Escepticismo ambiental

China is the fourth vastest country of the world and the first for its population. But the occupation and town and country planning reveal important disparities. The geography of China is at the same time marked by natural constraints, an old story, a particular political system and a recent opening on the world. With more than 5.000 km from one border to another, the China presents very varied landscapes. The Eastern half of the countries is made up of Plaine S fertile, of Montagne S, Désert S and of Steppe S. the Western half is occupied by undulating depressions, plates and solid masses, of which part of the highest plate of the world.

Density: 132 hab./km²

Relief

Relief of China east of a great diversity. But it before is very marked by the mountain: 40% of the Chinese territory are above 2000 meters altitude. The geographers in general distinguish three great units, laid out out of rib stall, with a gradient of altitude decreasing of the west towards the east. A continental escarpment, which runs of the Grand Khingan to the Plateau Yunnan-Guizhou while passing by the Monts Taihang, separates the arid plates from the north and the west of the fertile plains of the east, where the large majority of the population and the intensive agriculture concentrates.

Western China: mountains, high plateaus and basins

The Chinese mountains are among highest of Asia and the world. The principal rivers of the country take their source there. The the Himalayas separates the Chinese world (in north) from the Indian world (in the south). The chain culminates with: 8850 meters with the Mount Everest, located at the border sino-Nepalese. Behind the Himalayas, while going towards north, one finds the Plateau Tibetan, framed by the Karakorum and the Monts Kunlun. The latter separate in several branches as one leaves towards the east since the Pamir. The septentrional branches, the Altyn Tagh and the Qilian Shan, form the edge of the plate Tibetan and circumvent the basin of the Qaidam, a sandy and marshy area containing several salted lakes. The southern branch of the Kunlun mounts separates the collecting basins from the Huang He and that of the Yangtsé. The North-West of China is occupied by two desert basins separated by the chain from the Tian Shan: in the south, the Basin of Tarim, largest of the country, rich in coal, oil and ore and the Dzoungarie in north. Lastly, the border with Mongolia is marked by the chain of the Altaï and the Gobi Desert , which extends to north from the Monts Qinling. The corridor of the Gansu, in the west of the elbow of Huang He, was an important transportation route with the Central Asia.

The diversity of the center

The center of China is on average less low than the Western areas of the country. The relief is composed of medium mountainss, plates, hills and basins. But one can distinguish several often compartmentalized subsets.

In the north of the Great wall the plate of Mongolia at an average altitude of 1.000 meters is; it is crossed of is in west by the Monts Yin with 1.400 meters of altitude approximately. In the south the largest plate of Lœss in the world is, covering a surface of 600.000 km to horse on the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanxi, as well as part of the autonomous region of Ningxia-Hui.

In the south of Qinling are the areas densément populated and strongly industrialized plains of Yangtsé like, upstream, the basin of the Sichuan.

Secondary in Qinling as an internal border, the chain of the Nanling is southernmost of the chains crossing the country of is in west. The south of Nanling, the tropical climate allows two harvests of annual Riz. In the south is the basin of the Rivière of the Pearls. In the west, the Yunnan-Guizhou plate rises in two stages, respectively reaching 1.200 and 1.800 meters of altitude, in direction of the escarpées mountains marking the Eastern limit of the plate Tibetan.

The south of this unit is more marked by altitude: the Yunnan is characterized by its karstic relief and its steepsided valleys.

Is low altitudes

Put aside the medium mountainss of south-east (Fujian), the littoral areas consist of plains and hills of low altitude favourable with agriculture and the strong human densities. It is in this area that the three large Chinese rivers are thrown in the sea, by forming deltas. The southernmost coast is more cut out that of north.

Hydrography

The Chinese territory this divided in two zones. In the West a Endoreic zone which includes 1/3 of the Chinese territory, it is a Hydrographie which does not arrive at the sea, and a exoreic zone in the East, the 2/3 of the territory. One counts in China nearly 50.000 rivers d' with an upstream reservoir than 100 km and more than 2800 lakes superior to 1 km.

In the endoreic zone one finds 3 basins principal. The basin of high Tibet with 1.000.000 km which runs out 0,1% of the Chinese total. The basin of Xinjiang 2.000.000 km and 0,3% of the flow of China. Finally the Western Mongolian field with 400.000 km, it is the Gobi Desert it does not have there a permanent flow.

