GA4

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

BAIJI DOLPHINS - Preservation of Yangtze River ecosystem "critical"

In this report from the People's Daily Online...
An advisor to the Chinese government stressed Wednesday that it was a critical task to control soil erosion and improve the ecosystem along the Yangtze River, the country's longest waterway.
[...]
"In 2003, an average 30,000 tons of sewage was poured into the river every minute,"
[...]
Ecological deterioration has endangered many aquatic animals, including the Chinese sturgeons and white-flag dolphins, the world's rarest dolphin, according to the survey.
30,000 tons of sewage EVERY MINUTE? That is quite staggering.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, 30,000 isn't so staggering if you think about how many major cities covers the Yangtse river and how many industrial plants are along side it. Would have been suprised if it's anything less...

Ed

Gareth said...

I think that's the point. You don't realise just how much is poured into the rivers UNTIL you sit down and think about it or see it black and white.

The resiliance of our planet is amazing, but with figures like that we must be stretching it to breaking point.

Anonymous said...

China is trying to put foward a better environmental record though.
http://news.yahoo.com/news? tmpl=...nt_050308111830
I don't know what their hidden agenda might be but at least they appear to want to try and be more environmentally responsible.

Ed