Wide cooperation needed against sandstorm threats
- Source: Global Times
- [21:15 March 25 2010]
- Comments
GT: China, Japan and South Korea have been discussing the sandstorm problem for years, but it seems that Mongolia's participation is limited. Why?
Liu: Mongolia should be brought into the regional cooperation to a larger extent, because there are large arid and semi-arid areas in Mongolia. Besides, mineral exploitation in Mongolia has developed fast in recent years, and other countries like China and Japan have also invested in the industry there. The minerals industry contributes to the flying dust problem.
China, Japan and South Korea have cooperated in various fields for many years, so regional cooperation among the three countries is more mature. Their current cooperation over sandstorms grew out of existing platforms.
However, Mongolia is not involved in regional cooperation much yet. Its attention is mainly focused on bilateral relations with neighboring countries. For now, it just serves as a potential participant in Northeast Asian affairs.
Xia: Mongolia is vast but sparsely populated. Moreover, drought there is extremely serious, so it takes more efforts to fight it. It wants to prevent and control desertification but its ability, including funds, technologies and labor, falls short of its will. We can cooperate with Mongolia to do that. We plan to apply for some financial support from the Chinese government to help Mongolia. It could be a win-win situation.
GT: What kind of intergovernmental efforts are needed?
Liu: There should be some formal international or regional organizations concerning non-traditional security problems, including environmental issues like sandstorms.
If a regional cooperation institution in Northeast Asia is established, it should include China, Japan, South Korea, and Mongolia. The institution should first aim at a consensus on the purpose of policies. There ought to be certain groups of experts and officials in charge of sandstorm abatement.
The primary task is to scientifically increase precipitation through weather modification in arid and semiarid areas in northern China, Mongolia, Russia and even Central Asia.
Weather modification always needs climate information from neighboring countries, so countries need to frequently communicate about it. Besides, China should invest more in facilities, personnel and research in this field, which would be good for the entire region. Japan and South Korea could provide financial support.
In areas that already have enough rain, the important thing is to increase vegetation cover in the source areas of sandstorms. Japan and South Korea have a strong incentive for this, and they have contributed a lot in China for a long time.
China should also improve the water-storage functions of urban and rural drainage systems, which currently remain undeveloped. Drainage systems with good water-storage function could help cities with dust cleaning during sandstorms, and in arid and semiarid areas, it could save scarce rainwater.
Japan is the best example, as it has developed its water-storage system for centuries and has established excellent systems around the country. South Korea started to follow the Japanese models many years ago, so its water-storage systems are also good. China could learn a lot from these two countries.
