An investigation has been launched to determine whether eucalyptus trees are damaging the environment.

Special task forces made up of forestry officials and experts have been sent to the cities of Yunfu, Zhaoqing and Meizhou, where eucalyptus trees are being planted to allow field investigations to be carried out, according to the provincial forestry department. Their findings will be published before the end of April.

The investigation was initiated after local deputies to the Guangdong provincial people's congress and members of the provincial people's political consultative conference put forward their views on the damage caused by eucalyptus trees to the province's ecological environment.

Li Sidong, a member of Guangdong provincial people's political consultative conference, urged the forestry department to strengthen the management of tree planting.

Li, a professor from Guangdong Ocean University, said he was worried that large-scale eucalyptus planting would reduce soil quality, suck up moisture and create "a green desert."

The increasing number of these trees has played a part in the worsening drought in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in recent years, according to Guangzhou-based New Express News.

The city government of Yunfu enforced a ban on planting eucalyptuses a month ago. And Zengcheng, a suburban city of Guangzhou, has decided to follow.

But many forestry experts have refused to accept that eucalyptuses have absorbed underground water and are partly responsible for the drought.

Xie Zhengsheng, a professor from South China University of Agriculture, said there was not enough evidence to prove that the trees sucked up large amounts of water.

While another forestry expert, Xu Daping, said it was not correct to suggest that eucalyptuses had damaged local ecological environments and that the trees were harmful to the forest animals. "In Australia the eucalyptuses are home to many small kangaroos and possums," Xu said.

An official from the provincial forestry department has denied rumors that the province will ban the planting of any more of the trees. .

Guangdong started importing eucalyptuses from Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines in the 1980s. The province has an area of more than 677,300 hectares of eucalyptus trees.

(China Daily April 10, 2006)