Posted on 22 October
2010
Beijing, China
– Better protection of source water is the
most effective way of ensuring clean drinking
water in China’s rural areas, a new WWF
report says.
Released on 20 October
2010, Management Practice on Rural Drinking
Water Safety Projects in China was compiled
by the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources
and WWF China and is the country’s first
ever large-scale review of rural drinking
water safety projects.
The report says rapid
economic development has taken a heavy toll
on China’s water resources, with many sources
of drinking water used by hundreds of millions
people now polluted.
Poor quality of natural
water and pollution in source areas are
the two main threats to drinking water safety
in rural China. Harmful discharges from
rural businesses, overuse of fertilizers
and other chemicals, intensive livestock
and poultry farming, poor solid waste management
and inefficient wastewater treatment facilities
are some of the major reasons why water
in the countryside isn’t reaching national
standards.
But solutions do exist.
The report says better conservation of source
water areas, improved watershed management,
better water quality monitoring and a higher
level of public awareness could help improve
the quality of drinking water at the source.
“In China, one third
of rivers and lakes are now polluted and
more than half of the lakes nationwide suffer
from various degrees of ecological damage,”
says Dr. Zhu Chunquan, WWF China Conservation
Director of Biodiversity.
“A healthy freshwater
ecosystem and the protection of source water
are the basis for drinking water safety.”
A 2005 Ministry of Water
Resources survey found that 320 million
people in rural China did not have access
to safe drinking water. About 91 million
of these individuals were directly affected
by source water pollution of some kind.
From 2006 to 2010, China
launched a major drinking water safety project
focused on its vast rural areas. The Chinese
government says the project has been immensely
successful, providing safe drinking water
to 220 million people.
However, as the economy
develops, polluted drinking water at the
source continues to be a problem in the
countryside.
“Protection of source
water in rural areas is still a weak link.
There is a lack of policy support as well
as strong technology and funding,” Academician
Wang Hao from the Chinese Academy of Engineering
points out.
One potential solution
the report specifically identifies for rural
areas is a WWF demonstration project in
Yuantian Village, located at a source water
area near the southwestern city of Chengdu.
The Yuantian village
project offers a cost-effective approach
that helps clean up the water supply by
integrating river restoration, artificial
wetland construction, biogas digesters and
sustainable agriculture. Intial reports
suggest that 1,400 villagers have directly
benefited from the project.
Fourfold increase in
fires magnifies threat to Brazil’s Cerrado
Posted on 22 October 2010
Brasilia, Brazil: Brazil’s crucial Cerrado
region leads the tally of areas most damaged
by a crippling drought in the contry, with
nearly 60,000 fire outbreaks recorded in
the five months to September.
The fires, which have
increased 350% over the same period in 2009,
have devastated large areas of some Cerrado
national parks, threaten to cause large
scale changes to vegetation cover and are
being reflected in a marked rise in respiratory
complaints in the human population.
Most fires are attributed
to human causes, with many being set illegally
– an ever-present factor currently accelerated
due to a legislative challenge to Brazil’s
Forest Code.
“The explosive increase
in the number of fires can be attributed
to both climate conditions and deliberate
burning by human beings to make way for
farmland,” says Mercedes Bustamante, a research
professor at the University of Brasilia.
“While this translates
into greater CO2 emissions coming from the
Cerrado, it’s also reducing the soil’s ability
to hold water. In the dry season, this means
more droughts, and in the rainy season,
more floods. The situation could become
even worse if some of the proposed Forest
Code reforms are passed.”
Currently, Brazilian
law allows the clearing of 80% of forest
farms in the Cerrado.
But in the Amazon, farmers
are required to preserve up to 80% of natural
vegetation. Proposed changes to the National
Forest Code may grant amnesty those who
illegally cut down and reduce the protection
of forests on the banks of rivers, slopes
and hilltops across the country.
The fires are also damaging
important animal habitats, especially that
of the giant anteater and nesting birds.
In 2005, a large portion of the Brasilia
Botanic Garden was lost to fires and reports
suggest that few native species have returned.
Human health is likewise
suffering. A survey conducted by the Oswaldo
Cruz Foundation’s National Public Health
School shows that people exposed to smoke
from the Cerrado hotspots, especially children
and the elderly, face increased risks of
asthma, bronchitis and even heart attacks.
Mercedes Bustamante
says more action is needed to address the
problems the Cerrado faces, and expects
the government’s first step will be to expand
its analysis of the damage done by this
year’s fires:
“Identifying where the
fires were concentrated, and whether they
were naturally occurring or deliberately
set is an important first step in developing
better policies to protect the Cerrado,”
she says.
Geographer and local
NGO representative Mara Moscosos adds that
while she believes that the majority of
this year’s devastating Cerrado fires are
natural, the impact has been worsened by
ineffective public policy. She points to
a lack of campaigns targeting the public,
as well as poor surveillance and inspection
of illegal burning as major sore spots.
WWF-Brazil CEO Denise
Hamú underscores the need for action
by adding that climate change will only
reinforce tendencies towards more days a
year without rainfall.
“Better public policy
is of the utmost importance to protect the
Cerrado and allow this massive area of savanna
to recuperate. It has already lost half
of its original vegetation,” she says.