The exoreic zone comprises several principal basins. One finds the basin of the Heilong Jiang which covers a basin of 1.000.000 km and runs out 7% of the Chinese total, it has 3 principal affluents. China of North 650.000 km. There are a weak general food but extremely brutal risings which had with the rains concentrated primarily over 2 months. World records of turbidity. The network of the South East 200.000 km. The race of the rivers is strong but short. Very strong food (monsoon, typhoons). Important flow but a turbidity lower than in North. The southernmost network, it there has a large river Xi Jiang which takes its source in Yunnan and is thrown to the mouth of the river of the Pearls. 3rd river of China much of affluents primarily of left bank. Basin 2 times less wide than that of the yellow river, but it runs out a volume 5 times higher, in summer the flow can reach 50.000 m3/s. It is one of the least dangerous rivers of China. The network of the Western South is composed of rivers born in Tibet and which run out then in India and in the Indochinese peninsula. The rivers are boxed and fed by the monsoon of Bengal and the snow melt.

Rivers

The Yangtsé is the longest river of China, third river of the world after the the Nile and the the Amazon. It is navigable on most of its length and carries the site of the Barrage of the Three-Throats. It takes its source in Tibet then crosses 6.300 km in the middle of China, draining a catchment area of 1,8 million km ² before being thrown in the China Sea. The basin of Sichuan profits from a climate soft and wet and a long season of growth, which makes it favourable with many cultures. The province is large producing of Soie as well as an important industrial and mining area.

The Yellow River (Huang He) takes its source in the high plateaus Tibetans, then it runs through the plain of China of North, historical center of the expansion of the Chinese culture. Its rich person alluvial grounds are cultivated since the Préhistoire. The plain itself is a continuation of the plain of Mandchourie towards south-west, although it is separated by from it the Mer from Bohai.

The Hai He, like the river of the Pearls and the other large rivers, runs of west in east. Its race upstream is made up of five confluent rivers on the level of Tianjin. He traverses then 70 km before throwing himself in the sea of Bohai. The river Huai is born as for it in the province from Henan and feeds several lakes before being thrown in Yangtsé close to Yangzhou.

Seas

The Chinese territorial water is mainly seas of the Pacific Ocean and bathes approximately 5 ' 000 islands along the 14 ' 000 km of coasts. The east coast mainly rock in the south of the Bay of Hangzhou, rather sand spreader in north.

Climate

The climate of China is very varied, of subtropical in the south (island of Hainan) with subarctic in north (province of Heilongjiang), and is marked by the Mousson resulting from the difference in capacity of the continent and the ocean to absorb heat. It is indeed the monsoon which is responsible to a large extent for the quantity for precipitations that the various areas of the country receive. The pattern of the Chinese settlement is to be put in connection with the climatic constraints

If the difference in temperatures between north and the south is very large in winter, it is much weaker in summer. Thus, the average of maximum from January is lower than 0° in the north of Heilongjiang and the temperature can in addition go down until - 30° C. the averages of July exceed as for them 20° C. In comparison, the averages from January are higher than 10° C in the center and the south of the Guangdong, for 28° C in July. The south-eastern coast is exposed to the cyclonic risk from July to September. These tropical storms cause each year of extensive damage caused by strong winds and floods.

The regional variations of precipitations are even more important than that of the temperatures. In the south of the Mounts Qinling, precipitations are abundant, especially during the monsoon of summer. The North-East is on the other hand much drier because of the presence of a Anticyclone in winter. In center-north, the Gobi Desert is regarded as a Désert cold and subjected to sandstorms. In the North-West, the desert of the Taklamakan is a desert of shelter where agriculture is not possible that in the Oasis. In south-west, the high plateaus of Tibet are also dry, because of the barrier of the Himalayas which block the humid air coming from the south.

Natural resources

Coal, Ore of Iron, Oil, Natural gas, mercury, tin, Tungsten, Antimony, Manganese, Molybdenum, Vanadium, Magnetite, Aluminum, Lead, Zinc, Uranium, hydraulic power.

Exploitation of the ground:

arable lands: 14%;
permanent crops: 0%;
permanent pastures: 43%;
forests: 14% (are. 1993).

The resources Eau are assembled to 2 ' 711,5 billion m ³ for the rivers and 828 ' 8 billion extracted the ground water. The involving pumping of water coming from the rivers, the total of the available resources is of 2 ' 821,4 billion m ³ of which 80,9% are in the basin of the Yangtsé. In 1993,498 ' 720 km were irrigated.

