and history. Once the area’s resources are significant reduced, including water, the area can no longer sustain the current population’s consumption rates, therefore rendering it “over populated.” Living standards start to decline, and the farmers either stay and continue to deplete the remaining resources, or move on to other regions which are close by and start feeding off resources from the new area, thus leading to desertification of those areas.

        In contrast, those regions in the South and East are fairing better. When comparing the precipitation levels for those regions in Figure 3 with the desertification regions in Figure 2, it can be noted that those areas are still not desertified. This is because with the immense amount of rainfall falling into those regions, there are vast amounts of resources right there. Rivers and lakes don’t tend to dry up, and the vegetation doesn’t die as easily, keeping the soil fertile. Therefore, the area will not be desertified, and the resources there can be easily replenished, leading to a high quality and sustainable lifestyle.

        Climate Change is also another one of the more common factors which could lead to desertification. As seen in Figure 3, certain areas within China are already exposed to less frequent and fewer amounts of precipitation. Climate change could possibly further decrease the precipitation levels, eventually resulting in drought. Although droughts do not cause desertification directly as well managed lands can be sustained after the return of rains, continued land abuse during droughts contributes to land degration.

        

        Furthermore, climate change could also be human induced; global warming is a classic example of this. Due to the pressure from economic development, many factories are opening up in China, leading to immigrants migrating to those areas. This would lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore raising temperatures. Increased evaporation will occur; however, there will also be the impact of reduced condensation, which means less rainfall. The vegetation then dies, and again there will be a decrease in protective vegetation cover, resulting in soil erosion and salinisation, eventually in desertification. This again shows that the economic pressure will lead to unsustainable management of the natural environment, and therefore it will lead to desertification.

        

        Over population induces a cycle of poverty, where after depleting the resources of one area, the people migrate to another beginning the cycle of depletion again. The population remains forever poor as it can never produce enough surpluses to launch itself out of the cycle. One way to resolve this problem is through means of education and awareness. In many cases, the places in China that experience desertification are occupied by ethnic minorities, as shown in the areas in Northern China (Figure 4). Ethnic minorities often hold some degree of autonomy are not always influenced by the policies of the central government as the minorities are encouraged to preserve their way of life. Although culturally, this may have many benefits, if a group of ethnic minorities has an unsustainable lifestyle, over time it will cause many problems – desertification amongst them. The government could possibly implement educational policies, but the language barrier and cultural differences would cause challenges. Also as the government is dominated by Han Chinese, it is possible that the other ethnic minorities do not have much priority for issues on development compared to development plans for areas dominated by Han Chinese. In countries where ethnic conflicts are present, it is apparent that the minorities are neglected by the government. However, this may not be the case in China, but only a possibility that ethnic composition could possibly contribute to problems with overpopulation and desertification.

        Technology can also play a role in determining whether an area will have sufficient resources to be deemed as sustainable and not over populated. The Southern and Eastern regions, has more opportunities for trade to occur due to its accessible and convenient locations. Therefore, this would greatly increase the economic investment placed upon these areas to develop in both quality and quantity aspects, thus leading to an increase in quality of living, and increase in population sustainability as there are sufficient and efficient ways of using those resources. However, in the Northern and Western regions, the opportunity to trade is limited; this is all down to its low accessibility and inconvenient location and terrain. Thus, less investment will be spent on technology there, and it would lead to the resources being limited and low in quality. One example would be farming equipment – with little investment in that technology, the farming equipment will be of low quality. It may only extract fewer resources due to its low efficiency level, plus it could potentially destroy the vegetation, again leading to a decrease in protective vegetation cover, thus leading to desertification. This is a common example which deduces that the area can’t maintain an average living style, and thus is unsustainable and over populated.

        In conclusion, although areas in the Southern and Eastern regions are highly populated and dense, this does not mean that it is “over populated.” One must realize that over population is not defined by “highly and/or densely populated”. In fact, through analyzing at immigration, climate, technology and ethnic distribution, it can be deduced that in fact the Northern and Western regions have been affected more than the Southern and Eastern regions in terms of economic pressure and resource depletion. This is because the Southern and Eastern areas are more developed, and the resources available are far better in terms of quality and quantity. Thus, this had lead the quality of lifestyle in the Southern and Eastern regions to be relatively high compared to those in the Northern and Western regions. Therefore, those areas can be classified as “over populated”, and thus, is unsustainable.

        It would be interesting to see how the Chinese government tackles this issue in the future – currently some of the farmers are just planting more trees. Could they attempt to do more? What else could the government do to undo the damages of desertification and make areas not over populated but be sustainable? This could be answered in the near future, depending on how the government decides to tackle this major issue.

Bibliography:

Websites:

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Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Map/Still: China: ethnic composition. Retrieved November 18, 2007, from

         

Gluckman, R. (2000, October). Beijing's Desert Storm. Retrieved November 18, 2007, from

         

People's Daily. (2001, September 1). China Faces Challenge of Desertification. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from          

The Boston Globe. (2002, May 5). Desertification advances in China . Retrieved November 18, 2007, from

         

The Independent. (2007, November 9). The gathering sandstorm: Encroaching desert, missing water. Retrieved November 17, 2007, from          

Wikipedia. (2007). Geography of China. Retrieved November 16, 2007, from          

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Books:

USA Embassy - China. (n.d.). Indicators of Unsustainable Development. In Population growth and Sustainability - China Case study. (Reprinted from Desertification and the Current Status in

China)

Waugh, D. (2002). Geography An Integrated Approach (3rd ed.). United Kingdom: Nelson Thornes.

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