October 2010

Quakes don’t completely shake China’s environmental gains

Oct. 25, 2010

The devastation of China’s 2008 earthquake was substantially lessened by environmental conservation programs for some of the country’s most fragile habitats, according to research published in a journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science this week.

Analysis of satellite imagery and field data by scientists at Michigan State University and in China show the quake – and the resulting landslides – affected 10 percent of the forests covering the mountains that are home to endangered species, including giant pandas. But it could have been worse.

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