Some Suggestions in the west of China
2 min readAt this early juncture in China’s proposed escalation in western development activities，it is very important for its planners to pay attention to an ancient Chinese proverb:“To Know The Road Ahead，Ask Those Coming Back.”Another adage that is relevant is as follows:”If you do not change your course，you will get where you are going.”Thus，it is important，if not imperative，that planners take the time to seriously consider many of the potential obstacles they are likely to face and that could derail their western development goals.Only by learning fromanalogous past international as well as Chinese experiences of attempts at rapid economic development，especially in fragile environments，might China have a chance to avoid，in future decades，the debacles that were associated with such programs as the Great Leap Forward in the 1950s.
When you mention the western provinces to most Chinese people living in theeast，the image that usually comes to mind is one of vast uninhabited lands，inhospitable mountains，arid lands and true deserts.Because of its spatial scale and the time proposed to fulfill it，the WRDS will play a significant role in the regional and global environmental changes.We emphasize this point because few people realize that several of the world’s major rivers have their origins in the Tibetan-Qinghai plateau（the Mekong，Irrawadi，Ganges，Brahmaputra，Yangtze，Yellow rivers）.Climatic，land use and/or desertification-related changes there are known to adversely affect the streamflow that in turn goes to meet the needs of about 3 billion people downstream.
As Chinese leaders set out to develop their country in the shortest time possible，it becomes extremely important that they trade experiences with other countries around the globe about:the costs，benefits and consequences of rapid development activities in arid and semi-arid areas；leapfrog development proposals；mega-development schemes；the impacts of increasing affluence of various segments of their population；radical population shifts；the impacts caused by such major land-use changes on the environment in general；and，more specifically，on sustainable development in the western region over the long term.
Furthermore，they must consider the potential impacts of a human-induced climate change on all of these development activities and on changes in land use.Much information about these issues already exists and it is crucial that government leaders assure that their agents in charge of developing the westunderstand the needs of the fragile western environments and of the region’s inhabitants.In this way，they will be able to maximize the economic，social and environmental benefits that are likely to emerge as a result of a well planned Western Region Development Strategy.
