Benoit Aquin - Winner Prix Pictet 2008
Artist statement
One of the greatest environmental disasters
of our time: The Chinese 'Dust Bowl' is
probably the largest conversion of productive
land into sand anywhere in the world. Deserts
cover 18% of China today. Of those, 78% are
natural, while 22% were created by humans.
With unsustainable practices, to date, Chinese
farmers and herders have transformed about
400,000 square kilometres of cropland and
verdant prairie into new desert. The shepherds
have overgrazed the steppes, allowing their
sheep and goats to chew the grass all the way
down to its roots. The farmers, for their part,
have over-exploited the arable land by opening
fragile grasslands to cultivation and overpumping
rivers and aquifers in the oases
bordering the ancient deserts. As the deep
aquifer under the North China Plain is depleted,
the region is losing its last water reserve; its only
safety cushion, stretching the capacity of the
Yellow River.
The soil, once it is barren, is swept up by the
wind into dust storms, battering the capital,
Beijing, and then moving on to Korea and
Japan. The most massive of the yellow clouds
of dust make their way across the Pacific and
reach North America. The loss of precious
topsoil for Chinese agriculture ends up
polluting both China’s cities and countries
halfway around the world. The area of the
desert thus created is equivalent to more than
half the farmland in Canada. Three hundred
million people are affected by dust storms in
China. One hundred and eighty million people
depend on the Yellow River. Hundreds of
thousands of people have already been
relocated and cities with ecological refugees
have been created. The Chinese “Dust Bowl”
is a fascinating subject. It is a compelling
environmental manmade disaster and
photographically an interesting journey.
When I embarked on this trip I was convinced
that I could make surreal images and at the
same time raise awareness. This is about
scarce water resources, desertification and
ecological refugees in China.
