A sheep grazes on the edges of a forest in Inner Mongolia, in northern China. Large scale tree planting programmes have been lauded as the key to long-term forest recovery, however in dry regions in the north, limited water supply and inefficient forest management has led to many forests dying out.
Natural forests cover about 10 percent of China, however few of these forests remain in a primary or pristine condition.
China’s forests are threatened primarily by timber collection, mining, unregulated harvesting of flora for traditional Chinese medicine and excessive development related to increased tourism. Reforestation efforts by authorities have also caused the proliferation of mono-culture forests, which have hampered forest recovery and negatively affected biodiversity.
Traditional Chinese medicine is collected from the forests by locals, often unregulated and unchecked. Unsustainable harvesting is still a problem throughout Sichuan as demand for the medicine increases each year.
A giant panda rolls around in an enclosure at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, home to over 80 animals. Only 1600 individuals are estimated to be left in the wild ,as their habitat has shrunk drastically as a result of deforestation.
A young boy in a cowboy hat looks out onto one of the many lakes that make up the Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve in northern Sichuan. Giant Pandas used to be found in the forested mountains of the region up until 10 years ago. Increasing visitor numbers since being awarded World Heritage status has since caused all remaining pandas to flee the region.
A factory worker stands in front of shredded pieces of bamboo. Bamboo removal in China has grown from 260 million tons in 1990 to 1.2 billion tons in 2005.
Off-cuts lie discarded in a factory which produces furniture and chopsticks, all of which is made from bamboo.
The turquoise lakes of the Jiuzhaigou park get their color from sediment run-off from the local mountains. The crystal clear water within the park is well protected and this small area is arguably the best protected collection of small bodies of water in the country. Outside the park nearby, the water is less protected and as a result is notably affected by pollution from developments related to tourism in the region.
School children stand in the the snow in Inner Mongolia. The relationship between the people and the forests of the region is a fragile one. Small-scale education initiatives are trying to reach out to schoolchildren as a way to educate them about the importance of protecting the country’s forests.
A farmer stands in his corn fields near one of southern Sichuan’s bamboo forests.
A young boy passes through a forest in the Jiuzhaigou National Park. All of the pathways within the park are boarded so that little to no trampling occurs and damage to the forests is limited.
In 2011, the UN’s official “International Year of Forests,” the forests of the southwest of China were classified by Conservation International as one of the world’s top ten most threatened forest regions.
This is the third chapter in a long-term body of work focusing on China’s environmental crises in the early 21st Century. The previous two chapters have focused on increasing desertification and on disappearing wetlands.
This work was funded by a travel grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Excessive deforestation in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River was blamed for severe landslides and floods in the 1990’s, which caused the death of thousands of people in the region. This brought the issue of deforestation and the country’s forests to the forefront of people’s attention in China.
A Tibetan man adjusts prayer flags outside his home, located on the eastern fringes of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Traditionally, Tibetan people of the region have sustainably used the forests, however increased developments in the region have seen more and more forests felled for use in local industry.
A Tibetan monk on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Many of the forests of the region have been felled and as a result are detrimentally affecting many of the ecosystems on the “roof of the world”.
A worker in a factory that produces chopsticks made from bamboo. “China produces 57 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year, which requires over 1.18 million square meters of forest,” according to Greenpeace East Asia.
A woman holds tea leaves collected from a plantation nestled in the remote mountain valleys of northern Sichuan. Tea plantations are some of the projects being targeted by the EU-China Biodiversity Program to promote sustainable harvesting in the region.
A member of the park management overseas visitors entering the Jiuzhaigou park in Sichuan Province. At peak times, the park will welcome up to 10,000 people a day and 2 million each year. These numbers place huge demands on the the environment around the national park as infrastructure developments increase to cope with the visitor numbers.
A tourist walks past trees in the Jiuzhaigou National Park. All of the pathways within the park are boarded so that little to no trampling occurs and damage to the forests is limited.
A man jumps into a lake in the Jiuzhaigou National Park in Sichuan Province.
The relationship between the people of the region and the forests is a fragile one as the west of China continues rapid development trying to catch up with the progress of the east.
Bio
Sean Gallagher is a British photojournalist, currently based in Beijing, China. Graduating in Zoology from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, his work now focuses on environmental issues in Asia, with specific emphasis on China.
He was the first recipient of the Emerging Photographers Fund in 2008 and is a 4-time recipient of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Travel Grant. His work has appeared with news outlets including Newsweek, the New York Times, Der Spiegel and National Geographic. His work on environmental issues in China was acknowledged as “some of the most striking images on display at the Copenhagen climate change conference”, by the BBC World Service in 2009.
