Comment: Population Effects on Deforestation and Soil Erosion in China

Abstract

Rapid population growth is responsible for retarding economic development in China as well as causing severe environmental problems in several provinces. Between 1949-87 Chinas population doubled. During that same time the area of arable land remained almost unchanged at approximately 100 million hectares. Cultivated land area per capita has declined from .2 hectares in 1949 to .1 hectares in 1987. .1 is less than 1/3 the world average ranking China 24th is arable land availability. The rate of deforestation is very high at 1.2% year. Forested areas were 8.0% in 1949 12.0% in 1984 (world average: 22.0%) and 8.4% in 1987. In 1984 the total forest area was 115.25 million hectares forest area per capita was .12 hectares (world: 1.04 hectares) and timber reserves totaled 10260 million cubic meters. The primary cause of deforestation is the need for cooking and heating fuel. The spatial distribution of the forests is very uneven with 50% of forests located in 2 areas: the northwest provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin and the southwest provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan. This means that in many provinces the forest area is less than 10%. The rapid loss of forest cover causes soil erosion with almost 5 billion tons lost every year. The area affected by erosion grew from 1.1 million square kilometers in 1949 to 1.5 million square kilometers in 1984 or almost 16% of the total land area. Every year 1.6 billion tons of soil and sand are swept away from the upper and central basins of the Yellow River which has caused the river bed to raise 10 centimeters annually. In some areas the river bed is 10 meters or higher than the land along its banks. This creates a very high danger from flooding. Despite reforestation plans the government has failed to balance the amounts of wood taken and replanted for decades. Overpopulation and deforestation are entangled in a vicious circle which the Chinese government has not been able to stop. The best measure to stop deforestation is to encourage family planning programs in an effort to reduce population.