On Monday, China announced its first National Strategy for Climate Change Adaptation at the 2013 UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland. The move signaled that the issue is now at the very top of the government's agenda, said sources at Xinhua News Agency.

According to the strategy, the average temperature increase in China is higher than the global average during the past 100 years and the difference has become far more noticeable during the last half century.

The uneven geographical distribution of precipitation and water resources has increased markedly, and the extreme weather has aggravated the damage.

Extreme weather conditions have also hit China financially, with an annual average direct economic loss of more than 200 billion yuan ($33 billion). On average, 2,000 people have lost their lives as a result of extreme weather every year since the 1990s.

- He Na

(China Daily USA 11/22/2013 page6)