Related links
Sean Gallagher
Pulitzer Center
Enjoyed the essay. Thanks, Sean.
Sean Gallagher !!!???
damn… that brings me back some memories….
back in Look3 C/Villle 08, me and SG in the airport…
they (TSA) just “stole” my water bottle….we laughed…
he was going back to CHINA….
i was going back “HOME”
To CALIFORNIA…
He kept his promise…
He became a better , more sensitive photographer!
(unlike me…laughing!!!)
big hug Sean!
Very interesting essay Sean. We have problems of the same nature here in the north of Quebec. Our forest are being eaten away by foreign corporations without real plans of reforestation, and when there is one, it usually involves the plantation of trees that are alien to the region and are the cause for grave environmental consequences. I think the work that you’re doing is very important, I hope there will be more.
Sean gallagher…
THANK YOU
For doing such important work…
With passion and a vision..
Strong, colorful images
Which embrace the universal…..
****
These images are all very gentle and quiet, an interesting approach to a story about deforestation and environmental crisis. On their own, these photographs do not read “crisis” to me. I also notice that there is a lot of face hiding and head lopping. Paired with the text, the overall effect gives me a feeling of dis-quiet and is somewhat surreal. I’m wondering if that is your intention.
I love #5. A classic shot despite the tilted horizon. #11 is also very appealing, the point of view through the veil of branches is perfect.
Great to see this here Sean, important work indeed. Good luck with the project. I hope you can make a difference.
Hi Sean, good to see that you are still photographing in China. Deforestation is a big issue: the fact that the forest has to be protected by boarded walkways speaks volumes.
Mike.
Great work Sean both in photography and the issue you have chosen to cast light on.
What I like most about your work is that it does not delve into the political, instead it focuses on the human.
In #12 you sort of hinted at it but moved on.
It was a shocking fact to know about the bamboo use to make disposable chopsticks.
Knowing this is making me reconsider using them from now on. I will just ask for a fork.
Excellent series,Sean
My only ‘concern’,given the serious nature of the topic, and I think Gordon sort of picked up
on the same thing, is that the series,photographically, doesn’t quickly convey a sense of urgency.
The images speak quietly but I’m not sure that in this day and age if the majority will take
notice with a more subtle approach.
Dear All…
Thank you for your thoughtful comments about the essay. I hope that you can see that I am trying continue the vein of work that began in 2008, when David placed his faith in me after seeing my work on desertification in China. Thanks again to David for publishing this essay here and sharing it with a wider audience.
Many of the environmental issues that I try to tackle are quite understated and the severity of the situation is less than obvious to the casual observer. As a result, I think it reflects in the lack of the perceived drama that you might associate with the subject matter. It’s a reflection though I believe of myself and my approach to my work. I find it more interesting and challenging to find drama in quieter situations and to try to instigate more questions from the viewer.
I hope the work finds a place though amongst the other work of photographers covering equally important stories across the world.
Panos, my friend… I remember that Charlottesville airport conversation well! Happy memories…
Mike R….Yes, still photographing here. I have been based here for over 5 years now and intend to stay a lot longer and keep covering these issues in Asia.
Carlo… Good for you. We just need to convince 1.4 billion people over here to do the same now!
Sean I normally like your work BUT this is not really good enough.I normally don’t care when the words and pictures don’t match here on Burn but these pictures don’t show deforestation or any of the problems associated with it. Come on you can do much better than this.
Sean,
Have you had much exposure with the Mega-dams that China is building in Tibet?
Is this something you will cover in the future?
Harry…Thank you for your honest and frank thoughts. Perhaps you might like to look at more images and writings from my travels on the Pulitzer website (link above). This should offer a broader picture of this chapter of my work and the work I did last summer.
Carlo…I have photographed the 3 Gorges Dam but not the ones in Tibet. That region is often closed to foreigners but I hope to get there sometime soon. It’s definitely a very important issue.
To Sean,
Beautifully shot project, well done.
I am from China, and I’ve been to the Jiuzaigou National Park you photographed.
The last picture of the set, however, confused me.
As I remember, Jiuzaigou is a very well controlled park, which means it’s highly unlikely to allow tourists to jump in the water. Even the dam that the man jump from, should be a restricted access area. It’s not somewhere ordinary tourists can go in and jump into the water as they want. Also, I cannot imagine a logical reason for the man in the picture to jump into the water.
With all respect, I don’t want to question the authenticity of such a beautiful shot.
So please tell us more about why the man jumped into the water and what he was doing?
Thanks
Very good piece on vimeo:
Sean Gallagher’s “Meltdown” is out as a FREE itunes book:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/meltdown/id689504739?mt=11