Vol 435|30 June 2005
1179
Jianguo Liu and Jared Diamond
China is the world’s most populous country and the fourth largest
in area.
Its economy, already huge,
is growing at the fastest rate of any
major nation.
Its environmental
problems are among...
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Vol 435|30 June 2005
1179
Jianguo Liu and Jared Diamond
China is the world’s most populous country and the fourth largest
in area.
Its economy, already huge,
is growing at the fastest rate of any
major nation.
Its environmental
problems are among the most
severe of any major country, and
are mostly getting worse.
Many Chinese, including its
leaders, are aware of these problemsandhavetriedtotacklethem.
Some things have improved, such
as the air quality in Beijing and
some other big cities.
But such
effortshavenotmatchedtheforces
of environmental destruction, and
have not prevented other indicators from further deterioration.
The list of problems ranges from
air pollution, biodiversity losses,
croplandlosses,depleted fisheries,
desertification, disappearing wetlands, grassland degradation, and
increasing frequency and scale of
human-induced natural disasters,
to invasive species, overgrazing,
interruptedriverflow,salinization,
soil erosion, trash acc
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