Greening Guangdong

People who follow me, know I live in Guangdong. In every measurable metric I’ve seen improvements, some are easily measured but aren’t as obvious unless you happen to know something about the region.

If you happen to be a bear, or a leopard you have a good chance of making your home in Guangdong too. Surprisingly, this is now true of the province.

When I arrived here in 2004, I remember, every evening as I finished work I would travel home along an East to West route into the most beautiful sunset. The irony of the beautiful, varying shades of orange glowing in the distance was that it was caused by pollution. It was a pollution that showed up on the collars of my work-shirts, it could be tasted in the air we breathed and my colleagues kept apologizing to me for the weather being so “overcast”.

Around 2013 that started to change and, as Bloomberg pointed out, China’s reduction in pollution in the 7 years to 2020 was greater than the US had achieved in three decades. But it didn’t stop there.

China accounts for just 6.3% of the world’s landmass but more than 25% of the world’s reforestation There’s always detractors saying such things as: “China still has deserts” or, “China planted the wrong trees” but, as the Rapid Transition Alliance an international organisation, has made clear in their report called: How China Brought its Forests Back to Life in a Decade, the benefits far outweigh any mistakes that may have been made.

When we think of Guangdong, we think of a work site, factories, dirt and pollution and, that was quite true a few years ago. But now, there’s an entirely different story.

The region is the manufacturing capital of the world, it’s the driver of China’s economy in 2021, the economy of the province grew 8%. In fact, if Guangdong was a country it would be number 7 in the world, so it takes itself pretty seriously when it comes to manufacturing, development and infrastructure.

With that in mind, you might not expect it to be too concerned about the environment air or water quality, but you’d be wrong, it is not letting the rest of China get ahead. There are 13 important Wetlands in Guangdong alone, in 2004 it was reported that Guangdong’s Mangrove Forests were on the verge of extinction in recent years the region has been praised for the preservation, protection and growth of these vital regions. Dense forest, lush mountain and unbelievably, crystal clear waters are found throughout the province.

What this does is helps revitalize unseen parts of the economy, helping the residents we usually don’t see; the wildlife, such as the bears in the Nanling Nature Reserve or leopards that surprisingly live in Shenzhen and the migratory birds flocking in massive numbers into the Wetlands. None of this would be possible without a good policy, a desire to improve and a commitment such as Guangdong is making to improving live for ALL its residents whether they be winged, furry or four footed.