Time for drastic action
Businesses around Erhai Lake shut down to save natural draw
Hundreds of restaurants and guest houses around Erhai Lake, a popular tourist spot in Yunnan province's Dali Bai autonomous prefecture, have been asked to suspend business to protect the environment. The food businesses around the lake, about 90 percent of which were operating illegally, have been the main source of pollution in the lake. The burst of blue-green algae in the lake in January, a sign of eutrophication, is cause for alarm, experts say, and if the authorities don't pay enough attention to the negative influence of tourism-related industries in the area, the lake will become a smelly pool, as it was about 20 years ago when industrial waste and overuse of pesticides polluted it.
| Fromleft: Tourists ride scooters around Erhai Lake; some visitors take photos outside a hotel,which used to be a popular selfie-taking spot; some teenagers still swimin the lake, thinking little of the pollution. |
| Several days after the suspension order, only one hotel on the western banks of the lake still keeps its light on. Photos by Chen Liang / For China Daily |
| Clockwise from left top: Some experts believe garlic farming around the lake is one of the main sources of pollution; a park is shut down due to the lack of tourists; more than 100 innkeepers gather around a tree in hope of returning to their businesses. |
(China Daily European Weekly 06/02/2017 page4)
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