---In
order to consolidate results of the "returning arable
lands to forests" project and the natural woods protection
project, and to well protect the ecosystem in Yangtze River
basin, in 2004 an overall starting up of "SHP Replacing
Firewood" project is put on a high agenda in China.
Director Cheng Huizhou with the
Bureau of Rural Electrification and Hydropower Development
of MWR (Ministry of Water Resources) remarks that, last
year the "SHP Replacing Firewood" project had
ever been implemented in a certain scope and remarkable
achievements scored. So this year the project will be
carried out extensively and intensively, and there should
be more important breakthroughs in the scope, administrative
level and governmental support, with aims to prevent forests
from being chopped down and help people use clean energy.
It fully incarnates compensation to farmers and ecological
benefit.
As he introduces that, in the
vast middle & west China with the poorest ecological
conditions, presently there is still a population of over
100 million people mainly depending on wood and straw
for the fuel, and each year 420¡ª560 million m3 timber
or 23.33 million hectare bush turned into ash.
A Vice Minister of MWR named
Mr. Jing Zhengshu points out, on the upper reach of Yangtze
River where water source originates, over deforestation
worsens ecological environment in this basin, with water
& soil erosion, desertification and land slide taking
place frequently, and it also leads to disastrous damages
to ecological environment on the lower reach. For instance,
Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan province
poured into Yangtze River silt with a amount of over 700
million ton in the past each year.
He continues that, in China the
total installed capacity of SHP stations is up to 24,850MW,
almost the total amount of SHP capacity in other countries.
Farmers who always relied on firewood have already found
an alternative energy by means that local governments
encourage local people to build up SHP stations, and up
to now it is accumulated that over 300 million farmers
living in hilly areas are supplied with electric power.
In recent years, SHP in Qinghai,
Gansu, Sichuan and other provinces develops very rapidly,
and in the whole western China 10,360MW SHP has already
been exploited, accounting for 56.6% of the total in China.
This plays a key role to protect the ecological environment
in west China, especially the Yangtze River basin. In
the 1980s, the "SHP Replacing Firewood" project
was initiated in Kangding county of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture in Sichuan province, which uprooted the bad
habit of felling trees and forests gradually recovered.
According to statistics, by the end of last year totally
1.5 million households had already targeted the goal of
"SHP Replacing Firewood" project in 104 primarily-electrified
rural counties of Sichuan. If each family consumes 6,000kg
firewood every year, in Sichuan province over 4 million
m3 timber can be saved every year, which equals to preserve
a forest with an area of 40,000 hectare.
For a long term, the prevailing
habit of taking wood for fuel seriously damages forests
and vegetation at the origins of main four tributaries
(Xiang river, Zi river, Yuan river and Li river) of Yangtze
River in Hunan province. Statistics shows that, during
1957-1984 the forest rate in these four basins was decreased
from 57% to 35%, and the forest storage was reduced by
100 million m3. Two years ago, the "SHP Replacing
Firewood" project began to be implemented gradually
at the origins of these four tributaries, and with measures
taken to develop SHP and set up areas where chopping-down
is forbidden etc., the conservative habit of farmers firing
timber was gradually altered. Now, the forest and vegetation
in these basins come to restoration, and it is estimated
that presently the silt amount poured into Dongting Lake
is reduced by almost 40% each year, compared with the
past years.
Mr, Li Qidao, a well-known SHP
expert in China introduces that, SHP price is relatively
cheap, much lower than the power price in cities, so it
is a kind affordable to farmers. He continues that, as
a clean and renewable energy, SHP is characterized with
low development cost, low investment risk, easy maintenance
and cheap operation expense etc., and with favorable policy
supports of the government, local people are also highly
zealous to develop SHP.
Vice Minister Jing Zhengshu has
ever mentioned that, after enforcement of the "returning
arable lands to forests" project and the natural
woods protection project, how to prevent farmers from
felling trees and permanently keep the ecological protection
success is a top concern of Chinese government. It is
truly difficult to keep farmers from chopping down forests
by mandatory measures. SHP, as an alternative energy,
provides persuasive measures to address this problem.
So it can be concluded that SHP Replacing Firewood is
the most effective and fundamental approach to protect
the ecological environment in Yangtze River basin.(2004-2-24)
