The central government is busy preparing a package of policies to address global climate change problems, which are likely to have increasingly negative impact on human life.

An official from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told China Daily that the package is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.

"The package will mainly integrate domestic and foreign measures and solutions which have already proved fruitful," said the official on condition of anonymity.

She said China has already made significant progress over the past 20 years in decreasing carbon dioxide emissions by encouraging the use of cleaner energy and improving forest coverage.

Statistics show that China's average temperature increased by some 0.5 degree centigrade over the past century, slightly less than the global average of 0.6 degree. Temperatures in Northwest, North and Northeast China have increased the most.

Since 1994, the Chinese Government has produced an annual report on sustainable development, and this year, it has made public a sustainable development report which outlines the goals of climate change control in the coming two decades.

"We have done a lot of work to control climate change and this kind of work will continue,'' said the official.

China is currently experiencing rapid economic growth as a result of economic reforms, and this has had a significant impact on people's lives. By 2020, China expects its GDP will be tripled, resulting in the realization of an all-round well-off society. To achieve such an economic miracle, it will need to maintain an average annual growth rate of 8 per cent, and ensure that it has the resources to support it.

Xinhua News Agency quoted Qin Dahe, director of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) as having said that China's climate will continue to warm over the coming 50 years if the atmospheric density of carbon dioxide remains at the current level or increases.

The average temperature in China is expected to have increased by 1.7 degrees centigrade by around 2030 and by 2.2 degrees by 2050, said Qin.

If the carbon dioxide density doubles, the temperature will increase by 2.9 degrees over the next 50 years.

By 2030, the temperature in the country's northwestern region is likely to increase by 1.9 to 2.3 degrees, and that in the southwestern region by about 1.8 degrees. The temperature on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is expected to increase by 2.6 degrees over the same period.

Qin said that precipitation in China's eastern and southern coastal areas will increase by large margins in the coming years, while the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, North China and the southern part of Northeast China will have less rainfall than in the past.

In the 1990s, China experienced one of its warmest periods of the last 100 years, and since 1985 it has had 17 consecutive warm winters, said Qin.

Close

Today's Top News		Top National News
+Beijing censures passing of referendum law ( 2003-11-28) +Pesticide ban to hit farmers ( 2003-11-28) +Boat cut plan to protect fish stock ( 2003-11-28) +Plan to address climate change ( 2003-11-28) +Taiwan OKs watered-down referendum bill ( 2003-11-27)		+Pesticide ban to hit farmers ( 2003-11-28) +Boat cut plan to protect fish stock ( 2003-11-28) +Beijing censures passing of referendum law ( 2003-11-28) +Plan to address climate change ( 2003-11-28) +Yao Ming, Yang Liwei among top ten young people of 2003 ( 2003-11-28)