The images are heart-rending, farmers kneeling over the cracked earth that looks to be straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie, the dust swirling in the wind.
But what underlies China’s worst drought in nearly a century is a matter of great debate. Is it Mother Nature or human failure?
Beyond the official explanation of “abnormal weather,” Chinese environmentalists are pointing to deforestation, pollution, dams, overbuilding and other man-made factors. Scientists are searching for clues about why rain hasn’t come in some parts of the country.
Some scientists say the fault lies with the destruction of the natural forest and the replanting of cash crops that suck up too much water. Among the notorious water-guzzlers are rubber trees and eucalypts, which are used for paper and pulp production and are so vigorous that farmers sometimes claim to hear them growing at night.
“In the rainy season, the forest holds in the water and releases it slowly in the dry season. That is the natural ecological function of the forest,” said Ma Jun, a well-known water expert whose writings about China’s water crisis have been likened to Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring.” “The drought is obviously caused by lack of rainfall, but the deforestation hurts our ability to adapt to unfavorable climate.”
Yunnan, the hardest-hit province, is home to China’s last swatch of rain forest and many of its glaciers, which gives it an unusually fragile ecosystem. The largest lake in the province, Dian Chi, which used to supply drinking water to the provincial capital, Kunming, is now so polluted that the water cannot even be used for agriculture.