Planned Road Through Nature Reserve Arouses Debates
A planned road for coal transportation through a nature reserve in Inner Mongolia has aroused heated online debates, Xinhua reports.
The controversy emanated via a netizen's post called 'Save Shirenwan' which stated that a new road from Ulanqab to Huhhot in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China for coal transportation was going through the Shirenwan Nature Reservation, a 3,000 hectare wetland and habitat for rare birds such as the swan and black stork.
A leak in November 2011 said that survey work on the Shirenwan riverbank had already begun. From the direction of construction, the road may well be leading straight to the core of the reservation.
Han Zhi, spokesperson from the Environmental Protection Bureau of Huhhot, the capital city of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, told the reporter that this coal transportation road plan cannot begin without the approval of the relevant environmental authorities and that the approval for this project has not yet been given.
Zhang Xuguang, chief at planning office of the Huhhot Bureau of Transportation, revealed that the planned road does cross through the nature reserve but that it does not go through the core zone, just through what is dubbed the "experimental zone".
According to Article 32 of China's Nature Reservation Regulation, no facilities of production can be built in the core or buffer zones of nature reserves, and no production facilities which pollute the environment, damage the resources or scenery can be built in experimental zones. Based on the regulations, tourism is restricted in core and buffer zones but allowed in the experimental zones.
Zhao Pingshe, the person responsible for filing a report with the relevant environmental authorities, claimed that the coal transportation road is no different from other roads and that the planned route is 17 kilometers away from the core area of the nature reserve.
Han Zhi also believed that, in principle, a road through the "experimental zone" is lawful but that how much impact it will have on the natural environment must be assessed by experts. 'That cannot be judged by any personal experience,' he added.
Right now, the planning for road has been stopped by the district government in Huhhot.
The controversy emanated via a netizen's post called 'Save Shirenwan' which stated that a new road from Ulanqab to Huhhot in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China for coal transportation was going through the Shirenwan Nature Reservation, a 3,000 hectare wetland and habitat for rare birds such as the swan and black stork.
A leak in November 2011 said that survey work on the Shirenwan riverbank had already begun. From the direction of construction, the road may well be leading straight to the core of the reservation.
Han Zhi, spokesperson from the Environmental Protection Bureau of Huhhot, the capital city of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, told the reporter that this coal transportation road plan cannot begin without the approval of the relevant environmental authorities and that the approval for this project has not yet been given.
Zhang Xuguang, chief at planning office of the Huhhot Bureau of Transportation, revealed that the planned road does cross through the nature reserve but that it does not go through the core zone, just through what is dubbed the "experimental zone".
According to Article 32 of China's Nature Reservation Regulation, no facilities of production can be built in the core or buffer zones of nature reserves, and no production facilities which pollute the environment, damage the resources or scenery can be built in experimental zones. Based on the regulations, tourism is restricted in core and buffer zones but allowed in the experimental zones.
Zhao Pingshe, the person responsible for filing a report with the relevant environmental authorities, claimed that the coal transportation road is no different from other roads and that the planned route is 17 kilometers away from the core area of the nature reserve.
Han Zhi also believed that, in principle, a road through the "experimental zone" is lawful but that how much impact it will have on the natural environment must be assessed by experts. 'That cannot be judged by any personal experience,' he added.
Right now, the planning for road has been stopped by the district government in Huhhot.
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