China building more power plants

China building more power plants

By Roger Harrabin BBC Environment Analyst

China is building two large power stations every week

China is now building about two power stations every week, the top climate change official at the UK Foreign Office, John Ashton, has said.

He said there was no point blaming China for rising global CO2 emissions.

Rich nations had to set an example of low-carbon development for China to follow, Mr Ashton told the BBC.

His statement came as a new report suggested that China may have already become the world's biggest polluter - much earlier than expected.

The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said China's CO2 emissions had risen by 9% last year, compared with 1.4% in the US.

Carbon footprint

"It is a massive challenge," Mr Ashton told the BBC following a recent trip to China.

"We need to convince China that they don't have to make a choice between prosperity and protecting the climate. We need to help them towards a low-carbon future.

"There is also a moral case. Most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have been put there by developed countries without the constraint of having to worry about the climate. That means we should bear the leading edge of responsibility.

Mr Ashton added that the Chinese had put out their first climate strategy, in an effort "to get to grips with their emissions and use energy efficiently".

He pointed out that much of China's emissions growth was being driven by consumers in the West buying Chinese goods, and noted that China's emissions per person were still well below those of rich nations.

Profile: John Ashton

It is estimated that the average American still pollutes between five and six times more than the average Chinese person.

Climate sceptics in the UK have been asking why Britons should switch off lights, turn down central heating and avoid foreign flights in order to save carbon when the Chinese are increasing emissions at their current rate.

"Responsibility for China's soaring emissions lies not just in Beijing but also in Washington, Brussels and Tokyo," said Greenpeace UK director John Sauven.

"All we've done is export a great slice of the West's carbon footprint to China, and today we see the result.

"Let us not forget that the average Chinese emits just 3.5 tonnes of CO2 per year, whereas Britons emit nearly 10 tonnes and Americans 20 tonnes.

"The West moved its manufacturing base to China knowing it was vastly more polluting than Japan, Europe or the US," he added.

"No environmental conditions were attached to this move; in fact the only thing manufacturers were interested in was the price of labour.

"This trend kept the price of our products down but at the cost of soaring greenhouse gas emissions. Long term, this policy has been a climate disaster.

"We should export clean energy technology to China to increase low carbon and renewable energy take-up so the products we import have a smaller carbon footprint."

Adolphin found only in China is now "likely to be extinct"

The researchers failed to spot any Yangtze river dolphins, also known as baijis, during an extensive six-week survey of the mammals' habitat.

The team, writing in Biology Letters journal, blamed unregulated fishing as the main reason behind their demise.

If confirmed, it would be the first extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years.

The World Conservation Union's Red List of Threaten Species currently classifies the creature as "critically endangered".

We have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet Dr Sam Turvey, Zoological Society of London

Sam Turvey of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), one of the paper's co-authors, described the findings as a "shocking tragedy".

"The Yangtze river dolphin was a remarkable mammal that separated from all other species over 20 million years ago," Dr Turvey explained.

"This extinction represents the disappearance of a complete branch of the evolutionary tree of life and emphasises that we have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet."

If confirmed, it would be the first extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years.

'Incidental impact'

The species (Lipotes vexillifer) was the only remaining member of the Lipotidae, an ancient mammal family that is understood to have separated from other marine mammals, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, about 40-20 million years ago.

The white, freshwater dolphin had a long, narrow beak and low dorsal fin; lived in groups of three or four and fed on fish.

The team carried out six-week visual and acoustic survey, using two research vessels, in November and December 2006.

"While it is conceivable that a couple of surviving individuals were missed by the survey teams," the team wrote, "our inability to detect any baiji despite this intensive search effort indicates that the prospect of finding and translocating them to a [reserve] has all but vanished."

The scientists added that there were a number of human activities that caused baiji numbers to decline, including construction of dams and boat collisions.

"However, the primary factor was probably unsustainable by-catch in local fisheries, which used rolling hooks, nets and electrofishing," they suggested.

"Unlike most historical-era extinctions of large bodied animals, the baiji was the victim not of active persecution but incidental mortality resulting from massive-scale human environmental impacts - primarily uncontrolled and unselective fishing," the researchers concluded.

China trade threatens tropical trees

By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing


Merbau trees used to be common across parts of Asia and Africa
China is at the heart of a trade that is pushing some tropical trees towards extinction, environmental groups say.One such is the tropical merbau tree, says Greenpeace.

Merbau trees that are mostly felled illegally are being shipped to China, where import rules are lax, the group claims.

This timber is then turned into finished products before being exported to Europe, North America and Australia.

Environmental campaigners want Chinese manufacturers and Western retailers to help end the illegal logging.

Merbau trees, which have reddish-brown wood, were once common in countries from East Africa to Tahiti.But they now exist in large numbers only on the island of New Guinea, half of which is governed by Indonesia, half by Papua New Guinea.Species like merbau are being pushed to the brink, and eventually we're going to run out.Greenpeace says China has become the world's largest importer of merbau timber from these two countries, mostly from illegal sources.

Using undercover investigators, the group found Chinese firms are using several methods to smuggle merbau timber.One route involves logs being imported directly from Indonesia, despite a ban on such exports by Jakarta.

Another method of getting round the ban is to transport Indonesian logs through Malaysia in order to claim they are from the transit country.

Figures from Chinese Customs show the Indonesian ban, which was enforced in 2005, has reduced the amount of merbau shipped to China.

Merbau logs at Guangzhou Province's Yuzhu wharf.The price of merbau logs has been rising in China.One indication of this comes from the price in China of merbau, which rose from $280 (£140) per cubic metre in 2004 to $660 last year.

But Greenpeace says the trade still threatens remaining merbau forests.

