A new report released by Greenpeace claims that China’s insatiable demand for coal could imperil fragile water resources in the country’s vast north-western hinterland.
According to the Greenpeace report plans for the large-scale expansion of coal mining and the coal industry in China’s northwestern provinces of Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Ningxia could result in a net loss of 10 billion cubic metres in water resources each year, equivalent to a sixth of the annual flow of the Yellow River.
The loss of water will have a ruinous effect upon the delicate steppe ecosystems of the region, including grazing land, forests and wetlands, and severely exacerbate desertification in the province of Inner Mongolia.
