Chinese Logging in Yunnan Effecting Endangered Monkeys
4/7/96
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Headline: Row erupts over Chinese logging, endangered monkeys
Source: Reuters
Date: 4/7/96
Copyright 1996 by Reuters
BEIJING, April 7 (Reuter) - Officials in a remote region of
southwestern China are defying orders from forestry authorities
to stop building a road that threatens 200 endangered snub-nosed
monkeys in a primeval forest, state television said on Sunday.
China Central Television reported from the snow-shrouded mountains of
Deqing county in Yunnan province that county
authorities had ignored orders not to fell 100 square km (38
square miles) of the ancient forest to raise funds to pay off an
8.0 million yuan ($1 million) deficit.
In a rare example of investigative journalism in China, the state
television evening news showed bulldozers still digging
out the road into the forests, 3,400 metres above sea-level,
where the rare monkeys live -- despite a ban issued by
provincial authorities last February.
The Ministry of Forestry had suspended logging in the forest that is
home to 200 of China's 1,000-1,500 surviving snub-nosed
monkeys after inspectors said that even controlled logging would
harm the monkeys and other rare species in the forest.
The forest lies outside a national park but is classified as under
conservation. Logging was halted pending a state-level
decision.
"In economic development, we should place protection of forests, wild
animals and the environment in first place,"
Deputy Provincial Governor Huang Bingsheng told state
television.
Environmentalists warned the logging could disturb streams flowing
into the mighty Yangtze river and cause erosion.
"Why don't we take action before the damage is done?" one Yunnan
botanist told state television.
Deqing county officials argued that the monkeys would be safe and
would shift naturally into a neighbouring nature
reserve as loggers approached their mountain habitat.
State television showed some of the golden-furred monkeys swinging
through the dense forests.
The Deqing county government, which derives 90 percent of its revenue
from logging, had warned it would go ahead if a solution to its
economic problems was not found.
State television said authorities were struggling to work out a
formula that would protect the environment while ending
the financial straits of Deqing county.
Yunnan has the largest primeval and tropical rain forests in China,
and has lost half the area to rubber planting and
slash-and-burn farming since the 1949 communist takeover.
In recent years, Beijing has tried to boost awareness of environmental
protection, stepping up punishments for those who damage the
environment.
Those who kill rare animals or sell their skins face the death
penalty. China has executed several people for killing pandas and
elephants since 1980.