Environmentalist warn that heavy commercial fishing, poorly planned land use and forms of destructive resource raids including mass fish poisoning, oil exploration and coral reef extraction are depleting sea life in the South China Sea and surrounding waters. [Nguyen Van Long/United Nations Environment Program]
Triggered by a decade of extraordinary economic and population growth, China’s quest for energy and protein resources could potentially destroy a third of the world’s marine biodiversity, according to environmentalists.
A host of environmental impact studies recommends that China reverse practices harmful to land and sea and implement solutions to correct the country’s stake in contributing to potential irreversible consequences. Officials from neighboring coastal countries have demanded the termination of China’s approach, describing the actions as “environmental plunder.”
Heavy commercial fishing, poorly planned land use and various forms of destructive resource raids, such as mass fish poisoning, oil exploration and coral reef extraction, show evidence of sustained damage to the ecological balance surrounding the South China Sea, according to an ongoing United Nations Development Program study.