Natural disasters

The Cyclone S are frequent, five per year on average along the coasts Eastern and southernmost, and cause floods combined with the rains of monsoon.

The August 23rd 1976, a violent one Earthquake killed several tens of thousands of people with Tangshan. Most of China is however sufficiently far away from the lines of Faille S and deprived of Volcan S, and is thus not prone to the earth tremors.

Environment

In 2004, pollution cost China 512 billion yuans, that is to say 3,05% of the GDP.

Atmospheric pollution

The industrial development and urban fast of China causes an increase in atmospheric pollution, in particular in the great agglomerations of the country: a third of the big cities of the country is affected by problems of air pollution. According to the American ONG Blacksmith Institute, Linfen is the most polluted city world.

In 2006, China is the first country of the world for the sulfur dioxide emissions, which increased by 27% between 2000 and 2005. Sulfur dioxide is also component of the formation of the acid rains, vermin with the ecosystems such as the forests and the lakes.

China should become the largest carbon dioxide transmitter from here at 2007-2009.

The carbon dioxide emissions should pass from 5,6 billion tons in 2006 to 6,02 this year, which accounts for approximately 22% of the world total.

The emissions of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur dioxide are 8 to 9 times higher than in the developed countries.

In 2003, China produced 79% of its electricity starting from coal. Beijing envisages to add approximately 70 new coal stations per annum; in 2006, five coal stations were built per week. Indeed, the majority of the thermal powerplants are decayed and very polluting, because they function thanks to the technique of pulverization of coal.

For the pollution caused by coal, it is necessary to add the emissions of GES of the cars: atmospheric pollution is particularly frequent in the great agglomerations. On the twenty cities of the world the most polluted, seventeen are on the Chinese territory. In Beijing, pollution is blocked by an anticyclone in winter. Since the middle of the years 1990, the Chinese car fleet was multiplied by two.

The consequences of atmospheric pollution on the health of the Chinese are dramatic: it is estimated that it is responsible for: 358000 deaths and: 640000 hospitalizations in 2004. A more recent survey, carried out by the World Bank, increases the number of untimely deaths which had with pollution with: 460000 people. The rate of malformations strongly increased these last years to reach 145,5 cases for 10.000 births in 2006. The polluting factories of the industrial areas of the east pour toxic waste. The pollution and the growth of the river traffic caused the disappearance of the Dauphin of Yangsté. The water pollution would be in the beginning: 118000 died by cancer for the year 2004. 75% of the Chinese lakes suffer from Eutrophisation. Approximately 190 million Chinese would suffer from diseases related to the consumption of an unhealthy water.

The pollution water is mainly of origin agricultural: the country is the most important consumer of nitrate fertilizers of the world (280 kg per capita and per annum in 2005). The rivers are soiled by the industrial and domestic waste.

As emergent country, the Popular republic of China is not forced to respect the Protocole of Kyoto. However, the country is affected by the total warming of the Earth: 80% of the glaciers of the Himalayas were reduced, which has consequences on the rivers which are born in these mountains and run in China. In 2006, the Sichuan knew a low register Sécheresse. The ground water of the north of the country is overexploited, so that part of water of Chang Jiang must be transferred to north by a system from channels and aqueducts.

Impoverishment of the soil

10 million hectares of cultivated grounds (that is to say 10% of the total) is polluted.

This phenomenon involves the Rural migration massive. According to the Chinese government, 34% of the Chinese living in the countryside in 2004 did not have access to drinking water.

The intense urbanization reduces the rural areas. It is necessary to deforest the slopes of the river valleys, which causes intense a erosion. In Tibet, formerly green forest zones as the Kongpo were transformed into a lunar landscape. In 1949, the forests recovered: 221800 square kilometers, is about half of the surface of France. In 1985, the half of the surface of the forest was shaven. According to a recent study of the World Watch Institute , deforestation would reach 85% now. The Chinese government recognized the role of this massive deforestation in the catastrophic floods of these last years: in 1998, more: 10000 died, 250 million disaster victims, and million homeless people following the risings of Chang Jiang.

Management of waste

The Chinese cities produce each year 149 million tons of refuse, of which less than 20% are recycled.

Territorial claims and special administrative zones

China has also common borders with two special administrative zones: Hong-Kong (30 km) and Macao (0,34 km).

Territorial dispute:

Taiwan;
islands Diaoyu (Senkaku in Japanese), asserted by the Japan and the China;
Cashmere;
islands of the southernmost China Sea (islands Spratley and islands Paracel in particular).

See too

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