The mountains of northern Sichuan Province, China.
This month is an exciting one as I begin my third Pulitzer Center-sponsored project on environmental issues in China titled, “China’s Fragile Forests“.
This new project is a follow-up to my 2009 project “China’s Growing Sands” and in 2010, “China’s Wetlands Crisis“.
I begin this month with the first installment from my travels throughout the south-west of China, the region hardest hit by deforestation in the late 20th Century and currently facing the most challenges as the Chinese people struggle to find a balance with their forest resources.
Please find below the first of my installments from the field. There are many more to come in the coming weeks. As ever, I look forward to your thoughts!
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Felled trees in northern Sichuan Province. 2011
Forest ecosystems throughout the world are key to the livelihoods of over 1.6 billion people. They cover 31 percent of the world’s land area, are home to over 300 million people, and contain 80 percent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity.
Thirty percent of forests worldwide also produce both wood and non-wood products that account for a trade of over $300 billion worldwide, per year. It is this trade that is threatening the planet’s remaining forests, as developing nations battle to find a sustainable relationship with their natural resources.
