Environmental issues in China had risen in tandem with the country's rapid industrialisation, as well as lax environmental oversight especially during the early 2000s. China was ranked 120th out of the 180 countries on the 2020 Environmental Performance Index.
The Chinese government has acknowledged the problems and made various responses, resulting in some improvements, but western media has criticized the actions as inadequate.China Weighs Environmental Costs; Beijing Tries to Emphasize Cleaner Industry Over Unbridled Growth After Signs Mount of Damage Done 23 July 2013 In recent years, there has been increased citizens' activism against government decisions that are perceived as environmentally damaging, and a retired government official claimed that the year of 2012 saw over 50,000 environmental protests in China.
Since the 2010s, the government has given greater attention to environmental protection through policy actions such as the signing of the Paris climate accord, the 13th Five-Year Plan and the 2015 Environmental Protection Law reform From 2006 to 2017, sulphur dioxide levels in China were reduced by 70 percent, and air pollution has decreased from 2013 to 2018 In 2017, investments in renewable energy amounted to US$279.8 billion worldwide, with China accounting for US$126.6 billion or 45% of the global investments.Frankfurt School – UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance (2018). Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018. Available online at: https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/unep/documents/global-trends-renewable-energy-investment-2018 China has since become the world's largest investor, producer and consumer of renewable energy worldwide, manufacturing state-of-the-art solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric energy facilities as well as becoming the world's largest producer of electric cars and buses.
From an international perspective, China is a party to most of the major treaties meant to address environmental issues. This includes the Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, the Antarctic Treaty, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Climate Change treaty, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Endangered Species treaty, the Hazardous Wastes treaty, the Law of the Sea, the International Tropical Timber Agreements of 1983 and 1994, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, and agreements on Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, and Wetlands protection. China has signed, but not ratified, the Kyoto Protocol (but is not yet required to reduce its carbon emission under the agreement, as is India) and the Nuclear Test Ban treaty.
Environmental problems
Background Before the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China, the environment was degraded. Beginning in the 1500s, farmers cleared upland land to increase agricultural acreage to plant crops, contributing to hundreds of years of deforestation. Erosion from denuded hillsides contributed to chronic flooding and resulted in sediment clogging waterways. The intensive farming systems of China had caused progressive loss of soil nutrients in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Polders encroached on lakes and wetlands.
According to academic Robert Marks, environmental degradation in China had become an ecological crisis by the end of the eighteenth century.
Decades of warfare had also damaged the environment in the period prior to the founding of the PRC.
Water resources
The water resources of China are affected by both severe water quantity shortages and severe water quality pollution. An increasing population and rapid economic growth as well as lax environmental oversight have increased water demand and pollution. China has responded by measures such as rapidly building out the water infrastructure and increased regulation as well as exploring a number of further technological solutions. Water usage by its coal-fired power stations is drying-up Northern China.Water Demands of Coal-Fired Power Drying Up Northern China 25 March 2013 Scientific AmericanOn China's Electricity Grid, East Needs West—for Coal 21 March 2013 BusinessWeek 24 March 2013 BusinessWeek
According to Chinese government in 2014 59.6% of groundwater sites are poor or extremely poor quality.China says more than half of its groundwater is polluted The Guardian 23 April 2014
A 2016 research study indicated that China's water contains dangerous amounts of the cancer-causing agent nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). In China, NDMA is thought to be a byproduct of local water treatment processes (which involve heavy chlorination).
Afforestation and deforestation
Between 1700 and 1949, more forests were destroyed in China than in the previous 5,000 years.
Beginning in 1900, China's governments mobilized labor and resources to plant trees. The PRC was the first to make significant progress in afforestation. Prior to the founding of the PRC, the country's forest cover had been reduced to 5-8% and its per capita forest resources ranked 120th out of 160 countries.
As of 2005, China's forest cover was about 20%.Liu, Jianguo and Jordan Nelson. "China's environment in a globalizing world", Nature, Vol. 434, pp. 1179-1186, 30 June 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
Two large reforestation programs, the Natural Forest Protection Program and the Returning Farmland to Forest program, were announced in late 1998. The programs were piloted in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu in 1999. They became widely implemented in 2000. The Natural Forest Protection Program called for major reductions in timber harvest, forest conservation, and instituted logging bans in most of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Tibet. The program provided for alternative employment opportunities for former logging industry workers, including hiring them for reforestation work. The Returning Farmland to Forest program paid farmers to plant trees on less productive farmland and provided them with a yearly subsidy for lost income.
In 2001, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) listed China among the top 15 countries with the most "closed forest," i.e., virgin, old growth forest or naturally regrown woods."International Effort To Save Forests Should Target 15 Countries," United Nations Environment Program, 20 August 2001. Retrieved 2 April 2008. 12% of China's land area, or more than 111 million hectares, is closed forest. However, the UNEP also estimates that 36% of China's closed forests are facing pressure from high population densities, making preservation efforts especially important. In 2011, Conservation International listed the forests of south-west Sichuan as one of the world's ten most threatened forest regions.
