"........more devastating than China's low energy efficiency is her extensive environmental pollution. According to official statistics, one fifth of China's farmland is contaminated by heavy metals, and 70 percent of urban river water is severely polluted. Eight of the world's ten most polluted cities are in China.
Years ago, China's environmental authorities estimated that China would have 150 million eco-refugees by 2005 as a result of desertification pushing its way eastward at an annual rate of 1,004 square miles. Judging by the accelerated pace of desertification in the past three years, I'm afraid there are more than 200 million eco-refugees now.
All other ills plaguing Chinese society, such as inefficiency of resource allocation, lack of social justice, and even poor human rights conditions, can be rectified through political reform. But such a severely battered environment cannot be recovered. China has lost her environmental foundation for further economic development and is now a highly disaster-prone place"...........
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