Chinanews, Beijing, June 29 – In recent years, many of the uninhabited coastal islands have been exploited in China. As a result, the ecological environment of these islands has deteriorated greatly. China has a vast number of offshore islands, with well over 6,500 islands each covering an area of over 500 square meters. Islands smaller than 500 square meters, amount to upwards of even 10,000. All these islands have rich natural resources and unique locations and play an important role in China's economic and social development. However, as Chinese economy has grown rapidly, land resources have become scarce. In order to solve this problem, people have begun to exploit land from uninhabited islands. In coastal areas, such problem has become even worse. This has led to some new problems, an expert from the State Oceanic Administration said on Wednesday. Firstly, most of the islands are located far away from the land. Transportation is inconvenient there and people can’t get enough fresh water. The living environment on these islands is really harsh. Secondly, many islands suffer from human damages. Sometimes the damage is rather severe. Information shows that in many cases, exploiters had not made a proper plan before they exploit these islands. They destroy the mountains and stones at their discretion and sometimes dump a lot of garbage on the island. As a result, the ecological environment on the island is badly degraded. As people build some construction projects on the islands, many valuable islands are totally destroyed. In recent years, the degradation process on these islands seems to be quickening. Sometimes a few construction projects might destroy several islands, or even more. Thirdly, many important islands are not well-protected. The exploitation activity might damage China’s national interests or the interests of its sovereignty. China has selected 77 territorial sea base-points. Among them, 75 are located on offshore islands. Some of these islands are regarded as gravity point, astronomical point, bench mark, or GPS positioning point. These islands have important national or social interest. However, due to ineffective measures, many of these islands are not well-protected.