The science magazine Nature has reported that young Chinese biologists are protesting about proposed ski area developments in the country to create venues for the 2022 Winter Olympics, awarded to the country by the IOC last month.
The biologists claim that a development site is within the boundaries of the protected Songshan National Nature Reserve that is home to rare plant species, including Beijing’s only Shanxi orchids, and sets a precedent of developing on protected land against stated government policy.
A Chinese PhD scientist overlaid maps of the national park and IOC’s site development map and found the top and bottom of downhill runs were located in the National Nature Reserve, says the nature report. The scientist’s posts on Chinese social media, which received nearly a quarter of a million clicks, were removed and his account closed.
The Chinese bid did have the problem, as with the South Korean 2018 Games which has faced similar environmental issues, that there’s no existing run with adequate vertical for an Olympic downhill.
The Chinese scientist told Nature that he was not against the Olympic Games but thought that they should be carried out in an environmentally friendly way.
Nature says that there has been no official response from Chinese authorities but in its official 2022 Olympic documents the Bid Committee say the venue will be “adjacent to” the reserve.
In the last week however local officials have said the borders of the reserve would be “adjusted” according to the Nature report, increasing its overall size by 31% in order, “…to promote interaction between ecological protection and economic society,” according to a Chinese official quoted.
