Environment
Cooperating to Combat Dust and Sandstorms in Northeast Asia
$500,000 technical assistance grant from the Japan Special Fund
By Graham Dwyer (gdwyer@adb.org)
External Relations Specialist
Dust and sandstorms, part of life in Northeast Asia for thousands
of years, have increased in frequency, intensity, and geographical
reach over the last half century.
Strong winds from Siberia pick up dust and fine sand particles
from the ground— mostly in the desert and semidesert areas
of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Mongolia—and
carry them in a vast cloud over long distances and across boundaries.
STOPPING THE SANDS
Researchers are experimenting with new technologies to keep back
the desert
In their wake, they wreak environmental and economic havoc and
sometimes result in deaths. For example, in May 1993, a dust and
sandstorm hit 1.1 million square kilometers of the PRC, leaving
85 dead, 246 injured, 4,412 houses destroyed, 12,000 livestock dead
or lost, and 373,000 hectares of cropland damaged. At current exchange
rates, the direct economic cost amounted to the equivalent of $66
million.
Last year, severe dust and sandstorms swept across Mongolia and
18 provinces of the PRC, as well as the Korean Peninsula and a large
part of Japan.
Schools in the Republic of Korea were closed and flights were canceled
to airports in Ulaanbaatar and Seoul. Satellite images and analysis
of dust samples reveal that the impacts were felt even across the
Pacific Ocean in North America.
“It is a transboundary problem that requires an international
effort to find a solution,” says Yue Fei, ADB Programs Officer.
“A regional cooperation mechanism must be established among
the most affected countries so the problem can be addressed in a
coordinated way.”
At the request of the governments of the PRC and Mongolia, ADB has
approved a technical assistance project to promote regional cooperation
on prevention and control of dust and sandstorms. It is funded by
an ADB grant of $500,000 from the Japan Special Fund, financed by
the Government of Japan, and cofinancing for the same amount from
the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
This technical assistance is linked to the PRC-GEF Partnership
on Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems, a 10-year programmatic
approach endorsed by the GEF Council in Beijing in mid-October 2002.
The project will be carried out in cooperation with the four countries
most affected by the problem—PRC, Japan, Republic of Korea,
and Mongolia, and three UN agencies: Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification,
and United Nations Environment Programme.
The project will work toward a regional institutional framework
to facilitate international policy and operational coordination
among major stakeholders at a regional level.
It will draw up a master plan, including a regional monitoring
program and early warning network for dust and sandstorms, an investment
strategy, and identification of demonstration projects in both the
PRC and Mongolia to deal with the issue. The project secretariat
is also planning to launch a web site to chart progress on the issue.
Hundreds
of millions of people have felt the impact of dust and sandstorms
on their living standards, health, and wealth
-
Yue Fei, ADB Programs Officer
“Many factors contribute to dust and sandstorms,” notes
Mr. Fei. “The problem is aggravated by droughts and natural
disasters. However, human activity has made the situation worse
over the last few decades, through overgrazing, reclamation, deforestation,
and overexploitation of water resources, which have all added to
land degradation and caused rapid desertification.”
PRC statistics indicate that back in the 1950s, dust and sandstorms
occurred only about five times per year.
This rose to eight times per year during the 1960s, 14 in the 1970s,
and 23 times in the 1990s. In 2001, the region experienced 32 dust
and sandstorms, the most severe one in decades occurring in early
2002.
“Hundreds of millions of people have felt the impact of
dust and sandstorms on their living standards, health, and wealth,”
Mr. Fei says.
“Regional cooperation will ensure that national and international
initiatives will have maximum impact to arrest deterioration of
the land, before the situation becomes irreversible.”
The technical assistance is due for completion around June 2004,
with ADB acting as the executing agency.
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