Ecosystem worsens despite efforts in China
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E-mail Xinhua, November 4, 2012
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The Aibi Wetland National Nature Reserve. [File photo] |
A salt lake in China's far west Gobi region has been shrinking by 40 square km a year as desertification worsens despite local government efforts to restore the area's ecosystem, local officials have told Xinhua.
The dried-up lake bed will border and become part of Mutetar Desert in no more than four years if effective measures are not applied soon, said Gao Xiang, head of the Lake Aibi Wetland National Nature Reserve Administration. "In the case of climate change, serious natural disasters will be inevitable in the area," Gao warned.
The nature reserve chief said the local government and the reserve's administration have been carrying out pilot projects for 10 years but seen little improvement in the ecosystem.
Lake Aibi sits in an internally draining, salt-rich basin near the border of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Kazakstan. It is the largest salt lake in the region.
The dry earth left on the lake bed is frequently whipped up into sandstorms that have been plaguing China's northern regions for years.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF DESERTIFICATION
The Lake Aibi Wetland National Nature Reserve covers an area of 2670 square km.
Some 385 species of wildlife used to live in and around the body of water, but 2012 statistics show only 322 species of plants and 111 species of birds can still be found there.
Today, the lake is reduced to less than 500 square km in size, with more than 1,500 square km having been dried up in recent years, according to officials.
The increasingly serious desertification and the sandstorm it causes have disrupted local people's lives and the normal production of agriculture and industry.
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