The China Environment Forum is the Wilson Center’s platform for convening policy, business, research, and NGO practitioners on the most pressing environment and energy issues facing China.
Our posts on New Security Beat explore the environmental footprint of China’s domestic and overseas investments, U.S. and China climate action and clean energy competition, and how China and Southeast Asia can close the loop on plastic waste.
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China’s First National Park: Managing Access and Benefits
›Bharal (Himalayan blue sheep) near Donggecuona Lake near Madoi are well camouflaged – look closely to find the nine in the photo.
As I hiked over the crest of a small hill near Donggecuona Lake in Madoi County, Qinghai Province, I startled a herd of over fifty bharal (Himalayan blue sheep) on the slope ahead of me. Some that were lying down suddenly scrambled to their feet. Others took a brief pause in their grazing to look up at me. I whispered to my guide Sonam Gyurme, “Look!”
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A Decade of Progress on Palm Oil Deforestation at Risk in Indonesia
›China Environment Forum // Guest Contributor // Vulnerable Deltas // October 24, 2024 // By Jason Jon Benedict & Robert HeilmayrIndonesia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil, an ingredient used globally in a huge variety of food and household products from peanut butter to shampoo. Yet it is also an important driver of deforestation and contributor to climate change and biodiversity loss. Over the past 20 years, the expansion of palm oil plantations has contributed one-third of the total loss of old-growth forests in Indonesia (around 3 million hectares).
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A Tipping Point for Mangrove Restoration and Shrimp Farming in Indonesia
›China Environment Forum // Guest Contributor // Vulnerable Deltas // October 17, 2024 // By Muhibar Sobary ArdanThe Mahakam River flows for 900 km from the highlands of central Borneo through thick rainforest before fanning into a lush delta that feeds the Makassar Strait. Once dense with mangroves and palms, the wetland islands protected coastal communities, supported biodiversity and served as a significant carbon sink.
However, in the 1980s, shrimp ponds began replacing the mangroves. By 2020, around half of the delta’s forests were lost due to weak regulatory enforcement and inadequate environmental protection. This large-scale deforestation increased the area’s vulnerability to climate change.
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Solving Vietnam’s Mangrove Mystery: Mekong Delta Living Lab
›China Environment Forum // Guest Contributor // Vulnerable Deltas // October 10, 2024 // By Lindsey SchwidderIn spring 2024, I travelled in the Mekong Delta with Vietnamese researchers to investigate the country’s dwindling mangroves.
One day while hiking along the coastline of Bac Liu Province in southern Vietnam, we came across the remains of a once-flourishing mangrove forest now littered by countless concrete blocks. My colleagues noted that the decades-long trend of disappearing mangroves here seemed to be unstoppable.
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Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition Must Not Just Be More of the Same
›While standing on the banks of the Mahakam River in Samarinda on the island of Borneo, I watched an unending parade of coal barges sail slowly down the river. I was here in East Kalimantan to give a presentation at the Vulnerable Deltas Workshop—a joint project of the East-West Center and the Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum.
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Mine the Tech Gap: Why China’s Rare Earth Dominance Persists
›In 2019, at the height of the trade war with the United States, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited a rare earth magnet factory in Jiangxi Province. At the time, the visit was interpreted as “muscle flexing” by China’s leader to remind Washington of its dependence on Beijing for the supply of rare earths. Rare earth elements (REEs) – a group of 17 critical metals – are indispensable components in military defense systems, consumer electronics and renewable energy technologies. Despite more than a decade of sustained efforts by Western countries and companies to loosen China’s grip, Beijing, by far remains the top player in the REE global mining, processing and refining sectors.
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Scaling up the Reuse Revolution in the Global South
›China Environment Forum // Guest Contributor // Vulnerable Deltas // August 22, 2024 // By Eline Leising & Firda IstaniaIn the last months of 2023, 30 landfills caught fire in Indonesia, highlighting a dangerous health risk and a symptom of the country’s failing waste management system. Most of these landfills are overflowing open dump sites. Moreover, not all waste ends up here, as large amounts — particularly low-value plastics like sachets and pouches — are never collected. Indonesia ranks among the top 10 global plastic polluters. The country generates 7.8 million tons of plastic waste annually, 63% of which is mismanaged. Most of these mismanaged plastics are thrown into rivers, dump sites or burnt by individuals, releasing toxic substances into the air.
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How to Diversify Mineral Supply Chains – A Japanese Agency has Lessons for All
›On October 27, 2010, after meeting with her Japanese counterpart, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concerns over allegations of a Chinese ban on exports of Rare Earth Elements to Japan. “This served as a wakeup call,” she announced while advocating for “additional sources of supply.” Beijing’s alleged ban came after skirmishes in the disputed Senkaku Island waters. But apart from Japan, not many countries acted on the wake-up call.