China's Drive for Global Resources

The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies published on 28 March 2017 a commentary titled "The Dark Legacy of China's Drive for Global Resources" by William Laurance, James Cook University in Australia.

The author concludes that China is currently having an overwhelming impact on the earth's environment. China is involved in resource extraction, energy, agricultural, and infrastructure projects--roads, railroads, hydropower dams, mines--that are wreaking unprecedented damage to ecosystems and biodiversity. At the same time, China is engaged in green activities, such as investing heavily in solar and wind energy, cracking down on its notorious air pollution, and replanting millions of acres of its denuded lands. Many of the examples cited by the author are in Africa.

China-Africa: A Maturing Relationship?

In December 2015 the DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme, South African Institute of International Affairs and the Overseas Development Institute hosted a one-day conference in Johannesburg to discuss China's changing role in the global economy and the impact of this on African economies, the role of natural resources, and wildlife in China-Africa trade, and issues of governance, peace, and security.

Essays from this conference were published in May 2016 under the title "China-Africa: A Maturing Relationship? Growth, Change and Resilience" edited by Linda Calabrese.

China-Africa Website

Another website with excellent research on China-Africa issues is the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Click here to access the home page.

Recent additions to the website include a lengthy study titled "The Challenge in Conservation of Biodiversity: Regulation of National Parks in China and South Africa in Comparison" by Meryl Burgess, a research analyst at the Centre. The study notes that both China and South Africa are rich in biodiversity, which is threatened by natural causes and human factors. The study looks at the way China and South Africa have attempted to regulate and manage national parks. Click here to access the study.

The website has two recent short pieces by Daouda Cisse, a research fellow at the Centre. The first one is titled "The Malian Crisis--China's Reaction Capacity at a Test Again?" Click here to read the commentary. The second one is titled "Banking with China." Click here to read the commentary.