A total of 17.3 million hectares of forests, about one-tenth of
China's forest resources, have been damaged as a result of the
worst snowfall in at least five decades, with forests, bamboo and
seedlings in some parts of the country seriously damaged and/or
destroyed.
In its latest report released on Friday, the State Forestry
Administration (SFA) confirmed the total losses of forest in 18
provinces in southern China, saying that in the worst-hit region,
nearly 90 percent of forests had been ruined.
The administration didn't give any figure for the value of the
losses. Previous SFA report showed that by Jan. 31, disastrous
winter weather had levied a toll of 16.2 billion yuan (about 2.5
billion U.S. dollars) in China's forestry sector.
An emergency SFA circular required its local branches to
organize and monitor timely clean-up of fallen trees for fear that
individuals or groups might take advantage of the mess to
indiscriminately fell trees and worsen the losses.
It also urged places unaffected by the disaster to expand
seedling supply to secure spring forestation that usually starts in
early April.
Cao Qingyao, a SFA spokesman, warned earlier this month that
trees killed by winter frost in the southern regions could lead to
fire disasters when the weather gets warmer.
Dead trees and broken branches would significantly increase the
amount of inflammable materials in the forests.
The northern region, however, would suffer from less rain in the
first two months of the year, and dry plants are also vulnerable to
flames.
"It is the imminent tasks to secure water and power supply and
telecommunications in forest regions and to restore facilities in
forest parks and nature reserves," said the SFA circular.
"Abnormal death of migrant birds and wild life should also be
carefully handled and immediately reported in order to avoid
possible outbreak of animal epidemics," it said.
Similar warning also came Friday from the State Council, China's
Cabinet, as the snow disaster may have so weakened livestock that
they may be vulnerable to epidemics like avian influenza and
blue-ear pig disease.
Farmers were required to carefully examine their breeding
facilities, clean up snow and reinforce damaged pens to secure
proper indoor temperatures for livestock. Dead poultry and
domesticated animals must be subject to harmless treatment and be
banned from the market, the State Council said.
?
(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2008)
