China mudslides highlight cost of rapid economic growth

Mudslides devastating northwest China are a grim reminder of the high cost of the country’s breakneck economic growth – a development model experts say policymakers know must be changed.

Activists have blamed the deadly landslides in Gansu province on years of unchecked development in the mountainous region as local governments cut down trees, built roads and developed hydroelectric dams in the name of growth.

It is a scenario that has been played out across the country as authorities try to lift millions of people out of poverty and further their own careers by attracting investment and spurring growth – with scant regard to the local environment.

“The tragedy in Zhouqu is a reflection of the challenges and risks economic growth brings to poor regions,” Li Yan, climate change and energy campaigner for Greenpeace China, told AFP.

“Local governments are under pressure to alleviate poverty and develop the economy – in that process, there is environmental damage and degradation.”

Rapid industrialisation in the past 30 years has left China, the world’s third-largest economy, with some of the world’s worst water and air pollution and widespread environmental damage.

Beijing has set ambitious targets to curb emissions and pledged billions of dollars to clean up its environment amid fears that severe pollution could lead to social instability and be a drag on economic growth.

“There has been a greater recognition that quality of life and environmental and consumer protection matter and that they are worth paying for economically,” said Patrick Chovanec, a professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management in Beijing.

Authorities have insisted the mudslides in Zhouqu, which have left more than 1,700 people dead or missing, were a natural disaster triggered by torrential rains.

But activists and state-run media have questioned that version, warning the mountains around Zhouqu were extremely unstable and easily subject to natural disasters such as landslides.

“The construction of small hydroelectric dams, mine exploration and building of roads has seriously affected the ecosystem and given rise to the hidden dangers of man-made landslides,” the National Business Daily said.

There are more than 1,000 hydroelectric dams along the Bailong River, which flows through Zhouqu, the report said, citing Zhang Qirong, an official with the local river and forest management bureau.
Debris from the mountains above blocked the river at the weekend, flooding the surrounding area.
China, which has recorded double-digit economic growth for the past three quarters, has been hit by a series of environmental disasters in recent weeks.

An explosion at an oil storage depot in the northeastern city of Dalian last month spewed 1,500 tonnes of crude into the Yellow Sea, according to the authorities, although Greenpeace says the spill may have been 60 times that size. Also last month, a toxic spill from a gold mine in southeastern China contaminated a major waterway, killing nearly 2,000 tonnes of fish.

Despite the rising number of environmental accidents – reportedly up 98 per cent in the first six months of this year – China has made substantial progress in improving environmental protection, experts say.
“The truth is they are moving along and are starting to make progress on various pollutants, but they have a big job,” said Deborah Seligsohn, China programme director for the Washington-based think tank World Resources Institute.

“There’s no question that when you are growing at 10 per cent a year, the challenges are great.

“On the other hand, revenues are increasing and people feel they can afford to spend more on environmental protection, so the stars are well aligned.”

China has pledged to reduce its carbon intensity – the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions per unit of gross domestic product – by 40 to 45 per cent by 2020 based on 2005 levels.

The government has said officials who fail to achieve emission reduction targets will be punished, and have ordered the shutdown of thousands of high-polluting, energy-guzzling factories.

But these targets will be difficult to achieve while Beijing continues to reward local government officials on the basis of their economic achievements rather than their efforts on environmental protection, experts said.