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China's Yangtze river in peril
2007-04-15
China's longest and most important river, the Yangtze, is under serious pressure from human activity with long stretches in "critical condition". The first annual report on the health of the Yangtze has found that massive amounts of pollution dumped into the river were taking a serious toll on its aquatic life, the Beijing News reported. More than 600 kilometres (372 miles) of the 6200-kilometre river are in critical condition, beset by pollution, excessive damming and too much surface traffic on the country's most important inland waterway, it quoted the report as saying. Nearly 30 percent of major tributaries are seriously polluted and a comprehensive management system needed to be put in place to prevent the situation worsening, it said. "The impact of human activities on the Yangtze water ecology is largely irreversible," said Yang Guishan, a researcher with the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology and one of the chief editors of the report, in comments quoted by official Xinhua news agency. "It's a pressing job to regulate such activities in all the Yangtze drainage areas and promote harmonious development of man and nature." The report said the river's annual harvest of aquatic products had plummeted from 427,000 tons in the 1950s to about 100,000 tons in the 1990s, Xinhua said. A separate study had found that cities along the river discharged at least 14.2 billion tons of polluted water every year, 42 percent of China's total, it said. Rare species such as the white-flag dolphin were thought to be on the verge of extinction, but even more common species such as carp were gasping for survival, the report said. The report, compiled by the Nanjing Institute, the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission and the Worldwide Fund for Nature, also warned of higher flood risks despite the presence of the massive Three Gorges Dam, as more extreme weather linked to global warming hits China. The Yangtze accounts for about 35 percent of China's total fresh water resources. The report also said the Three Gorges Dam project has created a huge reservoir seriously polluted by pesticides, fertilisers and sewage from passenger boats.
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