According to reports: Yunnan has suffered a severe drought this year that has only occurred once in 50 years. More than 200,000 rural residents in Chuxiong are short of water, most of Baoshan has been without rain for 120 consecutive days, Yuxi has failed to harvest 341,000 acres of spring crops, and Kunming, Qujing, Shangri-La and other places have experienced continuous droughts in recent days.

Mountain fire.

Today, relevant issues continue to arise, attracting great attention from all sectors of society.

Reports in special columns of daily news constantly explain the losses in related industrial chains.

At this point, perhaps we have not yet come out of our sympathy for the victims, but what I want to say is that we, as humans, have an unshirkable responsibility for the occurrence of drought.

We all know who is the medium through which essential elements in the ecosystem are constantly moving. Without the water cycle, there would be no biogeochemical cycle.

Water is also the cause of geological erosion. Erosion in one place and sedimentation in another place all go through the water cycle.

Therefore, once the water cycle is terminated, it will mean that the agricultural industry, which is relatively fragile and has the closest relationship with water, will suffer a heavy blow.

Because human activities have changed local water sources, deforestation, agricultural activities, wetland development, river diversion, dam construction and other activities can seriously change the distribution pattern of water resources.

Although in this disaster, farmers were the most severely affected.

But in the decades-long process before that, timber processing companies or individuals who made countless money made countless profits.

But today it is the most vulnerable who foot the bill for the timber industry.

Without relevant government relief actions, the consequences would be disastrous.

People who once profited from destroying ecosystems now drink mineral water and drive cars through the streets every day.

From the perspective of the global ecosystem, Yunnan is located on a low-latitude plateau with a special geographical location and complex topography, so the climate is also complex.

The plateau monsoon climate is mainly affected by the high pressure airflow in South Bengal. Most parts of the province have warm winters and cool summers, and a spring-like climate all year round.

The province has rich and diverse climate types, including seven climate types: northern tropical zone, southern subtropical zone, central subtropical zone, northern subtropical zone, southern temperate zone, mid-temperate zone and plateau climate zone.

Precipitation is abundant, dry and wet are distinct, and the distribution is uneven.

The annual precipitation in most areas of the province is 1,100 mm. However, due to the control and influence of different atmospheric circulations in winter and summer, the distribution of precipitation in seasons and regions is extremely uneven.

The highest precipitation occurs in the four months from June to September, accounting for approximately 60% of the annual precipitation.

The winter and spring season from November to April is the dry season, with precipitation accounting for only 10% to 20% of the whole year, or even less.

Not only that, within a small area, precipitation is distributed unevenly due to changes in altitude.

The winter and spring seasons from November to April are already dry seasons. Coupled with the damage to the forest ecosystem, the dry season will appear drier and the rainy season will appear more waterlogged.

We know very well from botany that the growth and water supply of plants are driven by transpiration.

Only 1% of a plant's water requirement is incorporated into the plant, while 99% is transpired by the plant.

The water accumulated in the soil pores against gravity is the upper limit of the soil's water storage capacity, providing available water for plants.

The presence of plant roots allows the soil to retain more water.

It will not die during the dry season and even provide moisture for the entire regional ecosystem.

Now, the ecosystems of the four major river basins in Yunnan have been severely damaged for more than 20 years, and their water storage capacity has been greatly reduced. This drought is just a precursor.

According to incomplete statistical data from relevant forestry departments, important forest lands such as Ailao Mountain and Wuliang Mountain have suffered unprecedented damage since 2005. For specific processing and production data, please refer to relevant research reports.

The data released by the government's forestry department are often very inaccurate because the issues involved are very complex.

There is no need for me to say more here, everyone knows it.

It would not be very interesting to list the names of some related companies here.

As a scholar who has been concerned about the changes in Yunnan's ecosystem for many years, I feel extremely sad and worried about the fact that Yunnan relies on its unique ecological environment-related industrial chain as its economic pillar.

Nowadays, the losses caused by the drought have exceeded 10 billion yuan, and the industries involved include flowers, tea, tourism, honey, rape and other industries.

I would like to loudly appeal to the government and relevant social interest groups to consider the overall situation and act immediately.

Gradually stop the predatory exploitation of Yunnan’s forest resources and increase efforts to protect water sources.