China syndrome

Forest and Bird, Issue 282, 1 November 1996, Page 8

China syndrome

Source:

Worldwatch Institute

ALTHOUGH inhabited by less than five percent of the world’s population, the United States consumes some third or more of the world’s resources. But China, with its booming economy and huge population, is fast catching up. China already accounts for more grain and red meat, uses more fertiliser, produces more steel and burns more coal than the United States, and its emissions of carbon dioxide — already a tenth of the world total — are growing far more rapidly. China’s economy has grown by 10 to 14 percent a year for the last four years, and is likely to overtake that of the United States as the world’s largest by 2010 if the growth rate continues. Since China has nearly five times as many people as the US, its per capita demands are still far less. But even on a per capita basis, China is closing the gap in many products such as pork consumption. If each Chinese were to consume as much beef as the 45 kilograms a year eaten by Americans, it would take 343 million tonnes of grain — the entire US harvest — to feed the cattle to make up the difference. As its population of 1.2 billion moves into modern houses, buys cars, refrigerators and televisions, and shifts to a more meat-based diet, the entire world will feel the effects. The bottom line is that, with its vast population, China will not be able to follow for long any of the development paths taken to date by other countries.