Concern is mounting
among some scientists that China's reclamation work in the disputed Spratly
archipelago of the South China Sea has done severe harm to one of the most
important coral reef systems in Southeast Asia.
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An aerial file photo taken though a glass
window of a Philippine military plane shows the alleged on-going land
reclamation by China on Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands in the South China
Sea, west of Palawan, Philippines in this May 11, 2015 file photo.
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China's use of dredged
sand and coral to build artificial islands on seven reefs had also damaged reef
systems beyond the outposts, meaning the affected area could be greater than
first thought, several scientists who have studied satellite images of the
Spratlys told Reuters.
Those concerns
contrast with repeated official Chinese statements that Beijing is committed to
protecting reefs and the broader marine environment in the South China Sea in
keeping with its obligations under United Nations conventions.
John McManus, a
prominent University of Miami marine biologist who has worked with Philippine
scientists to research the South China Sea, told fellow experts this month that
China's reclamation "constitutes the most rapid rate of permanent loss of
coral reef area in human history".
Beyond the outposts, a
wider area of reef had been destroyed by the dredging of sand from lagoons for
use on the new islands and the dredging of shipping channels to access them, he
wrote in an online oceanographic forum operated by the U.S. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency.
Reached by Reuters on
Wednesday, McManus urged claimants to put aside their disputes and create a
marine "peace park" to preserve what was left.
"I can't help but
use the phrase overused for forestry ... they've paved paradise," he said.
Most foreign criticism
of China over its new islands has focused on the spike in tensions their
creation has caused or the possible impact on freedom of navigation, especially
since Beijing has said the outposts will have undefined military purposes.
Only the Philippines
has publicly accused China of causing ecological damage. On Monday, Manila said
China's reclamation had caused annual economic losses of $281 million to
regional coastal nations.Asked to respond to the scientists' concerns, China's
Foreign Ministry referred Reuters to a statement last week from the State
Oceanic Administration, the maritime regulator, which said numerous
environmental protection measures were in place.
"Impact on coral
reef ecology is localized, temporary, controllable and restorable," the
agency said.
It did not respond to
a request for further comment.
BIOLOGICALLY DIVERSE
Chinese dredgers in
the Spratlys have reclaimed some 2,000 acres (800 hectares), or 8 square km, of
land since reclamation began in late 2013, U.S. officials say.
Other claimants,
particularly Vietnam, have reclaimed land to support existing outposts or
extend piers and runways but on a much smaller scale. The remaining claimants
to the Spratlys waters are the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.
While the Spratly
reefs are relatively small compared to major global reef systems, they are
considered biologically diverse and could help propagate threatened coastal
reefs with coral larvae and fish, scientists said.
They are also home to
endangered sea creatures including giant clams, dugongs and several species of
turtle.
In a study in April
for Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, marine science
and law expert Youna Lyons found that beyond the seven reefs, other unoccupied
shallow features had been dredged to provide building material for the nearby
reclamations.
"Coral reefs that
have been left untouched for centuries by virtue of their isolation are now
gone," Lyons wrote after research that included surveys of high-resolution
satellite photographs.
Lyons, of the National
University of Singapore, told Reuters this week that she had since seen further
evidence of Chinese-style dredging on reefs away from the reclamations but
wanted more detail on what was happening and who was behind it.
"The scale of the
ongoing dredging of insular, uninhabited coral formations in the South China
Sea is unprecedented in scale and nature in recent human history," she
said.
"Chinese dredgers
appear to be responsible for massive destruction, but we don't know how much
destruction has been done, overall, and by the others before the current
artificial island construction started."
"NO ONE CARES
MORE THAN CHINA"
Chinese officials have
said facilities on the islands would help environmental preservation, along
with search and rescue and weather observation.
"No one cares
more than China about the ecological preservation of relevant islands, reefs
and sea areas," Ouyang Yujing, head of the Foreign Ministry's department
of boundary and ocean affairs, told the official Xinhua news agency last month.
Equal importance had
been given to "construction and protection", he said, adding China
would honor its obligations under the U.N. conventions on Biological Diversity
and International Trade in Endangered Species.
One marine biologist,
Terry Hughes from James Cook University in Queensland, said the reclamation
work was "locally devastating" but the Spratlys still might face
bigger threats from long-term overfishing and climate change.
A study he produced
with Chinese scientists in 2012 showed a steep decline in coral cover in the
area due to such pressures, which are affecting reefs globally.
While Chinese
construction was visually dramatic, some reefs were largely untouched, he
added.
"Some of them are
still in pretty good condition," he said.
Source:
REUTERS/RITCHIE B. TONGO/POOL/FILES
