There are so many arguements that Climate change and global warming dont exsist.
However over the last few years I recall a few earthquakes happening and as a result of that tsunamis have occured, also over population may have something to do with it , I dont know!
Things have happened over the last few years though, do a little research into the earthquakes and flooding.
The position of the Chinese government on climate change is contentious. China has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but as a non-Annex I country which is not required to limit greenhouse gas emissions under terms of the agreement.China can suffer some of the effects of global warming, including sea level rise, glacier retreat and air pollution.
The implications of climate change, indubitably, impose serious setbacks on global health and will hinder the economic development of various regions worldwide impacting countries on more than just the basic environmental scale. As in the case of China, we will see the effects on a social and economic level.
China’s first National Assessment of Global Climate Change, released recently by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), states that China already suffers from the environmental impacts of climate change: increase of surface and ocean temperature, rise of sea level.[9] Rising sea level is an alarming trend because China has a very long and densely populated coastline, with some of the most economically developed cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangzhou situated there. Chinese research has estimated that a one-meter rise in sea level would inundate 92,000 square kilometres of China’s coast, thereby displacing 67 million.[10]
There has also been an increased occurrence of climate-related disasters such as drought and flood and the amplitude is growing. They have grave consequences for productivity when they occur, and also create serious repercussions for natural environment and infrastructure. This threatens the lives of billions and aggravates poverty.
Furthermore, climate change will worsen the uneven distribution of water resources in China. Outstanding rises in temperature would exacerbate evapo-transpiration intensifying the risk of water shortage for agricultural production in the North. While because of the southern region’s over abundance in rainfall, most of its water is lost due to flooding. As the Chinese government faces challenges managing its expanding population, an increased demand for water to support the nation’s economic activity and people will burden the government. In essence, a water shortage is indeed a large concern for the country.[10]
Lastly, climate change could endanger human health by increasing outbreaks of disease and their transmission. After floods, for example, infectious diseases such as diarrhea, cholera are all far more prevalent. These effects would exacerbate the degradation of the ecologically fragile areas in which poor communities are concentrated pushing thousands back into poverty.[11]
China is a big place. What changes are you referring to?
Global warming in China is well documented and far-reaching.
Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau are rapidly retreating whilst at the same time and permafrost is melting. In recent years the impact of the South Asia Monsoon has intensified and this has accelerated the rate of melting.
Until comparatively recently the Chinese glaciers followed a regular pattern of advance and retreat but maintained overall stability. As global warming began to set in the number of glaciers that were known to be melting has rapidly increased and the most recent study (2006) found that 95% of glaciers were now melting.
The melting observed on the northern Tibetan Plateau is less than around the peripheral areas, it’s on the southern side of the Plateau that the greatest rate of melt is occurring with an annual rate of retreat of 65 metres being observed; it’s here that the South Asia Monsoon prevails.
The monsoon vapour moves up through the lower valleys of the Brahmaputra River valley toward the higher and more central areas of the plateau, and it’s here that the largest glaciers are formed. With climate change, the annual monsoons are intensifying and this is leading to more precipitation in the southeast. This increased precipitation falls mostly as rain but at higher elevations it falls mostly as snow. Overall and throughout China as a whole, there has been an increase of about 6% in the amount of rainfall.
Throughout the mountainous regions of China there are many lakes formed by the melting of glaciers. In the last 10 to 20 years a large number of new lakes have formed and over 70% of the existing ones have expanded. Observations suggest that this is caused more by the rapid melting of glacial ice than it is by the increased rainfall.
As lakes expand and new ones are formed ,there is a corresponding loss of farmland and destruction of ecosystems, this is particularly acute around the city of Lhasa.
Glacial lakes are notoriously unstable and one concern is that there could be an incident of outburst flooding. This could cause a flood that extends up to 1,000 miles from it’s source, so not only are the Chinese and Tibetanms at risk but populations in Nepal, India and Bhutan.
Large parts of China are covered by permafrost – permanently frozen ground. The extent of the permafrost is shrinking by 1?km a year and by the end of this century it’s expected that some 50% will have melted. Already this is creating large areas of bogland which has no practical use. The collapse of the permafrost leads to flooding, habitat and ecosystem destruction, soil erosion and a threat to species.
Beneath areas of permafrost are huge swathes of peat bogland where methane gas is produced. The frozen later of ground prevents the gas escaping. When the ice melts the gas is released causing further global warming – methane being a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
The flooding that’s occurred as the permafrost melts is boosting plant yields and in some places the newly available land is being used for grazing cattle.
Another problem caused by climate change is that of desertification. Large parts of northern China have always been desert but in the past few decades they have been expanding southwards and now reach 300km further south than they used to. The result has been that millions of families have lost their homes and their land and millions of hectares of farmland has been lost.
Whilst climate change is likely to be the largest contributor to desertification it’s not helped by intensive agriculture, over tilling of the land and deforestation.
Indications are that in future the East Asian Monsoon will shift and this will bring much needed precipitation to arid and semi-arid areas, it should also help to reverse the process of desertification but it won’t compensate for water shortages caused by loss of glacial storage.
Rising sea-levels are threatening some of China’s coastlines, particularly in the south of the country and especially so in the Pearl River Delta. By 2050 the seas could rise by as much as 300mm putting cities including Foshan, Guangzhou and Zhuhai at particular risk of flooding. These form part of China’s industrial hub and are essential for growth of the Chinese economy.
Perhaps the most noticeable effect of climate change has been the impact it has had on Chinese weather. The country has always experienced extremes of weather but in recent years the number of floods and heatwaves has increased significantly affecting huge number of people, the 2011 floods alone affected 250 million people.
Yellow and Yangtze Rivers might just possibly flood.
negatives and positives effects on china please!??!
