A text of Charles Hudon
A disaster at a time! As if Mother Nature had intended to give a respite to the Chinese government after the recent earthquake that occurred in the province of Qinghai, the rain finally fell on the big Kunming. April 23, 20.30, in the middle of a course, the thunder is heard. Almost all the students rushed to the window. A storm! And just one! Memory, it had not rained since last September. Unaccustomed, obviously I had not brought my umbrella with me. I returned to the dormitory tempered, but I allow myself to complain, thinking of the millions of Chinese who sorely lacked hitherto water.
Is this the end of the dry weather? We all hope so. It will definitely drink lots of water to a Yunnan where rainfall is already normally uncommon in winter, this year has almost completely disappeared. The worst drought in over 100 years. The situation was so abnormal and disastrous that the news spread quickly around the globe. A call from my parents, worried me to read this coverage.
I reassure them that I had not been directly affected by climate imbalance. While some minor drawbacks, but unlike many other towns and villages in the region, Kunming does not cut water to its residents. Curious, I then turned their question. Is that your lives have been affected by this drought? They did not take my question seriously. Yet I was ...
In an article "The peak Oil crisis: China's latest Drought, "Tom Whipple made me realize that if the drought had to be prolonged, it could have repercussions outside China, mainly due to the collapse of hydropower.
The story begins in 1949. Once the communist victory, the Party is determined to put the country on the path to modernity. Cornerstone of the technological and industrial development, electrification of the country is at the top of the list of priorities of the new government. The hydropower potential is attracting much attention. Everywhere in China, dams are built at a breakneck pace, with no equal anywhere else in the world. In 60 years of history, more than 87,000 dams are emerging. Anything goes. From simple dike flood prevention at lock serving only power a few homes, Beijing finally passes in 2006 to build the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. Today, nearly 50% of this type of energy generation facility located in Chinese territory.
the mid-80s, hydroelectricity saw his moment of glory in China. At that time, it accounts for one third of consumption total electricity in the country. From that moment, however, considering the construction of coal plants easier and less costly, the party begins to quietly put aside this medium.
In the early 2000s, faced with growing environmental problems, Beijing began to rethink its strategy. Since the second half of the decade, there has been a real return of the pendulum. China wants to rapidly expand its new hydroelectric generation, which now accounts for 21.77% of its total electricity production.
drought came, somehow, to pay China for its good intentions. The essence of the problem lies in the fact that two thirds of hydroelectric resources are located in the Chinese south-western China, where drought conditions were most severe. In the region, 310 tanks and over 600 rivers were left completely dry.
Yunnan, which usually generates hydroelectric surplus sold to neighboring provinces and countries, was forced to halt its exports. To celebrate the Chinese New Year, it is rather the province of Guangdong, one of the largest consumers of hydroelectricity yunnanoise, which offered 350 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a gift to the province.
In Guangdong, the main industrial hub of the country, yet the situation was no better. The water level of Lake supplying the Delta region of the Pearl River fell to less than a quarter of normal. Hydroelectric dams, which normally produce nearly a third of the province's electricity, are still operating at very low power because of low water pressure. While Beijing has set a goal to grow its economy by 10% this year, these recent Shortages of electricity do not bode reassuring. Consequently, if the rain does not fall to more vigorously, China will be forced to turn to other forms of energy.
Logically, we can first expect to see China increase its coal consumption. A growing use of highly polluting fuel, in addition to environmental consequences, will put pressure on the price of world prices. Beijing, largely self-sufficient in coal this year, provided that the planned increase of 7% of its consumption would be satisfied only 45% by local production, the rest from imports. These forecasts were made before the drought ...
addition to prices of coal, gasoline prices are also likely to be affected by dry weather. In recent years, faced with cuts in electricity, the major Chinese producers made up for by the use of large diesel generators. China's imports of oil have already begun to increase, which may come in part explain why we pay today for a liter of gasoline over a dollar in Quebec. Fortunately, the rain begins to fall are expected to reduce China's demand oil ... as prices at the pump.
Far be it from me to want to blame China for its changes in the international balance, my thinking was primarily to highlight the state of interdependence in which we live now. The culprit is, of course, the climate and the biggest victims of the Southern Chinese. The concerns of Western consumers are featherweight figure given the urgency of helping the millions of peasants who, in spite of what to drink now, have seen their livelihoods ruined by drought.
If until now the China responds effectively to the situation, it is hoped that in the long run, more effective policies taking into consideration the protection of water are put forward.
Indeed, although the main cause of drought is the lack of precipitation, a set of sub-factors contributed definitively to exacerbate the crisis. Logging, deforestation and general degradation of the environment in the region are pointing the finger. These human activities have greatly contributed to weakening the capacity of soils to retain water. Many environmental activists believe that the government has actually aggravated the problem by promoting policies aimed at replacing the forest with plantations of eucalyptus, rubber trees and many other non-local species, much less able to conserve water forest of origin. Monsoons and droughts are regular phenomena, but the natural forest can help retain some excess water which is then used to moisten the dry periods. More generally, the pollution has obviously done nothing to help. Many lakes and rivers that dot the South China are now so polluted that it is impossible to use them, be it for irrigation.
This was the worst drought in a century, but it also served to demonstrate the fragility of the ecosystem of China, which must now be fully taken into consideration when it comes to economic development plans. China should seize the opportunity offered by this natural disaster to look beyond the responsibilities attributed to Mother Nature to analyze the human impact, failing which, she could be facing much more serious problems in the future.
Meanwhile, while thick gray clouds began to replace the blue sky that characterized Yunnan since the last 8 months, temperatures to which I was accustomed idyllic already beginning to fail me ... That's life.
Charles Hudon Kunming
