Extreme weather forecast for Yangtze over next 50 years

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-10 19:25

BEIJING: Floods, droughts, heat waves and severe snowstorms could be more frequent in the Yangtze River Basin in the next 50 years as the area sees average temperatures rise by 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius, said a report released here on Tuesday.

The Yangtze River Basin Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), describes the impact of climate change on the basin and offers solutions.

According to the report, average temperatures in the basin were 0.33 degrees Celsius higher in the 1990s than in the three decades since 1961.

From 2001 to 2005, the basin was about 0.71 degrees Celsius warmer, according to data collected from 147 monitoring stations across the basin.

The Yangtze River, China's longest waterway, is about 6,300 kilometers long and the basin covers an area of 1.8 million square kilometers where one third of the nation's population dwell.

The basin is also home to many rare and endangered species, including the giant panda, Yangtze River dolphin, and the Yangtze sturgeon.

The report says wetlands will be hardest hit. Lower water levels will reduce the number of aquatic birds in the central and lower Yangtze while climate change will strip wetland ecosystems of important resources.

The report offers specific adaptation strategies, including integrated river basin management by strengthening management of major hydro-engineering projects, adopting market-based water allocation and more flexible cropping systems and raising public awareness.

"Climate change adaptation research is relatively weak globally. This report is an excellent reference for both technical research and decision makers," said Yin Weilun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

"Given the complexities and uncertainties associated with climate change, we should take the right adaptation measures now and adjust them with climate change," said Professor Xu Ming, the report's lead researcher from the Institute of Geography and Sciences and Natural Resources Research, China Academy of Sciences (CAS).

James Leape, director general of WWF-International said the assessment was an important step of China's commitment to fighting climate change.

"The Yangtze assessment also underlines how investment in climate change adaptation safeguards the continuing functioning of a landscape vital to nearly half a billion people," he said.

The report was organized by the WWF and compiled over two years by more than 20 researchers from the CAS, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), and Fudan University.