Tumen Wetlands Threatened by Sino-Russian Border Agreement
3/4/95
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/* Written 8:59 PM Mar 9, 1995 by foejapan in igc:env.siberia
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/* ---------- "Tumen Wetland Threatened" ---------- */
{\ Tumen Wetlands threatened by Sino-Russian Border Agreement
Vladivostok News- March 4, 1995
"Another new wrinkle in the debate over the border centers around
the environmentally sensitive and politically strategic land along
the Tumen River. The prospect of transferring a square mile of
land to the Chinese along the river has local administrators
nervous because of the potential for China to develop some form of
a trade route to the Sea of Japan. There is also concern that the
land transfer might inadvertently lead to an ecological disaster
in the region, according to Vladimir Rakov, a professor at Far
Eastern State University and the Posiet Museum of Natural History.
In an article published by the newspaper Zavtra Rossii, Rakov said
the land transfer would become particularly precarious for Russia
at the point where the border goes along a narrow strip of Chinese
land on the left bank of the Tumen River about 17 kilometers from
the Sea of Japan. Prone to shift in its channel, the shallow
Tumen is surrounded by marshland at his point and could easily
change directions, possibly cutting across Russian Territory and
flooding about 40 square kilometers of Russian lowland. Rakov
claims that the Chinese, having but a thread of land connecting
their mainland with a small Chinese enclave south of this narrow
strip, have been keeping up the left bank of the river in order to
preserve their only road to the southern section.
According to Rakov, acquisition of more land on the left bank
would allow the Chinese to shift their road farther from the river
and stop reinforcing the bank. The Chinese, says Rakov, already
have plans for spanning the Tumen's new channel with a bridge. He
warns that by giving the Chinese 1.6 square kilometers along this
section of the Tumen, Russia could lose up to 40 square kilometers
of arable land.
"The river, " Rakov writes, " is bound to change its course after
the first typhoon that hits the region, transforming part of
Primorye's Khasan County into delta."
While ten times smaller in volume than Primorye's Ussuri River,
the Tumen is nevertheless the largest river feeding this portion
of the Sea of Japan, and its effects on the marine life can be
dramatic. Rakov said he recorded the consequences of temporary
river shifts after a typhoon ruined the Tumen's bank and allowed
the river to flood the countryside and empty into Posiet Bay.
"The resulting drop in salt content killed much of the shell fish
in the bay, including the sea urchins, starfish, and sea
cucumbers." Rakov explains. "The bank was mended quickly,
otherwise the damage would have been permanent".
Primorski Krai Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko last week backed off
his earlier demands that the Sino-Russian agreement redrawing the
border between the two countries be revoked.
Nazdratenko, an outspoken opponent of the border demarcation
between Russia and China, made his about face after telling
reporters last month that he would continue criticizing the
agreement even if it meant being replaced by Russian President
Boris Yeltsin.
Nazdratenko is now supporting Moscow's official policy that
renunciation of the 1991 agreement would be a violation of
international law and would lead to renewed tensions between
Russia and China.
NOTE:
The Tumen delta, on the Russian side, is a massive, pristine
wetland complex with over 30 freshwater lakes and brackish
lagoons. About 200 species of bird nest or stop over on the
territory during migration, 47 are rare and endangered species
and include Japanese, Siberian, and White-naped cranes, the
White-tailed eagle, Chinese Merganser, and Chinese egret.