China had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.14/10, ranking it 53rd globally out of 172 countries. By 2023, the Chinese government was encouraging deforestation in an attempt to gain food independence.
Tree cover extent and loss Global Forest Watch publishes annual estimates of tree cover loss and 2000 tree cover extent derived from time-series analysis of Landsat satellite imagery in the Global Forest Change dataset. In this framework, tree cover refers to vegetation taller than 5 m (including natural forests and tree plantations), and tree cover loss is defined as the complete removal of tree cover canopy for a given year, regardless of cause.
For China, country statistics report cumulative tree cover loss of from 2001 to 2024 (about 7.8% of its 2000 tree cover area). For tree cover density greater than 30%, country statistics report a 2000 tree cover extent of . The charts and table below display this data. In simple terms, the annual loss number is the area where tree cover disappeared in that year, and the extent number shows what remains of the 2000 tree cover baseline after subtracting cumulative loss. Forest regrowth is not included in the dataset.
+ Annual tree cover extent and loss Year Tree cover extent (km2) Annual tree cover loss (km2) 2001 1,626,432.85 2,303.08 2002 1,623,941.00 2,491.85 2003 1,621,323.24 2,617.76 2004 1,616,307.43 5,015.81 2005 1,612,471.35 3,836.08 2006 1,606,718.53 5,752.82 2007 1,600,188.02 6,530.51 2008 1,592,807.11 7,380.91 2009 1,586,810.00 5,997.11 2010 1,580,531.45 6,278.55 2011 1,574,545.26 5,986.19 2012 1,568,494.92 6,050.34 2013 1,564,081.55 4,413.37 2014 1,558,764.53 5,317.02 2015 1,553,859.59 4,904.94 2016 1,546,671.85 7,187.74 2017 1,540,227.53 6,444.32 2018 1,534,529.85 5,697.68 2019 1,529,559.58 4,970.27 2020 1,525,335.96 4,223.62 2021 1,519,968.23 5,367.73 2022 1,513,848.14 6,120.09 2023 1,507,820.51 6,027.63 2024 1,501,068.54 6,751.97
Three Gorges dam
The Three Gorges Dam produces 3% of the electricity in China but has displaced houses and caused environmental problems within the local environment. Due to the construction of the dam over one million people have been displaced from their homes. The dam has also caused frequent major landslides due to the erosion in the reservoir. These major landslides included two incidents in May 2009 when somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 cubic metres (26,000 and 65,000 cu yd) of material plunged into the flooded Wuxia Gorge of the Wu River.
Coastal reclamation China's marine environment, including the Yellow Sea and South China Sea, are considered among the most degraded marine areas on earth.UNDP/GEF. (2007) The Yellow Sea: Analysis of Environmental Status and Trends. p. 408, Ansan, Republic of Korea. Loss of natural coastal habitats due to land reclamation has resulted in the destruction of more than 65% of tidal wetlands around China's Yellow Sea coastline in approximately 50 years.Murray N. J., Clemens R. S., Phinn S. R., Possingham H. P. & Fuller R. A. (2014) Tracking the rapid loss of tidal wetlands in the Yellow Sea. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12, 267-72. Rapid coastal development for agriculture, aquaculture and industrial development are considered the primary drivers of coastal destruction in the region.
In the South China Sea, coral reefs have been severely destroyed by land reclamation by several countries, with China being one of the top contributors. Of the 7,165 acres of destroyed reefs, China is responsible for 65% of the destruction, having destroyed about 4,648 acres since 2013. The "Great Wall of Sand" was one of the main contributors to the destruction of the reefs. As surrounding countries continue to battle for control over the South China Sea, land reclamation poses as a threat to surrounding environments.
Desertification Desertification remains a serious problem, consuming an area greater than the area used as farmland. Although desertification has been curbed in some areas, it is still expanding at a rate of more than 67 km2 every year. 90% of China's desertification occurs in the west of the country.HAN, Jun "EFFECTS OF INTEGRATED ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT ON LAND DEGRADATION CONTROL AND POVERTY REDUCTION." Workshop on Environment, Resources and Agricultural Policies in China, 19 June 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2008. Approximately 30% of China's surface area is desert. China's rapid industrialization could cause this area to drastically increase. The Gobi Desert in the north currently expands by about per year. The vast plains in northern China used to be regularly flooded by the Yellow River. However, overgrazing and the expansion of agricultural land could cause this area to increase. In 2009, it was estimated that over 200 high-altitude lakes in Zoigê Marsh, which provides 30% of the Yellow River's water, had dried up. In Inner Mongolia, to mitigate the financial impact on families from desertification, women are taught traditional embroidery techniques which they then use to create additional income. The scheme was started by local embroiderer Bai Jingying.
Climate change