China's thirst for development

China is noted for its rapid development often at severe cost to the environment. The Australian newspaper reports that more than half of the rivers in China are missing. In the 1990s there were over 50,000 rivers on maps of China, but in a recent national water census surveyors were only able to locate 22,909 of them. Destruction of the environment due to rapid development and the unsustainable use of underground water supplies are thought to be among the main culprits. The government though, is blaming climate change and cartographers mistakes for the missing rivers.