In what writer Edward Dodge describes as a “rare admission for a Chinese official,” a leading weather scientist told Xinhua last week that climate change poses a serious threat to the country.
“To face the challenges from past and future climate change, we must respect nature and live in harmony with it,” said Zheng Guogang, head of the country’s meteorological administration. “We must promote the idea of nature and emphasize climate security.”
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China has seen a century of temperature increases above the global average, Zheng said, and now faces heightened “risk of climate change and climate disasters.” Xinhua said Zheng “warned of more droughts, rainstorms, and higher temperatures that would threaten river flows and harvests, as well as major infrastructure projects such as the Three Gorges Dam.”
