Asian Correspondent
Graham Land
July 16, 2015
A protester delivers his message during a rally in front of the Chinese consulate Friday, May 11, 2012 in Manila (AP Photo/Pat Roque)
The centuries-old international dispute over islands in the South China Sea has taken on an environmental aspect, as biologists weigh in over activities including the building of artificial islands, land reclamation and dredging of the sea floor.
A sad history and an uncertain future
China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and the Philippines all have conflicting claims over the territory, including the Spratly and Paracel Islands and the Scarborough Shoal. In addition to its major shipping routes and fishing grounds, it is believed that there may be vast untapped mineral resources in the South China Sea.
The conflict has long been a political sticking point between involved countries, with China largely being the belligerent power, particularly against Vietnam and the Philippines. For example, China seized the Paracel Islands from Vietnam in 1974, killing 70 Vietnamese troops, and a further 60 sailors during another conflict with Vietnam in 1988 over the Spratly Islands.
The Philippines takes China to court
The Philippines is currently pursuing a court case against China in order to stop land reclamation of disputed islands. China has stated that it will not participate in any international hearing and that it prefers bilateral negotiations with the Philippines.
Recently at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, the Philippines argued in front of a tribunal that there is a strong case against China for irreversibly damaging the ecology of the South China Sea (also known as the West Philippine Sea). The Philippines contends that China has operated within the Southeast Asian country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), harvesting endangered species, destroying coral reefs and participating in destructive fishing practices.
Subsequent events, including China’s acceleration of massive land reclamation activities, which it has undertaken – and continues to undertake – in blatant disregard of the Philippines rights’ in its EEZ and continental shelf, and at tremendous cost to the marine environment in violation of UNCLOS – only serve to reconfirm the need for judicial intervention.
— Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario (via Rappler)
An expert biologist weighs in
Regardless of which power lays claim to the islands, the environmental concern, according to Professor John McManus — a marine biologist and expert on the ecology of the South China Sea — is that activities such as dredging used to create artificial islands may be burying coral reefs in sediment, thereby destroying these vibrant and vital marine ecosystems. Despite already being overfished, the unique currents of the South China Sea have provided respite by replenishing depleted stocks with larval fish from the reefs each season.
A Chinese vessel, top center, is used to expand structures and land on the Johnson Reef, called Mabini by the Philippines and Chigua by China, at the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Pic: AP.
But China’s activities in the area may put these invaluable reefs at risk, which could affect regional food security.
From an article in the Guardian:
“Dredgers sweep back and forth, creating clam shell patterns in the sand that are clearly visible by satellite. In the process, they destroy whatever lives there, including reef-building organisms, turtles and giant clams, while sending up plumes of corrosive sand and sediment that settle on surrounding reefs, killing them, McManus explains. For the many scientists who are predicting that coral reefs globally are in danger of disappearing by as early as the middle of the century due to bleaching, ocean acidification and rising seas, the reclamation is comparable to switching off an ailing patient’s life support.
McManus’s solution would be to put a stop to development and regulate fishing in the Sea in order to protect these ecosystems that are so important for providing fish to millions of people. He believes that since China has already staked its claim on the area, it would do better to protect its ecology rather than destroy it.
