Desertification threatens 320,000 sq km
18 June 2007
There is 320,000 square kilometers of land threatened by desertification in China, a State Forestry Administration (SFA) official said at a seminar held in Shanghai on curbing desertification, Xinhua reported (in Chinese). According to a national survey conducted by the SFA in 2004, 18% (1.74 million sq km) of China's territory is desert. Direct economic losses from desertification total about US$6.8 billion a year, affecting 400 million people. Recent research has found ecological degradation at the headwaters of China's two biggest rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze, and signs of desertification have emerged in some parts of the rivers' source areas, the official said. Sunday marks the World Day to Combat Desertification.