Download China Climate Impacts overview

China Climate Impacts overview
Climate impacts
Heat wave
Drought
Diseases
Glacier retreat
Locations
Pearl-River Delta
Yangtze River Delta
North China
Severity / Future prediction
Hong Kong Observatory prediction: HK average temperature will reach
26.5 degree Celsius from 2090 to 2099, which is increased by 3.5 degree
Celsius as compared to period 1961-1990;
IPCC prediction: world average temperature would rise from 1.4 degree
Celsius to 5.8 degree Celsius for the next 100 hundred years.
In North and West China (Shangdong,
Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, etc.,
Southeast China (includes Guangdong,
Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Anhui and Jiangsu
provinces)
In the past 30 years: global area affected by drought has doubled due
to climate change;
Nov 2004: the drought affected 5,100,000 sq km agriculture and
about 40 million people, 9 million people suffered from water
shortages, economic losses of more than 6 billion RMB
Hong Kong
Southeast China
World Health Organization: 6% of malaria cases worldwide during
the last 25 years are the result of climate change;
IPCC: climate change will lead to an increase in the number of
people exposed to vector borne diseases, e.g. 40-50% of the world
population is currently impinge on dengue fever and malaria
Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: Himalaya
Past 24 years: 3,000 sq km of ice has been melted;
By 2050: half of the glacier in China will be melted;
By 2100: all the glacier in China will disappear.
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Sea level rise
Typhoon
East China costal areas along the sea
South China
Southeast coastal areas
(includes
Hong
Kong,
Macau,
Taiwan,
Guangdong, Guang’xi, Fujian, and Zhe’jiang
province)
Past 100 years: global warming is expected to increase the annual
rate of sea level rise by two to five times;
Past 50 years: Victoria Harbor in HK has risen 2.3mm annually in
average, and 12cm in total;
Past 40 years: Turu Harbor in HK has risen 3mm annually in
average, and 12 cm in total;
By the year 2100, world sea level is projected to be approximately
9cm to 88cm higher than it is today. The sea level rise will lead the
storms reach much higher altitude and more risk for the lower area
sinking
2003: serious tropical storm hit the south-eastern province of
Guangdong destroying 54,000 homes and causing economic losses of
more than $280 million;
2004: Typhoon Rananim hit Zhejiang Province in China with strong
winds and heavy rains, 18 million people were affected, 271,000
hectares of crops were affected, leading to 18 billion RMB economic
losses;
An increase in wind speeds of 10% as a realistic magnitude for an
intensification of tropical cyclones caused by climate change
The severe floods are mostly located in these
regions during different periods:
Flooding
Hua-nan region during monsoon period
(includes Guangdong, Guang’xi, Fujian, south
Jiang’xi and Hai’na)
the middle and bottom stream of the Yangtze
River and Huai-he in early summer (includes
Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, An’hui and
Jiangsu provinces)
Sept 2003: severe flooding in Shanxi province, 4.9 million people were
affected;
2004: severe flooding in Eastern and Southern China, causing
landslides, affecting 100 million people, more than 1000 deaths
Past 10 years, 44% of all flood disasters worldwide affected Asia,
claiming 228,000 lives, economic losses in the region in that decade
totaled US $136 billion
North China during summer storms periods
Agriculture
the area around the Great Wall lying
south-east of the transition belt between crop
By 2030: Chinese harvests may be reduced by 5 to 10%
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Desertification
agriculture and animal husbandry
the Huang-Hai plains, where dryland crops
like wheat, cotton, corn, and fruit trees are
grown
the area north of Huaihe river that lies along
the south edge of the temperate crop zone
the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze
river
the Loess Plateau
3 north regions:
Northwest China
North China
Northeast China
(includes west of Da’xin’an mountains, north of the
Great Wall and north and west part of Tibetan
Plateau, including Inner Mongolia, Gan’su, He’be，
Shan’xi and Xingjiang)
By 2050: China’s rice production could drop by as much as one fifth
The total area of desertification affected land in China is
approximately 2,622,300 sq. km, occupying 27.32% of total land
territory;
The desertification process is spreading with an annual growth of
2,460 sq km.
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