Degraded Grassland in Inner Mongolia

A shepherd tends his sheep on the degraded grassland near the Baiyinhua No. 1 open-cast coal mine in West Ujimqin Banner of Xilin Gol, Inner Mongolia. Ten billion cubic meters of water will be consumed by 16 new coal fired power plants and mines in China in 2015, triggering severe water crises in the country’s arid Northwest.

Unique identifier: GP0479T

Type: Image

Shoot date: 10/05/2012

Locations: China, East Asia, Inner Mongolia, West Ujimqin Banner, Xilingol

Credit line: © Lu Guang / Greenpeace

Size: 5616px × 3744px 12MB

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)

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Coal Industry Threatens Water Supply in China

A new Greenpeace report entitled 'Thirsty Coal: A Water Crisis Exacerbated by China’s New Mega Coal Power Bases' shows that ten billion cubic meters of water will be consumed by 16 new coal fired power plants and mines in China in 2015, triggering severe water crises in the country’s arid Northwest. This huge amount of water will be used for the water-intensive coal extraction, forcing deterioration of arid grassland and forcing herders to seek alternative livelihoods. Northwestern provinces such as Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Ningxia, where 11 of these coal bases are situated, will see their water supply capacity severely challenged in three years.

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