Shanghai, Aug. 4 (BNA) A government official said that average global temperatures in China have risen much faster than the global average over the past 70 years and will remain “significantly higher” in the future as climate change challenges mount.
In its annual climate assessment published this week, China’s Meteorological Bureau described the country as a “sensitive area in global climate change,” with temperatures rising 0.26 degrees Celsius (0.47 degrees Fahrenheit) in the decade since 1951, compared to the global average of 0.15 degrees. . , Reuters reported.
“In the future, the increase in regional average temperatures in China will be much higher than in the world,” Yuan Jiazhuang, deputy director of the National Climate Center of China, told a news briefing Wednesday.
He warned that changing weather patterns in China will affect the balance of water resources, make ecosystems more vulnerable and reduce crop yields.
Severe weather has caused havoc in recent weeks, with long heat waves causing droughts and wildfires across the world. Historically high rainfall in some countries has caused deadly floods.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last month that “no country is immune” to climate change and said the world now had to choose between “collective action or collective suicide”.
China has already endured weeks of hot weather, with temperatures reaching over 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) in southwest Yunnan and Hebei in the north.
As many as 131 Chinese weather stations have recorded temperatures equal to or above historical high levels, up from 62 in the whole of last year, according to NCC data.
The 2021 China Climate Assessment reported that coastal water levels last year were at their highest since 1980. Glacial retreat has also accelerated, active permafrost along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway has reached a record low, and sea ice has continued to decline.
China also recorded a 7.9% increase in vegetation cover in 2021 compared to the 2001-2020 average, and the assessment noted that growth periods for many plants begin earlier each year.
MI