China

[awakening2lite]

Dec 21, 2007

Global warming causing China's glaciers to melt quickly: survey

EXCERPT

BEIJING (AFP) — Global warming has caused some of China's glaciers -- a source for many of Asia's greatest rivers -- to have melted by more than 18 percent over the past five years, state media reported Friday.

A survey of nearly 20,000 square kilometres (8,000 square miles) of China's glaciers showed they were on average 7.4 percent smaller than five years ago, Caijing magazine said, citing a government-funded survey.

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One of China's top glaciologists, Yao Tangdong, warned last year of an "ecological catastrophe" in Tibet because of global warming.

continued at source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2cIXH_jqzBAi1HLp7YF8lvuhbZg

[awakening2lite]

Global Warming Hits China
Chris O'Brien 01.06.08, 6:00 PM ET

EXCERPT

There are few more startling embodiments of climate change than the current health of China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, in the southeastern province of Jiangxi. As is now customary in discussions involving global warming, the following statistics are liable to alarm.

The surface area of Poyang Lake has shrunk to 50 square kilometers from its peak of more than 3,000 during the summer--it is 1.67% of its size six months ago. Some perspective is needed. A spectacular fluctuation in the lake's area from the summer flood season to the winter dry period has long been commonplace.

However, the Jiangxi hydrological bureau reported that the area of the lake last winter was 300 to 500 square kilometers, up to 10 times larger than this year's figure. The lake's title would seem to require a caveat: China's largest freshwater lake-- in July.

EXCERPT

Xinhua has issued a couple of reports saying 100,000 people are suffering from drinking-water shortages around the lake and citing one village as having access to only four of its 56 wells.

http://images.forbes.com/media/2008/01/04/lake_01.jpg

source: http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/01/04/poyang-lake-china-oped-cx_cob_0106poyang.html