"Species like merbau are being pushed to the brink, and eventually we're going to run out," said Liu Bing of Greenpeace China.China denies Greenpeace's allegations, but it stops short of saying no illegally logged timber finds its way into the country.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang recently said government departments carried out joint attacks on "illegal behaviour".But the campaign to save the merbau tree is not just targeted at China.

Once it arrives here, the timber is turned into hardwood flooring, furniture and instruments such as drum frames. It is then exported across the world.Greenpeace is targeting Western retailers who sell merbau products as well as Chinese manufacturers.

And there is evidence the campaign is working.Retailer Floors-2-Go, which has 140 stores across the UK, stopped selling merbau flooring last year because of concerns over the source of the wood.But Allied Carpets is still selling merbau flooring without being able to guarantee the wood is from legitimate sources.

Company Chief Executive Clive Hutchings, who oversees 220 stores in the UK, told the BBC that the firm aims to change this policy.But that will not be easy.Steve Gilman, hardware store B&Q's Asia chief executive, said recently: "[Merbau] is one of the most endangered of all hardwood species. There's very little from certified sources."And even if retailers change their habits, the battle to save the merbau is not certain to succeed, not least because of how the tree grows.

It is a slow-growing species that takes up to 80 years to mature.

There are as few as one tree per hectare of forest, and an average of 45 other trees, many of which are just dumped, have to be chopped down to get the merbau."If the current rates of logging of merbau continue, the species will be virtually wiped out in the next 35 years," warns Greenpeace.

Penis dog

Beijing's penis emporium
By Andrew Harding
BBC News, Beijing

There are many thousands of Chinese restaurants around in the UK and everyone has their favourite dish, but only in China itself do chefs specialise in a range of slightly more unusual delicacies.

A glass of deer penis juice amongst food on a table at the restaurant (Photo credit: Stefan Gates)
Many of the restaurant's guests are wealthy businessmen

The dish in front of me is grey and shiny.

"Russian dog," says my waitress Nancy.

"Big dog," I reply.

"Yes," she says. "Big dog's penis..."

We are in a cosy restaurant in a dark street in Beijing but my appetite seems to have gone for a stroll outside.

Nancy has brought out a whole selection of delicacies.

They are draped awkwardly across a huge platter, with a crocodile carved out of a carrot as the centrepiece.

Nestling beside the dog's penis are its clammy testicles, and beside that a giant salami-shaped object.

"Donkey," says Nancy. "Good for the skin..."

She guides me round the penis platter.

"Snake. Very potent. They have two penises each."

I did not know that.

Deer-blood cocktail

"Sheep... horse... ox... seal - excellent for the circulation."

She points to three dark, shrivelled lumps which look like liquorice allsorts - a special treat apparently - reindeer, from Manchuria.


Government officials... two of them... they're having the penis hotpot
Nancy

The Guolizhuang restaurant claims to be China's only speciality penis emporium, and no, it is not a joke.

The atmosphere is more exotic spa than boozy night-out.

Nancy describes herself as a nutritionist.

"We don't call them waiters here. And we don't serve much alcohol," she says. "Only common people come here to get drunk and laugh."

But she does offer me a deer-blood and vodka cocktail, which I decide to skip.

Medicinal purposes

The restaurant's gristly menu was dreamt up by a man called Mr Guo.

Boiled ox penis
The Chinese believe that eating penis can enhance your virility

He is 81 now and retired.

After fleeing China's civil war back in 1949, he moved to Taiwan, and then to Atlanta, Georgia, where he began to look deeper into traditional Chinese medicine, and experiment on the appendages of man's best friend.

Apparently, they are low in cholesterol and good, not just for boosting the male sex drive, but for treating all sorts of ailments.

Laughter trickles through the walls of our dining room.

"Government officials," says Nancy. "Two of them upstairs. They're having the penis hotpot."

Most of the restaurant's guests are either wealthy businessmen or government bureaucrats who, as Nancy puts it, have been brought here by people who want their help.

What better way to secure a contract than over a steaming penis fondue.

Discretion is assured as all the tables are in private rooms.

The glitziest one has gold dishes.

"Some like their food served raw," says Nancy, "like sushi. But we can cook it anyway you like."

Rare order

"Not long ago, a particularly rich real estate mogul came in with four friends. All men. Women don't come here so often, and they shouldn't eat testicles," says Nancy solemnly.

The men spent $5,700 (£3,000) on a particularly rare dish, something that needed to be ordered months in advance.

"Tiger penis," says Nancy.

Bull's perineum (Photo credit: Stefan Gates)
Bull's perineum is also a delicacy

The illegal trade in tiger parts is a big problem in China.

Campaigners say the species is being driven towards extinction because of its popularity as a source of traditional medicine.

I mention this, delicately, to Nancy, but she insists that all her tiger supplies come from animals that have died of old age.

"Anyway, we only have one or two orders a year," she says.

"So what does it taste like?" I ask.

"Oh, the same as all the others," she says blithely.

And does it have any particular potency? "No. People just like to order tiger to show off how much money they have."

Welcome to the People's Republic of China - tigers beware.

Sliced and pickled

"Oh yes," she adds, "the same group also ate an aborted reindeer foetus.

"That is very good for your skin. And here it is..."

Another "nutritionist" walks in bearing something small and red wrapped in cling film.

My appetite is heading for the airport.

Still, I think, it would be rude not to try something.

I am normally OK about this sort of thing. I have had fried cockroaches and sheep's eyes, so...

There is a small bowl of sliced and pickled ox penis on the table.

I pick up a piece with my chopsticks and start to chew. It is cold and bland and rubbery.

Nancy gives me a matronly smile.

"This one," she says, "should be eaten every day."

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 23 September, 2006 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.