Wetlands are found on every continent on earth, in the form of rivers, shallow lakes, swamps, mangroves, estuaries and floodplains. They are valued for their ability to store flood waters, protect shorelines, improve water quality, and recharge groundwater aquifers.

China’s wetlands cover some 65 million hectares, ranking first in Asia and representing ten percent of the world’s total wetlands. A quiet crisis is occurring however as these important waters are quickly disappearing.

As a result of China’s rapid economic growth in recent decades, coupled with climate change, vast swathes of China’s wetlands have now disappeared.

These changes are having serious consequences for the millions of people who rely on these sources of water and also severely affecting the flora and fauna of these regions, pushing many to the brink of extinction.

Photographer and Videographer Sean Gallagher spent 2010 traveling thousands of kilometers across China for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and China Green, to document the diverse affects of wetlands disappearance across the breadth of the country.

Originally published on September 8, 2011

Producers: Sean Gallagher, Michael Zhao

Thanks: David Barreda, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

3 Responses to “The Wetland Series 湿地系列”

1. Dr TAN Koonlin Says:
   October 3rd, 2011 at 5:35 pm

   Wetlands are a far more precious resource than oilfields, but are not even ruthlessly exploited like them. Instead, they are destroyed, everywhere. I’d studied the sago-palm freshwater swamps in Southeast Asian economies – a uniquely resource-laden, once vast ecosystem widely exploited in ancient times as a staple-food store (carbohydrate and fish protein), and potentially invaluable industrial-crop logging economy (starch-based fermentation industries, such as for ethanol). But wherever utilised, these swamps are drained for obsessive dryland agriculture and urban-industrial developments. I despair that (but for a few with touristy value) most wetlands will disappear from this earth.

2. donna cox Says:
   September 28th, 2011 at 7:39 pm

   Very nice, succinct videos capturing the important socio-environmental issues in China and Tibet

3. Environmental China, Issue 124, September 2nd to September 9, 2011 Says:
   September 17th, 2011 at 10:13 am

   [...] Video: Threatened Waters (Sean Gallagher and Michael Zhao, Asia Society’s China Green, 9/8/2011) Wetlands are found on every continent on earth, in the form of rivers, shallow lakes, swamps, mangroves, estuaries and floodplains. They are valued for their ability to store flood waters, protect shorelines, improve water quality, and recharge groundwater aquifers. China’s wetlands cover some 65 million hectares, ranking first in Asia and representing ten percent of the world’s total wetlands. A quiet crisis is occurring however as these important waters are quickly disappearing. [...]

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