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One Tenth Of Arable Land In China Suffers From Pollution
Beijing (XNA) Nov 09, 2006 China's pollution problems have damaged 10 million hectares, or one tenth, of the country's arable land, said the environment watchdog Tuesday as it called for expanding grass-roots monitoring staff in the rural areas. China faces "grave" soil pollution that jeopardizes the ecology, food safety, people's health and the sustainable development of agriculture, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). It is estimated that each year 12 million tons of grain are contaminated by heavy metals in the soil, causing direct economic losses of more than 20 billion yuan (around 2.5 billion U.S. dollars), the SEPA said. Irrigated sewage, scrap metal and acid rain are blamed for contaminated crops. China has about 120 million hectares of arable land, 13 percent of its land area. Despite the efforts of SEPA's 160,000 environmental officials, China's environmental picture shows little optimism. Pollution prevention is weak, especially in the rural areas, the SEPA said, adding that there is currently no legislation concerning soil and poultry raising pollution. Though an excess of one million factories in the country are generating pollution, there are only 50,000 environmental monitoring and inspection personnel at various levels, SEPA said. Source: Xinhua News Agency Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links State Environmental Protection Administration The latest farming technology and science news Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology
Governments Worldwide Cast Doubt On Radical Threat To Fishing
Rome (AFP) Nov 3, 2006Governments and the UN food agency cast serious doubts Friday on an major scientific study which says that all marine fish and seafood species face collapse by 2048. The Food and Agriculture Organization said that conservation effort must be improved, but that it was "unlikely" there would be no seafood on consumers' plates by mid-century, calling the report "statistically dangerous". |
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