WATER SHORTAGE FOR 300K PEOPLE IN CHINA

[Anonymous]

Climate change ‘affecting’ China
At
least 300,000 people in north-west China are short of drinking water
because of unseasonably warm weather, which officials link to climate
change.Parts of Shaanxi province face drought after January saw as
little as 10% of average rainfall, state media say.Frozen lakes are
melting and trees are blossoming in the capital Beijing as it
experiences its warmest winter for 30 years, the China Daily
reported.China is the world’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases,
after the US.The country’s top meteorologist, Qin Dahe, said the recent
dry and warm weather in northern China was related to global
warming.But he told reporters that China was committed to improving
energy efficiency, and planned to reduce carbon dioxide and other
emissions by 20% in the next five years.Mr Qin was China’s
representative on an inter-governmental panel on climate change, which
last week released a report saying mankind was very likely the cause of
global climate change.His comments, at a press conference in Beijing,
mark the Chinese government’s first official response to the report’s
findings.

Developed countries bear an unshirkable responsibility Jiang Yu Foreign ministry spokesperson.

No cheap fix
“The
Chinese government is taking climate change extremely seriously,” he
said. “President Hu Jintao has said that climate change is not just an
environmental issue but also a development issue.”But he warned that
for China, as a rapidly developing nation, to completely transform its
energy structure and use clean energy “would need a lot of
money”.China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Jiang Yu, reiterated the
government’s commitment to curbing greenhouse bases.But, at her regular
briefing, she also attacked wealthy nations as being the most of the
blame for the current crisis.”Developed countries bear an unshirkable
responsibility,” she said, adding that they should “lead the way in
assuming responsibility for emissions cuts”.Although China is trying to
develop alternative energy sources, it is still the world’s biggest
consumer and producer of coal.It is expected to surpass the US as the
world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the next decade. 

[Author]

February 6, 2007 at 10:17 AM